Apple already sent out press invites earlier this week for their upcoming event next Wednesday, September 12, to be held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where everyone is expecting to see the new iPhone.  The press invite is quite simple: it has the words “It’s almost here.” with the big number 12 below it, an Apple logo on the top left.  But what’s intriguing is the shadow below the number 12 as it forms the number 5, all but confirming early rumors that the next iPhone would be called an iPhone 5.

Earlier rumors also stated that Apple will be unveiling the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini on the 12th, but latest rumors stated that they’ll be holding a different event in October for the iPad mini.  So before the big day, let’s look at some of the latest iDevice rumors.

iPhone 5

We’ve heard so much about the iPhone 5, even before the announcement.  I’m wondering if people will once again be disappointed like last year when the iPhone 4S was announced instead of the iPhone 5.  But that didn’t stop record sales of the newest iPhone.

So far, here’s what we think we know about the iPhone 5: it will be bigger than all the iPhone versions with its 4” screen, it will sport the new A6 processor to make it faster than any iPhone in existence, it will have a LiquidMetal unibody, an 8-pin dock connector to make it incompatible with existing Apple accessories but allows you to plug it on the device either way, an in-cell touch panel that makes it thinner than the iPhone 4/4S, redesigned speaker grills, support for NFC, 4G, a 1440 mAh battery with more juice to keep up with your busy day, an 8MP camera with LED flash at the back and a 2MP camera up front, and  a nano SIM slot, which is smaller than the current micro SIM for the iPhone 4/4S.

Apple is likely to stick to their simple design, which will probably look like a longer iPhone 4/4S, not the teardrop design with an oval home button from earlier rumors.

iPad mini

We did an article a few weeks back about the possibility of the iPad mini and the bigger iPod touch being the same devices.  It’s not as absurd as you think.  But what if the iPad mini and the iPhone 5 are the same thing?

A new concept design for the new iPhone has surfaced, featuring the iPhone 5 with wireless charging, fingerprint scanning, a Siri Message Center, Siri communicating with other smart-machines, and rubberband electronics.  Rubberband electronics is probably the feature that stands out the most since it transforms your iPhone to an iPad mini and an iPad.  Though it seems too far-out for a device to be stretched and shrink back to its original size, the technology for this already exists, being utilized for medical equipments.   Who wouldn’t want to purchase a smartphone that turns into a full tablet?