Apple will begin production on its latest next-generation iPhone 5S sometime during the current fiscal quarter with the possible release date to come this summer, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Unnamed sources cited in the Journal's article, which was published on Tuesday, stated that the newest Apple smartphone will be "similar in size and shape" to the currently available iPhone 5 and, as rumors have suggested, will be dubbed the iPhone 5S.

According to initial reports, the iPhone 5S is predicted to be released in late summer, sometime in July or August.

A late summer release would return the iPhone to its original product release schedule which was first moved back when the iPhone 4S came out in the fall of 2011.

The Journal's report also made mention of an alternative 4-inch smartphone, which would be less expensive and likely utilize a different casing than that of the higher quality 5S.

As has already been rumored regarding the iPhone 5S, the purported less expensive Apple smartphone may receive different colored shells.

On Monday, a San Francisco Examiner article reported that the next two versions of Apple's iPhone were created under the company's late co-founder Steve Jobs.

The report cites San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon who said he was told the iconic device's next two incarnations were well underway before Apple's current CEO Tim Cook took over the company.

Should Apple continue its pattern in naming its phones, the next two phones in the sequence would be the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6.

Gascon said he came across the juicy details last week, during a meeting with Apple government liaison Michael Foulkes.

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