Trade in and discount deals about the iPhone 5 abound at the moment but soon enough these sales promo will dry up as Apple is reportedly pulling out its 2012 flagship off the store shelves after only a year in circulation, a new report said.

The main reason for the iPhone 5's early retirement is the imminent introduction of the low-cost iPhone 5C, according to long-time Apple insider Ming-chi Kuo of KGI Securities. The 5C, Mr Kuo said, will take on the role as Apple's mid-range handset, offering alternatives for iPhone lovers unwilling to pay the expected premium price of the iPhone 5S.

However, the KGI analyst noted that at $500 apiece, tops, for the unlocked version, the 5C is hardly tempting to consumers who are looking for bargain buys within the iOS ecosystem. Good thing that Apple will let the iPhone 4S to retail for a little more time.

To be repackaged as the budget iPhone, the 4S new price point will likely hover between $300 and $400 per unit, Mr Kuo was reported by Apple Insider as saying in a research note published on Monday.

As a result, the iPhone 4 will soon join the iPhone 5 in Apple museum, leaving an Apple smartphone lineup with identical 4-inch display screen and all powered by the Jony Ive-redesigned iOS 7, the KGI note said.

Mr Kuo also predicted that it is the 5S that will emerge as the top iPhone model during the last half of 2013 and going into the first few months of 2014, outmuscling the 5C both in volume shipments and actual sales.

He added that millions of buyers will be lured by the 5S due to the additional gold casing option with storage space of up to 128GB. Earlier reports have indicated too that the same premium edition, also to be offered in black and white, will be powered by A7 chips with 1GB of RAM and is capable of 64-bit computing.

The same handset is also reported to include a fingerprint sensor, embedded beneath the Home button that in the 5S will be protruding to accommodate the new biometrics mechanism.

The iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C are set for a formal intro on Sept 10, which is supported by the new report from The Wall Street Journal that Apple has given the clearance for Foxconn to commence shipments in the same month.

The WSJ news only backed analysts' conjectures that release date for both the 5S and the 5C will be late September or the same as the launch date as Apple scrambles to register a solid sales performance in ending Q3 2013.