iPhone 5 June launch rumoured in Korea, get your pinch of salt ready

Apple may or may not release the iPhone 5 in June this year. Yes, the online jungle drums are beating once more, but this time there are conflicting reports about when Apple will launch its next handset.

Korean site ETNews is placing its bets on June. In a report translated by Mac Rumors, it claims that the iPhone 5 will go on sale in the fourth week of June, although the report deserves a healthy dose of scepticism due to its claim that Apple has confirmed this. That's not something we'd expect the company to do.

"In the midst of the iPhone 5 postponement rumours, Apple has confirmed that iPhone 5 will be released as planned and it will be released simultaneously in Korea through SK Telecom and KT," runs the translated version of the article, which goes on to say the iPhone 5 will not be unveiled at Apple's WWDC conference earlier in June, but instead at its own dedicated media event.

It didn't take long for ETNews' article to get debunked in the Western web world. US site The Loop waded into battle with the other iPhone 5 launch rumour. The Loop reckons the device will be released sometime in the autumn instead of in its traditional summer slot.

"My sources said today that rumours of an iPhone 5 release at the end of June were completely false," wrote influential Apple watcher Jim Dalrymple. "Doesn't it seem strange to anyone else that Apple would confirm the release of the iPhone 5 in Korea before confirming it in the US?" Indeed, Mr Dalrymple. Indeed.

Ultimately, WWDC will provide an answer to this question. If there's no 'one more thing' moment at the end of the keynote speech that week, then autumn may see the launch of the iPhone 5.