The publication quotes Taipei-based analyst Jeff Pu who suggests that Largan Precision Co, a major smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc. will “face limited earnings” due to slow transition to higher-resolution lenses.

Pu said that the camera specifications of the next-generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 6S, will stay the same as the current iPhone 6 at 8-megapixels, limiting potential catalysts to push Largan’s stock price higher in the second half of the year.

The report published by Taipei Times contradicts Daring Fireball’s John Gruber belief that Apple may be working on major camera improvements for the next iPhone.

Apple has been following a pattern when it comes to launching new iPhone each year. The company introduces an all-new design one year and then follows up with the same design but with new processor and camera enhancements.

Most companies have launched new phones with more megapixels each year whereas Apple has retained the 8 megapixel camera since the iPhone 4s but, improved the sensor and added new technologies to allow users to take better photos.

Apple leads the list of most popular cameras on Flickr and to retain that spot the company would need to continue making the iPhone camera better each year. It will be interesting to see if Apple features a higher megapixel camera in the new iPhone. The new iPhones are likely to be unveiled sometime near September this year.

• Touch panels – TPK, Wintek, Chimei Innolux
• Quartz components – TXC
• Camera modules – Largan Precision,Genius Electronic

Now that production is underway, we can be assured of iPhone 4G announcement at WWDC starting on June 7th. That should lead to general availability some time in late June or early July. Some had suggested Apple should bring the new iPhone out ahead of schedule due to the leak and subsequent furor around it. If you consider the logistics of the supply chain however, Apple probably knew that was impossible. If Foxconn was taking delivery of parts for assembly in April then that means the component manufacturers were probably ramping up and producing components in March. That means a final design was probably agreed to in January or February at the latest. By the time Steve was announcing the iPad in January, he could very well have had a final prototype iPhone in his pocket. All of that of course leads to another tantalizing possibility. If the final iPhone design was finalized in January or February then the errant iPhone found in a bar in April was, in all likelihood, a final prototype. Or, as is always the case in the riddle-wrapped-in-an-enigma world of Apple, a brilliant piece of misdirection.

So if the new iPhone is in production in China and if we can reasonably assume the prototype lost in California was close to the final version, it looks like Apple has delivered on much of what its user base has asked for. The front facing camera will be used for the video chat option alluded to in iPhone OS 4. The additional microphone will undoubtedly be used for noise cancellation as well as a diction to text feature similar to Android 2.1. Many have suggested that was part of the rationale behind the Siri purchase. And persumably the HD in the rumored iPhone HD moniker will refer to both the improved display as well as the rumored capability for the new camera module to shoot 720p video.

No matter what, the next month should be very interesting as new tidbits of information leak out about the new iPhone. If Apple answers with the hardware and software everyone anticipates, it will again shoot the iPhone ahead of the competition.

What are you looking forward to on the new iPhone? Have you delayed your purchase in light of the leak of the new iPhone prototype? What’s your wishlist of iPhone features? Let us know in the comments section.