Apple’s much-awaited fifth-generation smartphone, the iPhone 5, will be announced be announced next month, and will be released in the US on September 5, an Italian iPhone website claims.

The report also claims that the iPhone 5 will be worldwide a month later, in October.

A separate report by tech blog Boy Genius Report claims that Apple is recruiting extra staff to cope with the launch of the iPhone 5, and US mobile phone operator AT&T has also started preparing for the new product.

As always, Apple is still tightlipped about the potential launch of the iPhone 5. Apple usually releases new iPhones at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, which has already passed without any announcement about the much-awaited handset.

Now, speculation turned to September, the time the Cupertino, California-based gadget maker usually used to update its iPod range.

The latest model of iPhone, the iPhone 4, is still selling like hot cakes. During the three month to June, Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones.