It seems that ever since the iPhone was first launched there’s been no shortage of rumours concerning its successor. While the iPhone 3G is certainly an extremely powerful piece of kit, there have been several conspicuous absentees from the feature list. But with Apple announcing the iPhone 3.0 OS update that is due to launch in the summer, it looked as though the missing features where to be included in a software update rather than a new iPhone putting the rumours to bed once and for all. Or so we thought….

According to a ‘reliable source’ at Apple (we appreciate how tabloid newspaper-esque that sounds), Apple are still beavering away on the iPhone 3G’s successor and it could be here sooner than you think. While we’re not normally one to be taken in by this kind of internet fodder, the latest rumour caught our attention not only because the features sound great but also how feasible it all sounds! First things first, the new iPhone will apparently sport an OLED touchscreen display as opposed to the LCD found in the original. If this is true, the benefits will include a better battery life and an even slimmer iPhone as OLED screens don’t need a backlight to operate and so can be much thinner compared to LCD.

Other upgrades include a boost for the camera from 2.0 to 3.2 Megapixels with autofocus, increased processing power and also increased memory to 16GB and 32GB variants which seems perfectly reasonable as the upgrade from 2G to 3G saw the memory capacities grow. Perhaps most far fetched of all are the rumours is that the new iPhone is to include an Apple logo on the reverse of the phone that actually glows! While this certainly sounds good (and i’m sure it would look pretty cool too), i’m not so sure Apple would improve the battery life only to think up new ways to drain it.

Of course all of this is completely unconfirmed at the moment but it certainly sounds promising. The best part? Apparently the new iPhone is due to launch on the 17th of July. Now that i do find hard to believe! Still, if it does turn out to be true, that means that the official unveiling must be imminent. Keep your eyes on the Blog over the next couple of weeks for more info as we get it.