New photos of purported iPhone 5 surface online

As the date of Apple's expected launch of the latest version of its popular iPhone nears, the usualrumours and leaked photos of what the new device will look like are emerging online.

Technology watchers are speculating that Apple will launch the iPhone 5on Sept. 12 and a new, smaller version of its iPad tablet device in October.

Photos claiming to be of the new iPhone 5 werepostedon the Chinese technology website Digi.it.sohu.comand repostedon theFrench website Nowhereelse.fron Friday.

The websites reported that the photos came from a Chinese online forum called iColorOS, which leaked images of alleged iPhone 5 partsearlier this month.

The latest photos show a longer, narrower iPhone with a larger screen thanexisiting models.

The authenticity of the photos has not been confirmed, and they could be nothing more than a prankster's Photoshop vision of the new device, but theydo contain some of the same elements that have appeared in other supposed sneak peaks at the new iPhone.

Other sites and media outletshad previously publishedphotos of alleged iPhone 5 parts that also showed a longer, sleeker body, as well as a smaller dock connector with fewer than the current 30 pins, which would require an adapter in order to connect existing cables and iPhoneaccessories.

The dock connector is thought to have been made smaller in the new version in orderto make room for the earphone jack that is expected have been moved from the top of the phone to the bottom in the new device.

The last version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S, came outin October 2011.

iPad mini expected to be smaller, cheaper

Technology analysts seemed to give credence to rumours that Apple would soon also bring out an "iPad mini," which would be smaller than the current 10-inch version and be priced to compete with cheaper tablets like Google's Nexus 7or Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

Speculation isthat thenew iPad will be seven inches wide like competing tablets andcost between $200 and $300, compared to $519, the current price of the latest version ofa 16 GBiPad in Canada.

Some had thought the company wouldn't pursue a smaller tablet because late Apple CEO Steve Jobs hadrejected the ideain 2010, calling a seven-inch iPad"useless" unless it came with sandpaper so users could sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size.

However,more recent media reportsthat surfaced during Apple's patent trial against Samsung in California suggest that Jobs had revised his opinion and saw a market for seven-inch tablets.

According to U.S.sales figures released in documentsfiled in Northern District of California court during the patent trial, Apple has sold 85 million iPhones in the U.S. since the device came on the market in 2007 and generated more than $50 billion US in revenue from U.S. sales.

It has sold 34 million iPads in the U.S. between 2010 and the second quarter of 2012, generating revenue of $19 billion.