Yesterday, AllThingsD reported that the iPhone 5 will be released in October, contrary to earlier rumors pointing to a September launch. Now, a recent @markgurman tweet really got me thinking that a later iPhone release date would be better for consumers:

Obviously, I'm not taking this tweet as fact, but he brings up a great point that the next iPhone will probably be an iPhone 5, and not an iPhone 4S. The world's second largest company in terms of market cap would not take a year to simply put a new camera and a A5 dual-core chip in, arguably, their forefront product. I am led to believe that the next iteration of the iPhone will be a huge upgrade for a few reasons:

1) The myriad of Android superphones (e.g. HTC Evo, Galaxy S, Atrix 4G) with specs like 4.3 inch screens, dual-core processors and a gig of RAM are really starting to breathe down Apple's neck. The Android OS has 39% of the smartphone market share, compared to iOS' 28%, according to a recent Nielsen report.

2) Apple's will have about 15-16 months between revisions, giving plenty of time for its massive, talented staff to continue innovating. 

3) Droves of would-be Verizon iPhone 4 buyers have postponed their purchases for the iPhone 5. If Apple can please this group, they will continue grow the Apple halo, which will lead to more purchases on the Mac side.

4) Apple needs to please their fan base. 'Nuff said.

>Now, as for the specific improvements, I'm not going to claim that I know what's going to be released. However, I will say that 9to5Mac has indicated from leaked cases (which aren't always the best indicators of form factors) that the next iPhone will have a larger display while being thinner. That is in addition to a similar report by The Wall Street Journal that the iPhone will be "thinner and lighter", and will also have a dual-core A5 processor and a 8MP camera.

What improvements are you looking for in the iPhone 5?