Evidence mounts for September 21 iPhone 5 release date

Cancel your plans for the evening of Thursday, September 20 and scope out the best camping spot near your local Apple store -- there's mounting evidence the release date for the new iPhone (presumably dubbed iPhone 5) will be September 21.

We already know that Apple has a big announcement planned for next week, on September 12, and CNET has been reporting for a while that some new Apple hardware could actually make it to consumers' hands on the 21st, but now that date appears a little more certain.

Today GottaBeMobile reports that a source shared the September 21 iPhone ship date with one of the site's reporters as well. Geeky Gadgets has also been given the same date, and reports that preorders will begin a week earlier on September 14. The site says the release date will be the same in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S.

Finally, MacRumors is reporting that FedEx is preparing for a "surge volume" event on September 21 to 24 and speculates that the internal memo could be referring to the new iPhone release.

No word yet if local stores will also be stocking more camp chairs and beef jerky in preparation for the arrival of Steve Wozniak and the multitude of other campers outside Apple stores.