Apple will unveil the next-generation iPhone 5 on 4 October. According to a typically cryptic invitation sent out to the media on Tuesday, Apple will host an iPhone event at its headquarters in San Francisco next week.
The event is expected to be Tim Cook's first outing as chief executive since he took over from Steve Jobs on 25 August.
The unveiling is also expected by many to include a simpler version of last year's iPhone 4 – which has become the best-selling smartphone in the world since its launch in June 2010 – which will allow Apple to attack China's huge market.
Cook's appearance would be his first in public since he took over from Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January but fronted three public events for the company until his resignation.
Cook ran the company's day-to-day operations during Jobs's previous medical absences in 2004 and 2009, and for the first half of this year. He has been at Apple since 1998 and is credited with turning its manufacturing and supply operations around.
Internet rumours have suggested that the new model will have a slightly larger screen than the existing iPhone 4, and that it may include an NFC (near field communication) chip which would enable it to be used with payment services such as Google's Wallet service, which launched in the US earlier this week.
That would allow it to compete with Google's Nexus S phone, released at the end of December, which contains an NFC chip, and other forthcoming phones from handset makers.
Apple's next-generation iPhone will be on public sale "within weeks" of its official announcement on 4 October, according to US technology site AllThingsD. UK availability and prices have not been announced.
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