Apple's iPhone
Apple's iPhone REUTERS

The last we've heard about the release of the iPhone 5 was that Apple is stockpiling the smartphones in order to meet a release next month.

DigiTimes reported that manufacturer Foxconn is now rumored to be producing 150,000 units a day and that shipments of iPhone 5s from the supply chain are expected to reach five to six million in September and top more than 22 million units in the fourth quarter.

Foxconn is supposedly handling about 85 percent of iPhone 5 production, while Pegatron is contracted for the remaining 15 percent.

We've also heard reports that German Apple carrier partner Deutsche Telekom already started pre-sales for Apple's fifth-generation smartphone. Bloomberg recently reported that it confirmed with Deutsche Telekom that starting last week its subscribers may begin reserving Apple's iPhone 5 smartphone.

BGR.com recently reported that Macotakara reported that Apple's manufacturing partners have begun assembling the iPhone 5. However, citing information from an anonymous source, the report noted that the finished devices aren't being packaged as yet because the release build of iOS 5 hasn't been finalized.

Rumors have it that a near-final build of the iOS 5 has been sent to multiple mobile carriers, and that it will have a feature that works almost identical to the Android operating system's speech-to-text feature.

9to5Mac has said that it got word that Apple's most prominent carrier partners have been seeded near-final builds of iOS 5 for final testing. The build the partners received is said to be newer than the betas seeded to developers and includes some unique features.

The source also said the near-final iOS 5 build in late carrier testing includes the Nuance Dictation speech-to-text feature that is now being tested.