Apple will apparently call its new smartphone the "iPhone 5," validating pundits' expectations, according to the company's website.

A search on apple.com using the string "iPhone-5" revealed several documents that named the new handset. One of the documents appeared to be a press release that Apple will issue later today.

The 9to5Mac.com blog first reported on the search results.

The search uncovered a URL for today's press release that included "2012/09/12Apple-Introduces-iPhone-5.html;" the document is not yet accessible, however.

"iPhone 5" has been the label most had assigned to this year's model. The naming prediction had been a repeat of 2011, when analysts, customers and bloggers eagerly awaited a new model. After its October 2011 introduction, some knocked Apple for using "iPhone 4S" instead as they vented their disappointment that it was not a more substantial upgrade from the previous year's iPhone 4.

A separate search for "iphone LTE" also revealed an unavailable URL, http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/, that seems to tip that the iPhone 5 will, as most had figured, support mobile carriers' faster LTE data networks.

Wall Street is expecting great things from the iPhone 5, with pre-sales estimates for the first three days -- likely to begin Friday -- as high as 6 million units, or 50% more than the iPhone 4S' opening weekend.

In a note to clients today, Brian Marshall of the ISI Group pegged fourth-quarter sales of all iPhones at 41 million, of which approximately 85%, or nearly 35 million, will be the iPhone 5.

If Marshall's projection is on target, the 41 million iPhones would represent an 11% gain over the same period in 2011, when Apple sold a record 37 million.

Apple will host an event in San Francisco today starting at 1 p.m Eastern to unveil the new smartphone.

A search of apple.com reveals the name 'iPhone 5' in a company news release that will likely go live later today.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

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