Report: They’ve Started Building the iPhone 5

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Happy post-Labor-Day, and welcome back to another episode of “some sources say” starring Apple’s so-called iPhone 5. For today’s show, we’ll cite “a Chinese source” who apparently can’t keep it zipped, because he or she’s claiming the next iPhone is actually in production, in keeping with (the most recent) rumors that the iPhone 5 would launch sometime in October.

So sayeth Mac Otakara, anyway, a Japanese tech site that names the culprits as Foxconn Technology and Pegatron Technology. They’re both major multinational electronics manufacturers, said to be hard at work prepping the next iPhone for Apple’s iOS 5, currently still in beta. Foxconn reportedly has the lion’s share of the manufacturing load, or 85% of total, while Pegatron’s said to be handling the remaining 15%.

(MORE: The Case of the Missing iPhone 5 Gets Even Sketchier)

The phones themselves are ready to roll, says Mac Otakara‘s source, but they aren’t being packaged because Apple has yet to sign off on iOS 5.

How reliable is this rumor? AppleInsider says the blog has a spotty track record (though when it comes to rumor sourcing, can anyone name an outlet that doesn’t?). Back in May, Mac Otakara apparently pegged the iPhone 5 for a SIM-less design we’d see by early August. The latest rumors suggest it’ll in fact be a global SIM-enabled phone and ship in October.

The next iPhone’s supposed to be a trifle thinner and curvier, run off Apple’s newer, more powerful A5 processor and include an 8-megapixel camera.

At this rate, I suppose it’s safest to say we’ll see it at some point before the end of 2013, and I’ll stake my reputation on that.

MORE: Oh, Here We Go: Apple Loses New iPhone in a Bar Again?

Matt Peckham is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @mattpeckham or on Facebook. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.