“October,” the source said, while declining to offer a hard launch date. Other sources said it will be later in the month rather than earlier.

The source offered no details on the device’s design, but supply chain chatter has previously indicated that the iPhone 5 will use the faster A5 processor on which the iPad 2 runs, a Qualcomm dual mode GSM/CDMA baseband and a higher resolution eight-megapixel rear camera.