Updated

The iPhone 5 puzzle pieces are finally starting to fall into place, and it looks as though the finished picture will look pretty close to what we've expected.

Today's tidbit: the phone's launch date. Apple has already sent out event invites sporting a suspicious-looking shadow for Sept. 12, which will very likely be the day the iPhone 5 is unveiled to the world. But when will the finished product actually end up in your hands?

Apple fanatics might want to clear their schedule on Sept. 21. Tech news and rumor site GottaBeMobile spoke to "a trusted source familiar with Apple’s iPhone shipping plans" who claims that shippers are staffing up for that day in anticipation of the first major wave of iPhone preorder fulfillments.

The website claims that cellular carriers and retail stores will also start selling the iPhone on that day, which is backed by earlier reports that both AT&T and Verizon have scheduled vacation blackouts on Sept. 21.

T-Mobile, however, looks as though it won't be hopping on the Apple bandwagon this time around, either.

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Rumors peg the iPhone 5 as having a 4-inch 16:9 display, 4G LTE and NFC functionality, a unibody Liquidmetal design and a shrunk-down dock connector, along with iOS 6.