Large numbers of people plan to buy or upgrade to the forthcoming 4G iPhone, many of them citing the new LTE wireless technology in the phone as a main reason.

Of the Macworld readers asked, 70 percent say they will buy the new device, with 48 percent of those people saying they will preorder it. Far fewer PCWorld readers–15 percent–are already sold on the device. But almost 40 percent of mobile users who read neither PCWorld nor Macworld say they too will buy the iPhone 5.

Another day, another report on Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 5, this time from Mac blog iLounge, which claims via a “reliable source” to have confirmed details of a thinner, longer smartphone sporting scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 2 on the front, a metal panel on the back and a roughly 4-inch screen, larger than the 3.5-inch screen found on the current edition of the iPhone.

Apple’s next iPhone will likely have LTE 4G connectivity, a 3.5″ or slightly larger screen and will arrive in Fall of 2012, reports iMore. The site has a history of accurate rumors including the announcement of the new iPad and the fact that it would also have LTE technology.

Apple has filed a patent application that describes a handheld device with a case made entirely out of glass.

Such a case could be formed from a “hollow glass tube” or two pieces of glass bonded together. The material would be radio transparent, and the device could be hermetically sealed and thus water resistant.

Apple is said to have yet another product in the pipeline with a Retina display, and this time it’s an iPhone with a really big screen, according to a report from Reuters.

Apple’s new iPad hasn’t even been on store shelves for a week and the company is already claiming sales of 3 million units. While consumers flock to “the tablet formerly known as iPad 3,” the rest of the media rumor mill has already moved on to speculating about the next big thing from Apple: iPhone 5.

Unlike what the previous rumor on Apple’s next generation iPhone claimed, the latest info suggests that the company might be planning a fall launch for the iPhone 5 (or whatever the company might end up calling it), and they will keep this schedule for many years to come, that is a new iPhone every fall.

The iPhone 5 will make its debut in the fall, at least according to Japanese blog Macotakara.

Rumors and speculation about the release of the iPhone 5 never seem to be laid to rest.

The site ibtimes.com has put forward an interesting theory regarding the launch of Apple’s next-gen smartphone.

Citing market research firm Gartner Inc., the site reports that Apple iPhones boomed last year, leading to a rise of 149 million units in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2011.

These record sales have made the Cupertino tech giant the world’s top smartphone vendor in 2011.

However, Gartner estimates that interest in the iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest smartphone, will eventually fade away, generating a decrease in the company’s market share.

The iPhone 5 could go waterproof alongside more standard new features like a larger screen and a faster A6 internal processor when it reaches its release date later this year.

One of the hits of this year’s CES trade show was the pair of companies showing off iPhone 4S units which had been waterproofed by a process which was ultimately undetectable until the booth reps began dunking iPhones into fish tanks with no damage.

Now there’s buzz that the feature could become standard on the new iPhone 5, although as usual Apple has nothing to say about the matter and has thus far declined to acknowledge that a next generation iPhone is even in the works. However, the device’s release date isn’t that difficult to figure out and much of its feature set is already predictable…

Mobiles are a dying breed as smartphones invade phoneland.

That’s according to analysts who say the real showdown in phoneland is now between the two smartphone kings, Apple VS. Samsung, in 2012.

Nokia is still the “undisputed leader” of mobile (shipments) with 27% marketshare as they got rid of a whopping 417.1 million phones last year, thanks to its thriving ‘feature phones’ business; however this marks a fall of almost 8% compared to same time 2010, according to IDC’s latest Mobile Phone Tracker.

This compares to Samsung’s 329.4m and Apple’s 93.2m shipments last year. But don’t be fooled by these figures.