Apple's iPhone 5: Rumors and Beneficiaries (Update 1)

Updated from 12:25 p.m. EST to provide additional beneficiary in the sixteenth and seventeenth paragraphs.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - With rumors of a June launch swirling around the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, attention is shifting to what's inside the eagerly-anticipated device.

Japanese Web site Macotakara reports that Foxconn is hiring 18,000 employees to prepare for a June launch of Apple's fifth-generation smartphone.

Intriguingly, Apple has filed a patent application for an iPhone made entirely of glass. This could be for the new iPhone, or a future version of the product.

Investor sentiment is certainly running high, with analysts significantly raising their Apple price targets. One analyst went so far as to put a $1,001 price target on the company, primarily due to the forthcoming iPhone.

Although often referred to as the iPhone 5, the new phone's name remains clouded in secrecy. Apple did away with the numbered sequence for its latest iPad, simply choosing to call it "The new iPad." It is very possible Apple may choose to follow the same course with future iPhones, as CEO Tim Cook makes subtle changes to the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant.

If the new iPhone is scheduled for a June release, the rumor mill will ramp up sharply in the coming months. Nonetheless, here's a list of features that could be present in Apple's latest smartphone:

What It Will Look Like

Despite initial claims that the iPhone 4S was more evolutionary than revolutionary, it certainly didn't hurt the tech giant's sales. Apple's design team, led by Jonny Ive, may push the envelope with the new phone.

There have been rumors that Apple may increase the screen size of the phone, from 3.5-inches to 4.6-inches. Apple has not changed the iPhone's screen size since the device was launched in 2007. From what we have seen before, though, it's not in Apple's DNA to change what's already working so well.

The phone's thickness, however, may be slightly altered. With the next iPhone expected to offer Long Term Evolution (LTE) capabilities, the battery may need to be larger. The iPhone 4S is 4.5-inches in height, and 2.31-inches in width, with a depth of 0.37-inches. The latest iPhone weighs 4.9-ounces.

The casing of Apple's next smartphone could be all aluminum, if Apple decides to do away with the glass backing on the current phones.

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