iPhone 5 cases land in AT&T stores

By Gloria Sin | September 30, 2011, 7:23am PDT

Summary: With more and more iPhone 5 cases surfacing ahead of Apple’s big day on October 4th, is a bigger and slimmer iPhone really coming our way?

With just five days to go until Apple makes the iPhone 4S or 5 (or both) official at its Cupertino campus on October 4th, MacRumors has obtained photos that new iPhone 5 sleeves are already making their way to AT&T stores, suggesting a redesigned iPhone 5 may be unveiled  on Tuesday after all.

Judging by the photos captured by MacRumors‘ tipster who reportedly is an AT&T retail staff, the shape of these generic, black silicone sleeves are consistent with the leaked Case-Mate iPhone 5 case images published-then-pulled earlier this month. Both sets hint of the iPhone 5 being more svelte than the iPhone 4, with tapered edges that resemble the iPad 2.

These photos seem to contradict earlier rumors that Apple will only be announcing a slight updated iPhone 4S on October 4th, due to alleged production problems with the more technically ambitious iPhone 5 (thinner with a bigger display) according to 9to5Mac. BGR is also reporting that Case-Mate’s ephemeral iPhone 5 cases have just shown up in AT&T internal database, further tipping the scale in favor of a new iPhone. After all, there is no reason for AT&T to stock accessories for a phone that isn’t launching soon, and with mounting evidence that iPhone 5 cases are already making their way to retailers, the new iPhone is sure to follow.