Website MobileFun has posted a leaked schematic for an iPhone 5 case that hints at a major revamp for Apple’s upcoming device. The image of the case, which came from a Chinese manufacturer, indicates that changes to the next iPhone will include a larger 4-inch screen, a flatter, rounder shape similar in overall structure to the iPad 2, and a radically changed home button.

One of two images posted by MobileFun shows a case with a long band-aid shaped hole for the area around the iPhone’s home button that hints at new functionality. It’s been previously rumored that Apple will include a new capacitive touch strip where the iPhone’s home button now rests, but whether it will replace the home button or just work in tandem with it, as we think, is unknown. The strip could be used to quickly page through screens or perform other selection functions so as to not obscure the iPhone’s screen.

An early iPhone 5 mock-up from website This Is My Next shows what the new home button area might look like:

MobileFun also posted a second image from a separate source showing an actual manufactured iPhone 5 case with the same iPad 2-esque shape shown in the diagrams:

MobileFun claims the images were sent to them by separate Chinese case manufacturers. MobileFun is an online case retailer and has longstanding relationships with Chinese case manufacturers. These same sources previously supplied a leaked image to the site of an iPad 2 case that gave away some of the device’s features before its launch, according to a report by Cult of Mac.

MacRumors followed up MobileFun’s report by pointing to the exact same image posted a few days earlier on the website of a Norweigan accessory maker, Idinz. That image, however, is uncropped and without MobileFun’s watermark:

MacRumor’s report, however, pours cold water on the images, speculating they have a common single source and points to reports by “credible” news outlets like Reuters who say the iPhone 5 will look like the iPhone 4. Other sources counter those rumors with reports that Apple is using the iPhone 4’s design for internal-hardware testing purposes only, and insiders who have seen the testing firsthand have been misled into reporting the design will stay the same.

There is both precedent for Apple sticking with an iPhone design through successive models and also quickly altering the device’s shape. The original iPhone’s design lasted only one year, but the iPhone 3G’s shape remained largely unchanged with the 3GS.

Apple may feel some pressure to change the iPhone 4’s look after the Antennagate debacle could have left some consumers with the impression that the iPhone 4’s antenna design was flawed, although recent iPhone 4 sales figures indicate it’s still selling well.

*Update* More iPhone 5 cases images published here.

A report today out of Taiwan claims Apple has finalized the technical specifications and completed the certification process for the various chipsets that will go inside its next generation iPhone 5, iPad 3, and Macbook Air set to debut this fall. According to China Economic News, Apple has placed orders from its various suppliers for the chips to delivered at the end of August.

With Taiwan’s semiconductor industry seeing signs of an overall slowdown, manufacturers are looking to Apple to sustain growth in the industry for the third quarter of this year. Some are feeling more upbeat than others after receiving large orders for chipsets that will go inside Apple’s upcoming devices.

Qualcomm, a major supplier of wireless chipsets for the iPhone, is expected to place orders with its partners TSMC and the Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Group for chip foundry and testing for the next-generation iPhone 5 starting in August, according to the report. TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor company, recently made headlines as the company rumored to be manufacturing Apple’s next-gen A6 chip.

Apple’s chip partners are likewise gearing up for the assembly of the iPad 3. Japan’s Renesas Electronics, who makes the LCD driver for the iPad, has placed orders with Taiwan’s Chipbond Technology for chip package assembly for the upcoming iPad 3. Texas Instruments, who builds the iPad’s power management chipset, has likewise placed an order with Ardentek Corp to package its chipset.

Apple is conducting quality tests for a new high-resolution LCD screen due to appear in its next-gen iPad 3 sometime this fall, according to a report from Korea Times. Apple is close to securing large orders for the new displays from manufacturers LG and Samsung once it’s confirmed the screens meet Apple’s strict standards. The testing is being done at one of Apple’s satellite labs in China and is expect to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

The new LCD screens will be QXGA displays with a 2048 x 1536 resolution, double that of the iPad 2’s 1024 x 768 resolution, and will maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio of previous iPad screens, claims the report.

While LG began as the primary manufacturer of LCD screens for the iPad 2, light leak problems in early models led Apple to add Samsung as a secondary source for the screens.

LG and Samsung both have the ability to manufacturer low-temperature polysilicon screens on a mass scale. Low-temperature polysilicon weighs half that of traditional LCD screens, enhances flexibility for less breakage, and is cheap to manufacturer. The iPhone 4’s Retina Display is a low-temp silicon IPS screen (LTPS-IPS).

When designing its next-gen iPad, Apple provided the companies with requirements for an LCD screen with a pixel density of over 280 pixels-per-inch and strict visual quality standards, claims a source speaking the newspaper.

Other recent reports have indicated the next iPad will be more expensive than its predecessors. It will be labeled as a “pro” version of the device and marketed toward creative professionals, physicians, and other businesses that require high-res screens.

To avoid angering customers who purchased the iPad 2 just a few months ago in March, Apple is rumored to be avoiding the iPad 3 name and instead may call it the iPad HD, iPad 2 HD, or iPad 2+. Last month, website This Is My Next claimed Apple will be launching iPad versions of professional video- and photo-editing software such as Final Cut Pro and Aperture alongside the new pro iPad.

Apple is rumored to be ramping up its suppliers for the release of the iPad 3 as well as the iPhone 5 sometime this fall. DigiTimes reported earlier this month that Taiwanese manufacturers have already gathered to necessary materials for the mass manufacturing of the devices. A supposed image of a dock connector for the iPad 3 was published by website ApplePro earlier this week.