With Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) taking place next week, the rumor mill has been rife with speculation of a new iPhone being announced by Apple to coincide with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0. Below we look at what we know so far based on rumors from the web and some calculated/educated guesses based on previous trends:

Release date
Apple's WWDC is widely acknowledged as the likely event that the new iPhone will be announced, one year after the current iPhone 3G was announced. The keynote will be held on Monday, June 8 by Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller. More info about WWDC can be found here.

Design
The third generation iPhone is said to sport a matte black finish on the rear shell, marking yet another change in the design and feel when Apple changed from matte aluminium on the first generation iPhone to a gloss plastic finish on the current second generation.

The new iPhone is said to have the earpiece embedded in the actual bezel, thus appearing higher than it currently is on the existing model, according to this Chinese online wholesaler. See the embedded picture to the right for an artist's (very good) rendition of what the new iPhone may look like.

It is also rumored that the Apple logo on the back will illuminate, just like on Apple's range of portable computers ever since the PowerBook Lombard.

Capacity
It's looking likely that the capacity of the iPhone will double again, with a 32GB version being available.

Data speed
Inline with AT&T's recent announcement of supporting HSPA 7.2 technology, the new iPhone is widely expected to be capable of mobile data transfer speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. 

Other
It's understood that Apple is now taking delivery of PCBs for the new iPhone as it gears up for mass production.

We'll keep this article updated as and when more news pops up in the build up to the announcement of the new iPhone. Stay tuned!

Nice chop work. Not that I would mind having one of these. Too bad that my iPhone (6 months old 3G) will have to go to one of the children, and that this daddy will ask a refreshed one for fathers day. Woot! One with more storage of course.

I'm starting to think there may not be a 6th beta. Anyone got any info on this?

So are they staying with just AT&T? I can't do AT&T where I work at, there's problems all over because they don't have a tower up there, and they won't put one in! I miss my Iphone....=[

if it comes out at WWDC, then there will only be 5 betas, 2.0 had 9 Betas yet it turned out really buggy, however, 3.0 is 2.0 with moar APIs and slightly moar features, on the 5th beta, the stability was meh-ish so WWDC release = slightly moar than half baked, if u wait a month or 2 betas then it will be ultra stable and not shitty

dear Lord: LET THE iPHONE BE ON VERIZON PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!!

I have my doubts about this.

There is also the rumor by the Financial Times that Apple will introduce a cheaper iPhone on Monday.

Untrue.

I was just in a meeting with an AT&T rep, who had conference calls with Apple earlier today.

No new phones on Monday. Just the 3.0 OS launch.

Maybe later this year.

Doesn't surprise me at all. How reliable are the Financial Times?

That would mean no SIM card, Verizon is decent, but personally I would rather have the iPhone stick with SIM cards so it isn't locked to one network.

Only one more day to WWDC! Guess we'll find out more stuff then...

haha one more day, and still no news about it..

Well, there's the news about a 3D chip inside it that'd also explain the new staff they recruited that lead to the console rumors...
http://kotaku.com/5279384/new-iphone-will-...-chip-hits-july