Apple 3G iPhone Expected This Summer

In a research note issued last Friday, B of A's Scott Craig said that he is also forecasting that Apple will produce as many as 8 million of the 3G iPhones in the third quarter. Apple's current iPhone model operates on AT&T's 2.5G network, and many analysts have speculated that a faster version was in the works for this year.

"Our latest channel checks point to a significant production build of a 3G iPhone beginning in the month of June after an initial small build in May," Craig said, according to Reuters. That small build predicts will be about 3 million 3G iPhones, to be followed by the 8 million later in the year.

Analysts have speculated that Apple would bring the faster iPhone to market around the time of its World Wide Developer Conference, scheduled for June 9 " 13, in San Francisco.

Updated iPhone software, v 2.0, which brings new features and compatibility with Microsoft's Exchange email platform, is expected in June, along with the final version of its software development kit (SDK). Apple released the second beta of the SDK last week.

In its most recent earnings call with analysts, Apple said it expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008, which some analysts speculated was an optimistic number.

Apple will announce its second quarter earnings on April 23.