The mainstream media has finally waded into the puddle of rumors surrounding the upcoming release of the next-generation iPhone. CNN, amongst others, has seemingly placed its bet on a September launch window for the iPhone 5.

Photo credit: Martin Hajek

A report by iMore claiming that the iPhone 5 will be unveiled on September 12 and released on the 21st of that month, was rapidly followed by an article by the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D blog, which said that Apple is cooking up an event during the week of September 9.

Citing anonymous sources at the Cupertino-based company, All Things D said this event will most likely take place on Wednesday of that week – September 12 – if previous Apple product unveilings are anything to go by.

An interesting point raised by the report is how difficult the smartphone market is at present. The iPhone is still the single most-wanted smartphone available, but it has given up much of the mid-range and low-end market to Android-based handsets. However, devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3 prove that smartphone running Google’s mobile operating system can fight Apple’s best on its own turf.

CNN’s report discussed the rumors of a smaller iPad Mini that would be positioned to compete against the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire in the budget tablet segment. It may seem to go against late Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ reported dislike of the smaller tablet form-factor.

Still, the success of the Kindle Fire last year may just have forced the Cupertino, CA company to respond with its own downsized offering, lest it completely give up this potentially lucrative market segment.