Apple is set to launch the latest model of the the best selling iPhone later today.

The ‘special event’ in San Francisco is being kept strictly under wraps, with a only a specially selected audience being invited to attend. For those based in the UK, Apple are running a live videolink at a equally secretive central London location.

Details of what new features will be on the new iPhone are so far unknown, but following yesterdays confirmation that Everything Everywhere will begin offering 4G services next month, it would seem inevitable that it will support new 4G connections.

Another new addition / feature will be the introduction of a new connector socket, essentially meaning that current apple charging connectors, and peripherals such as docking stations will not be able to be directly connected to new iPhone. We can only assume Apple will launch some kind of connector (at extra cost no doubt), which enable users to continue using current external devices.

Apples biggest rivals have recently launched new handsets, with Nokia joining forces with Microsoft on the new Nokia Lumia series of smart phones, and Samsung recently took the crown of the world’s biggest phone manufacturer.

This annoucement comes almost exactly a year since Apple launched the iPhone 4S, which featured a series of additions including voice recognition.

Amazingly, The Guardian is reporting that if Apple meet sales projections of 8 million iPhone 5 handsets, it could add 0.5% onto the the entire economy of the US.

Of course, it could be that today’s specially arranged event could be nothing to do with a new iPhone. Apple has a history of springing surprises, though it is widely expected to be a new iPhone handset.