If you’ve been eagerly awaiting news of Apple’s latest iPhone, wondering when it will finally be available and what new features it’s going to pack, then you’re just about exactly like millions of people all over the world, and hundreds of thousands of slightly obsessive Web addicts who frequent the Apple rumor sites on an hourly basis. Yes, there are entire web sites dedicated to nothing more than publishing hearsay and predictions. They have unbelievably large readerships. Some of them are the geek equivalent of the National Enquirer, but others are more reputable and have a track record for predictions that actually came true.
Where do all these predictions and rumors come from, then? Some are deliberate, thinly veiled leaks let into the wild by Apple itself. Others come from faux pas by online retailers who “accidentally” list items that don’t yet exist in their inventory systems — mistakes that are often correctly instantly, but not before an anonymous employee with access to the inventory system manages to grab a screen capture. The truth is, nobody really knows where all the rumors originate. Lucky for us, someone put it into illustrated form in the following infographic. Click to see it full sized, and you can trace the iPhone 5 rumors from start to (rumored) finish!
