Update 08/19: There has been a whole lot of back and forth in this release date game. Since this article was originally written speculation has been all over the place. The latest at this point is that it will be early October, based on a Boy Genius Report AT&T source.

A rumor is a rumor. That’s why it’s a rumor. Does that make sense?

Either way, rumors about Apple’s next iteration of the iPhone have been pouring out of the tech Blogosphere for months, and one of the common ones has been an expected release this September. That’s why when Boy Genius Report raised the possibility of it coming in August, people took note (the difference of a whole month…or maybe not even that!).

The publication reported, “We have been told by a reliable source to expect a radical new case design for the upcoming iPhone, though we have not been given any additional details surrounding the design of the new iPhone case. What about a release, then? The consensus is that Apple is going to announce the next-generation iPhone at the company’s annual September event, traditionally focused on iPods, but we have heard it’s quite possible Apple will break tradition. According to our source, Apple may hold an event in the beginning or middle of August to announce the new iPhone, with availability to follow in the last week of August.”

Then comes a report from Bloomberg, which says Apple “plans to introduce a new iPhone in September that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera, according to two people familiar with the plans.”

And that, “The device will include the A5 processor, the more powerful chip that Apple added to the iPad 2 earlier this year, along with an 8-megapixel camera, up from the 5-megapixel model in the iPhone 4, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. Apple is also testing a new version of the iPad that has a higher resolution screen, similar to the one now used in the iPhone 4, one of the people said.”

Ok, so there’s a new iPad rumor for you too.

But staying on topic, we’re apparently back to a September release, but what about BGR’s “reliable” source? Is it totally out of the question that Apple could reveal the next iPhone in August? It doesn’t seem unheard of.

“From what I’ve heard, this is unlikely,” writes MG Siegler at TechCrunch. “Apple has stated that iOS 5 is due this fall, August is not the fall, and there is no way Apple releases the iPhone 5 without iOS 5.”

Maybe he’s right about that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t show it off ahead of the release…in August. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility is it?

In the end, whether it comes out in August or September, we’re talking about a difference of a few weeks. A lot of people are quite happy with their iPhone 4s, and considering that iOS 5 will run on those (as well as the 3G Ss), how much does it really matter whether it comes out in late August or in September?