It hasn't merely been a full day since Apple released iOS 5 beta 5, and rumours have already started coming in. It is being said that Apple will seed iOS 5 beta 6 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to developers on Wednesday, August 17 2011.
Apple seeded iOS 5 beta 5 yesterday to developers. As more and more betas continue to be seeded, we see that new features are added for testing by developers. You can also check out the full iOS 5 beta5 changelog. iOS 5 beta 5 release came after about 16 days since the previous beta was seeded to developers.
Starting from iOS 5 beta 4, all further iOS 5 beta updates are going to be delivered to developers OTA. Basically, these are over-the-air delta updates which means that you do not have to download the whole firmware ipsw file which can be well over 700MB. Only the changes are pushed to your device and they are hardly over 120MB. If you are connected to a strong WiFi network, downloading an OTA update can hardly take up to five mintues, while the former can easily take up to half an hour.
Considering previous release cycles, it won't be a stretch to expect around three more iOS 5 beta firmware updates before Apple finally releases iOS 5 to the public. As of now, Apple only releases beta firmware to developers who are enrolled in the Developer Program which costs $99/year. To install beta firmware, one must have the UDID of their device registered with a Developer Account. Nevertheless, workarounds are always found in beta iOS 5 firmware which allow you to install iOS 5 beta without Developers Account. Apart from that, people also upload iOS 5 beta firmware ipsw to file sharing websites across the internet. It seems to us that non-developers are more anxious to try latest iOS beta than developers themselves!
Anyhow, 9to5mac claims that they have received a tip which indicates iOS 5 beta 6 will be released to developers on August 17, 2023 which is going to be Wednesday. The sources are deemed legitimate considering the fact that they have previously tipped them off with the exact date and time of iOS 5 beta 5 release. The sources also indicate that seeding could be delayed due to reasons best known to Apple.
Nevertheless, its good to have an expected timeline for the next beta release of iOS 5. If you've been ardently following up with all the betas, we would advise you to clear your schedule for Wednesday evening for iOS 5 beta 6 release.