Verizon is reportedly packaging the iPhone 5 into a $US99 promo plan, a new report said, significantly shrinking the unit price of the Apple flagship some months prior to the rumoured release date of the iPhone 5S and its cheaper version.

The information provided by @evleaks is limited for now but the Verizon move, when realised, will follow on the Sprint and T-Mobile models, which dangle the iPhone 5 to U.S. consumers for $US99 in exchange for contract agreement.

All three giant telcos shaved off $US100 from the normal contract price of $US199.

Yet beyond what appears as a normal price tiff among iPhone distributors, Apple watchers can't help to assume that the unison price movement could mean one thing - U.S. telcos are clearing their iPhone 5 inventories to make way for new stocks.

Apple is likely to release the iPhone 5S and its low-cost edition sooner than expected and this projection is somehow supported by new claims that production of the iOS devices have commenced and now in full swing.

Reports have alluded to the ramp up activities seen from Apple's supply chain players, most of which are based in China.

While analysts have been insistent that the iPhone 5S will not arrive until September this year, there are flicker of hopes that the handset will debut a bit earlier, probably between the months of June and August.

Officially, Apple is silent on the matter, a posture that only subjects the iPhone release date into a raging debate and even wild speculations.

In a recent appearance, Tim Cook, Apple's big boss, is rather cryptic, allowing only that the tech giant is prepping for big surprises later this year. Unfortunately, most of the salient details were withheld by Mr Cook.

For their part, analysts would like to believe that Apple is planning an earlier iPhone thrust before it issues the new sets of iPads by September this year. Their calculations would leave some window time for the iPhone 5S to hit store shelves in early Q3 2013, with August as the latest release date.

As for the iPhone 6, experts believe the Apple phablet will reflect a design overhaul, which requires more to complete, thus eliminating any possibility that the large-screen iOS smartphone will see the light of the day anytime this year.

Rumoured to flash screen size beyond the 5-inch mark, the iPhone 6 should begin making waves by June 2014 though advancing its debut by a few months is not an impossible task for Apple.