iPhone to have a liquid-metal case:

In April, it was heard that the new iPhone would be having a liquidmetal skeleton or often known as metallic glass. As liquidmetal is used in high end sporting gear and can resist bending, scratching, denting and shattering ; that would make the iPhone quite durable.

The Mondo iOS update:

In June, the word was that the new OS Apple was going to integrate into their new iPhone; was to feature improvements to Siri, Facebook integration and a new mapping and navigation feature.

Early Release and Longer Screen:

Towards the end of May,  the buzz was that the next generation iPhone would be released by October and would be possessing a longer glass screen.

New Shape and Structure :

Next up, it was believed that the back cover of the next iphone would be made of brushed metal. It hinted towards a longer, thinner iPhone and appeared to have a new and much smaller dock connector at the bottom, with redesigned speaker grills and a headphone jack located at the bottom aswell.

Transition from 3.5 to 4 inch screen:

Since the beginning, the developers at Apple seem to me at peace with the screen size of their handheld device, the iPhone; however, now it is expected that the new iPhone would be sporting a full 4 inch screen.

Liquid Metal all the way:

Now recent talks tell that other than the skeleton even the smaller parts like the 3G sim card ejector would be made of liquid metal too. It is not exactly an anomaly as in 2010, Liquidmetal Technologies Inc. granted Apple a perpetual license to use its technology in their electronic products.

Steve Jobs involvement with the iPhone 5:

In the midst of May, it was reported that before the death of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, he laid down the design of the upcoming iPhone.

iPhone 5 to get widescreen display

Apple is said to be testing two versions of the sixth-generation iPhone, both of which include a longer display that brings the smartphone near a 16:9 screen ratio.