iPhone 5 is Thinner & Lighter with Redesigned Enclosure?

The various iPhone 5 rumors have been going back and forth on whether or not a significant redesign is coming, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal seems to suggest that iPhone 5 will have a completely redesigned case after all.

According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless baseband chips.

This isn’t the first report to suggest the next-gen iPhone will be thinner, but the following statement is perhaps most telling about the future iPhones potential appearance:

Two of the people, however, cautioned that shipments of the new iPhone could be delayed if Hon Hai can’t improve its yield rate as the new iPhone is “complicated and difficult to assemble.”

Being difficult to assemble could indicate there is truth to some of the past claims of an edge-to-edge screen, liquid metal enclosures, or even curved glass, since one would imagine the longstanding iPhone 4 enclosure is well established in the production line and would not pose any significant assembly challenges. There are other suggestions that the next iPhone will more closely resemble the enclosure of iPad 2, which may appear similar to the mockup image above.

The potential for a dual-launch of an iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S this September could also explain some of the conflicting rumors regarding the next iPhones enclosure. Whatever is announced, it is expected to be launched alongside the release of iOS 5 this Fall.