Now that the iPad 2 launch is out of the way we can move on to more pressing matters: speculating about the iPhone 5.

Apple's pattern since the first iPhone was released in 2007 has been to update the iPhone every summer, with the new device being announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers conference (WWDC) and released soon afterwards.

However, according to rumours, there will be no new iPhone this summer. Instead, it's thought that the new handset will not be released until the autumn or perhaps early 2012.

Announcing the 2011 WWDC yesterday, Apple's senior vice president Philip Schiller said: "At this year's conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS."

The focus on software, rather than hardware, was not lost on observers. Jim Dalrymple, writing on his blog The Loop, said the "announcement backs up what my own sources are saying about the annual conference. That is, expect a software show in 2011, not a hardware event".

Dalrymple's view was backed up by MG Siegler, of TechCrunch, who said: "The biggest news may be what's not mentioned in the WWDC release: the iPhone. In our post this weekend, I noted that I hadn't heard anything specifially about the iPhone 5 release given the iOS delay, but I speculated that it could still be unveiled at WWDC with a new build of iOS 4. That is incorrect. The iPhone 5 will not be making an appearance at the even, we're now hearing."

Further to that are reports from Asia that Apple has not yet begun ordering components for the iPhone 5. Macotakara claims that the fifth-generation iPhone might not be released until October or later.

With Apple, it's seldom possible to predict what's coming but at the moment the evidence suggests there will be no new iPhone this summer