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iPhone 5 coming this fall, says analyst

The next iteration of Apple's popular smartphone is coming this fall--so says an investment bank in a research note.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers

A research note from an investment bank today sees an iPhone 5 coming this fall and sees strong growth for Apple's popular phone in the coming quarter.

The iPhone will comprise roughly 50 percent of Apple's total revenue in the next reported quarter, wrote Tavis McCourt of Morgan Keegan.

"We expect iPhone revenues to represent 47.5% of Apple's total revenues in [the December quarter], up from 38.8% in the Sep. quarter, and up from 39.1% in the year ago period," he wrote.

And he is upping his iPhone shipment estimate for the quarter to 29 million from the previous estimate of 27 million.

The iPhone 5 and Apple TV will be significant growth drivers later in the year. "We expect iPhone 5 in fall 2012 to be a significant revenue and earnings growth driver, and a potential Apple TV as upside to our model if it comes to fruition this year," he wrote.

What else can we expect on the iPhone 5 front? Instead of going through a litany of rumors, suffice to cite one of the most recent rumors about its physical construction. A combination of aluminum on the back and a "rubber or plastic material" along the sides that will bridge the front and back of the device.