With rumors making rounds of late that Apple will likely release its much-awaited next-generation iPhone - the iPhone 5 as it is unofficially referred to - next month, a "trusted Verizon employee" has recently disclosed to TechCrunch that the smartphone will probably hit the store shelves on September 21.

According to a new TechCrunch report, the disclosure about a September 21 release of the new iPhone is somewhat substantiated by the fact that Verizon Wireless has imposed `vacation blackouts' for its employees for the period between September 21 and September 30, banning the staff from taking vacations during that period.

In addition, the "trusted" Verizon employee's revelation about the possible September 21 launch of the iPhone 5 is also fairly in line with earlier rumors which speculated that Apple will announce the handset at a press event on September 12, and the sales of the handset will commence almost a week later.

If the TechCrunch report turns out to be accurate, it will be evident that Apple intends following the same launch pattern for iPhone 5 as it did with its iPhone 4S last year, when it made a mid-week announcement of the handset and launched it on the Friday of the next week.

Moreover, since Apple also made iPhone 4S available for online pre-orders on week before its launch, it is also quite likely that the company may follow a similar timeline for its iPhone 5 as well!