The highly anticipated, iPhone 5 may experience stock shortages due to the defective touch panels are being sent back to the manufacturer “Wintek”.

The defect, “delayed bubbles” are trapped between the touch panel and the lamination layer, delayed bubble is hardly to prevent as it is usually found during the assembly and it isn’t spotted during the laminating process, according to DigiTimes.

DigiTimes has also reported;

In response, Wintek simply indicated that all of its products are being delivered on schedule.

Wintek is expected to fix the defect immediately, the sources said.

Despite from the bad news we have here, anonymous sources have indicated Wintek only responsible to produce 20-25% of the iPhone 5 touch panels while Taiwan-based TPK Holding is accounted to produce 60-65% and Chimei Innolux will take care the rest of the remainder.

Digitimes sources are also reporting Apple is aiming to ship around 25-26 million units of iPhone 5 in the fourth quarter.

Apple is quietly denying requests for employee vacations during the second week of October, hinting that the company currently anticipates an influx of customers to its stores around that time related to availability of its new iOS 5 and fifth-generation iPhone products.

More specifically, the iPhone maker has in some locations blacked out vacation time for employees from October 9th through 12th and October 14th through 15th, according to people familiar with the matter.

Potential iOS 5.0 Release Date

The first block of dates — the 9th through the 12 — could pertain to the release of iOS 5 for existing iOS device owners on Monday the 10th. As AppleInsider reported last week, certain segments of the company's AppleCare divisions have been told to prepare for an influx of iOS-related inquiries on that same day.

Twitter has also scheduled a developer event and a pair of "Developer Teatimes" for Oct. 10 and Oct. 12 with a "heavy focus" on the social service's tight integration with iOS 5, further suggesting that Apple's non-disclosure terms covering the new mobile OS will have been lifted by then via a public release of the software.

Issuing a major iOS release a few days prior to launching new iPhone that will also leverage the software is not unexpected. For instance, last year Apple released iOS 4.0 on June 21st and then rolled out the iPhone 4 on June 24th. And a year earlier it launched iOS 3.0 (then dubbed iPhone Software 3.0) on June 17th and then followed up with the iPhone 3GS on the 21st.

Potential iPhone 5 Release Weekend

Assuming hints of an iOS 5.0 release around Monday, October 10th prove accurate, the second block of retail blackout dates — October 14th and 15th — could signal availability of the fifth-generation iPhone hardware by that Friday.

With Apple rumored to hold a media event to first unveil its fifth-generation iPhone plans on October 4th, that would give the Cupertino-based company roughly 10 days to field pre-orders ahead of an official launch.

Twitter has scheduled a pair of “Developer Teatimes” for Oct. 10 and Oct. 12 with a “heavy focus” on the service’s tight integration with iOS 5, possibly providing further evidence that the forthcoming update to Apple’s mobile operating system will arrive in two weeks.

Twitter announced the teatimes, the first to be held outside of San Francisco by the company, on Friday. The developer events will take place in London on Oct. 10 and New York City on Oct. 12, with space limited to just 150 attendees per city, as noted by Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web.

“There’s a lot going on in the ecosystem and we’d like to take this chance to share the highlights with you – including the latest developments with the platform, areas of opportunity that we’re seeing, and a heavy focus on the iOS 5 Twitter integration for developers,” said Twitter’s Jason Costa.

Given that iOS 5 is currently still in a beta development phase, it has been suggested that the timing of the events is meant to closely coincide with the public release of the OS.

Adding to the speculation is the fact that other evidence has pointed to a similar timeframe for the release. AppleInsider reported last week that the AppleCare division at Apple had been notified to prepare for an influx of iOS-related inquiries on Monday, Oct. 10.

AppleInsider was also first to report that Apple plans to release the Golden Master build of iOS 5 between Sept. 23 and Sept. 30. As the final version of the software, the GM would be sent to assemblers to be loaded onto the iPhone 5 in preparation for an expected mid-October launch.

According to one recent report, the Cupertino, Calif., company will hold a media event on Tuesday, Oct. 4 to take the wraps off the much-anticipated iPhone 5.

Apple announced in June that it had partnered up with Twitter to add deep integration of the social networking service to iOS 5. Rumors of the close partnership had surfaced prior to the unveiling.

As a result of the cooperation, the Twitter app has gained greater prominence in Apple’s own promotional materials for iOS 5. For instance, in one image (pictured below), Twitter is the only third-party application featured alongside Apple’s own apps, including Notification Center, Message, iBooks and Camera.

Rival social network Facebook, on the other hand, has worked less closely with Apple in recent years. Though the company provided one and iPhone application for the launch of the App Store, it has dragged its feet in releasing a native iPad app.

With the new iPhone, in whatever form it ultimately materializes, coming October 4 — according to Al Gore — current model iPhone 4 resale values can reasonably be expected to take a nosedive.

CNET’s Josh Lowensohn reports that many iPhone 4 owners are opting to sell them now to beat the anticipated price plunge that will follow the new model announcement(s), with http://www.gazelle.com/ third-party electronics trade-in service Gazelle telling him that people trying to flog their used iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 3GSs and iPhone 4s have spiked up 84% compared with two weeks ago.

“This launch has been so delayed and overdue, there’s definitely a lot more of a hype,” Anthony Scarsella, Gazelle’s “chief gadget officer” told Lowensohn in a phone interview. “For us, this is really an unprecedented behavior, as gadget owners always wait–usually until a new product is announced — to trade in.”

The tricky part of getting a jump on the price crash is of course what to do for a handset in the interval between selling and getting one’s hands on the new model (which may be announced before it’s actually available, although Apple is rumored to be building stock this time prior to the announcement in order to prevent a replay of what happened with the iPad 2 last spring), at least for folks who don’t have more than one phone.

Anyway, Lowensohn says Gazelle is offering a 30-day price lock, guaranteeing the price even if it goes down during the time lag between making the provisional transaction and the device reaching Gazelle for inspection.

Selling Your Old iPhone

AppleHeadlines’ Brian offers some tips on getting top dollar for your old iPhone, including:

• Stay jailbroken

• Wait till Apple signals a forthcoming announcement and then act act quickly, which would mean soon if Gore was correct, although you might need a tide-you-over cheapo phone for a few weeks

• Craigslist, not eBay, based on Brian’s personal experience

He also has some interesting analysis of pricing.

Speaking of which, this graph from NextWorth, another consumer electronics trade-in service, shows how trade-in values will likely start to drop rapidly prior to, and after, the new iPhone announcement.

To help consumers make an informed decision about when to trade in their current model, NextWorth looked at what happened after last year’s iPhone 4 announcement and the subsequent decline in trade-in values of the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

The data show that trade-in values of previous phone models begin to drop even before the actual announcement of the new version (now, in this instance).

Noting the potential difficulties associated with trading without the new model available for purchase, NextWorth will lock in a trade-in value for 21 days, so users can start trading now in anticipation and not be without a phone, or at least be without it for a shorter time.

TechnoBuffalo.com's bogus Best Buy iPhone 4G screen shot.

BGR’s Best Buy hoax in early September has been followed up with yet another bogus Best Buy leak, claiming a new iPhone 4G case.

The Best Buy iPhone 5 rumors are still winless, even this late into the game.

A fleeting report from Techno Buffalo quickly rose and fell, claiming a screen shot of a new product add to the Best Buy inventory of the iPhone 4G. The screen shot, which shows the sku and product information for an Orlando Magic “iPhone 4G case,” was touted as an actionable piece of intel to suggest that the next iPhone would not be the iPhone 5, but rather a 4G-equipped iPhone — hence, the “iPhone 4G.”

Techno Buffalo argues the case for taking this screet shot seriously: “Although even we were skeptical, the Best Buy employee assured us that this case was not listed the previous week and just sprouted up today in the system.” Author Mike Perlman goes on to justify the “iPhone 4G” evidence by citing the logic that Apple skipped the “iPhone 2″ in order to capitalize on the 3G network with the iPhone 3G, and that they could do the same on this year’s iPhone: “based on iPhone history, we have witnessed the leap from the first-generation iPhone right up to the iPhone 3G, proving that Apple does not necessarily heed a chronological naming template.”

He also cites numerous reports of AT&T testing the new iPhone on their 4G network, and that the release delay could be all about giving U.S. carriers like Sprint and AT&T time to get more of their 4G infrastructure in line before releasing it: “let’s ponder for a moment. AT&T just rolled out their LTE service. Apple pushed back its iPhone announcement to a date that falls just beyond Big Blue’s LTE red carpet. So now with Verizon and AT&T as LTE juggernauts, it would make all the sense in the world for Apple to release a new LTE iPhone within the coming weeks. We’ve also heard rumors of AT&T testing an iPhone prototype with its LTE service.”

All of this may seem well and good, except for the fact that the screen shot is erroneous at best and a total hoax at worst.

Less than 24 hours and two updates later, Techno Buffalo debunked their own big, breaking story: “Update 2: A UPC search (FVA3403) leads to a result indicating this is a case of iPhone 4 covers, which lends strong credibility to this being a Best Buy internal error and not a product reveal.  (Update by Sean)” Gee, maybe you should have done the UPC search first, Techno Buffalo.

This is the second failed Best Buy rumor in the month of September, with the first one, posted by Boy Genius Report, going up in smoke.

The shame of it is that Techno Buffalo makes some compelling arguments for how the next iPhone could indeed be the iPhone 4G. However, the irresponsibility of posting the screen shot with the headline, “iPhone 4G Instead of iPhone 5? Best Buy Leaks Apple Gold” without first double- and triple-checking the product code negates their claims.

It may be safe to say that any new evidence coming from Best Buy should be treated with the highest level of skepticism going forward.