As if we needed any more confirmation that Apple is releasing a new generation of iPhone in October — several tech sites are now new reporting that AT&T has officially begun blacking out dates for employee vacations. You guessed it: October 3rd-14th. The 3rd is a bit earlier than the start of Apple’s own October 9th employee vacation black out dates but nonetheless signals something is coming.

Building on the vacation black outs are six new SKUs that just popped up in AT&T’s inventory system which are “likely for Apple devices” according to a BGR source. Obviously Apple isn’t releasing six new phones, but if you consider each phone (white/black 16 GB and 32 GB) counts as separate SKUs, that leaves two SKUs for new iPhone 5 specific accessories.

As of now, the world is pretty much split on whether Apple will announce a single iPhone 5 or a lower end iPhone 4S and higher end iPhone 5. We’ve never been too keen on the dual phone approach as it isn’t Apple’s style to make a mad dash for the low end of the market — they generally care only about the mid to higher end sector. There’s always a first for everything though. With that said, infamous Apple blogger John Gruber of Daring Fireball makes a cryptic claim that has us really scrutinizing the dual iPhone rumor:

“Something tells me there’s only one new iPhone.”

We’ve seen a few sites reading the icons on the “Let’s Talk iPhone” invite rather deeply, speculating that the “1″ on the phone icon could mean Apple has but one phone to unveil — a reach for sure though intriguing nonetheless.

What do you think about the whole thing: Two iPhones, LTE capable, redesigned?

Via: BGR