Following a report from earlier this month that claimed Apple’s (AAPL) next-generation iPhone will launch in the first half of 2013, new claims have emerged from the Far East that further support a summertime launch for Apple’s next iPhone. Digitimes cites unnamed market observers in stating that a number of Apple’s component suppliers are looking forward to strong first-quarter performance ahead of two big product launches slated to take place by mid-2013.

The first, Apple’s next iPad, would be pretty surprising considering the November 2012 launch of Apple’s fourth-generation iPad model. The second, which would be just as surprising considering Apple’s recent shift to an annual fall launch timeframe, is a new iPhone.

Digitimes provides no details surrounding the fifth-generation iPad or seventh-generation iPhone, but earlier reports claimed Apple’s manufacturing partners have already begun trial production of the next iPhone in an effort to avoid the yield issues that have plagued Apple’s previous iPhone launches.