Traditionally, a new iPhone is announced every year at Apple's WWDC event and released shortly after. Could the iPhone 5 miss its annual update this summer and move to the fall?

If we go by historical reference, it tells us that the iPhone 5 should be on track for a summer release, but given that this is Apple we're talking about — it can change the release cycle and people would still line up in droves, days in advance, waiting to buy the newest iGadget.

It seems the focus this year will mostly center around iOS and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phill Schiller says, "At this year's conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS" and "If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss." With Mac OS X 10.7 Lion taking a lot of cues from iOS, the iPhone might end up playing second fiddle this time around.

There's no mention of hardware, but then again, Apple doesn't dabble in the guessing game. It tries to make surprises, even if the blogosphere can collectively piece up its hardware announcements before they're unveiled.

If the next iPhone release launch time does get changed up, it could be for a number of reasons. The Verizon iPhone 4 launch in January seemed to disrupt the entire iPhone launch tradition and a fall release could mean Apple's working on a simultaneous AT&T and Verizon iPhone 5 launch, just like the iPad 2. Or, perhaps Apple wants to realign the iPhone with its iPod brothers and sisters at its annual iPod event in September.

Either way, it's still the worst time to make any iPhone purchase on AT&T or Verizon. Change could be in the air, but that's what happens when you get too comfy.

Apple WWDC, via Macrumors