There have been way too many iPhone 5 cases leaking out the last couple of weeks. This all going to culminate in the release of the next generation iPhone 5 being announced in the next couple of weeks. What has been long debated however is whether or not this iPhone will be the same design as the iPhone 4 or a completely new design.

Recent reports have been saying that Apple will be announcing two new iPhones this year, a more pocket-friendly pay-as-you go phone that will look like the iPhone 4 with updated specs(a 4S) and a completely redesigned iPhone 5.

Yesterday, Case-Mate sent the world a flurry with the release of their iPhone 5 cases through a series of pictures on their site. These pictures were completely removed after a couple of minutes, presumably after the folks at Cupertino told them to.

From iDB:

The iPhone mockups in Case-Mate’s photos looked an awful lot like the iPad 2, and some folks didn’t like that. In fact, our very own Jeff wrote a piece about the images. But love ‘em or hate ‘em, the design can’t be too far off. And here’s why…

Since late July, we’ve been seeing “purported” iPhone 5 cases turn up all over the web. There has been several colors and textures, from multiple manufacturers, and they all look exactly alike.

They suggest that Apple’s upcoming smartphone will sport a bigger screen, with a wider frame and slimmer profile. The cases even seem to be thinner towards the bottom, compared to the top, in an apparent teardrop shape.

Funny, we’ve been hearing about the teardrop design since April, when Joshua Topolsky of This is my next reported that he had seen what the iPhone 5 looked like. So far, everything he mentioned (including the gesture-enabled home button) has stuck around

Now, about those cases. I wanted to find out more about the manufacturers that were putting out these next-generation iPhone cases. A quick trip to Alibaba.com helped me locate 4 companies claiming to have iPhone 5 accessories available.

Within a couple of clicks (I know, not real in depth-sleuthing) I located addresses for BOYUVISION, Huike Communication Accessories, Able Joy enterprises, and Napov Technology. Out of the 4 manufacturers, two of them were located in China.

Why is that significant? Well everyone knows that Foxconn, who plays a big part in producing iPhones and iPads for Apple, has a huge factory in Shenzhen China. And Google maps places the two case-makers within 10 miles of the Foxconn plant.

Surely employees from companies that close together are bound to cross paths at some point. And if not, where did they get the design CADs – out of thin air? I doubt it. My next question is if the manufacturers weren’t confident in the accuracy of their cases, then why have they already made thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of them?

We’ve heard from The New York Times and countless other sources that Apple’s next smartphone will feature an all-new design. I’m not saying the Case-Mate photos were the real deal, but come on. All of the gossip points to the same thing.

All the signs point toward Apple gaining two additional phones into their iOS lineup in the next couple of weeks and it seems as if moderate upgrade and then a major update with the iPhone 5.