Apple September 12 iPhone 5 event confirmed: We'll be liveblogging!

Apple has officially announced its September 12 2012 event, where the company is expected to unveil the new iPhone 5. As before, the much-anticipated event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, with the show kicking off at 10:00am PST; the iPhone 5 seems a lock-in, given the "5" shadow conspicuously placed in the invite and the tagline "It's almost here." And, just in case you weren't sure, SlashGear will be liveblogging the whole thing.

September 12 hardly comes as a surprise, that date having been rumored for some time now. Some speculation had tipped a simultaneous iPhone 5 and iPad mini launch, though the latter is now believed to be coming later in Q4.

According to the leaks and rumors, Apple's new iPhone will include a larger display though the width of the smartphone will remain roughly the same as now. Instead, it will be a longer device, giving Apple more screen-room to play with for apps.

There's also expected to be integrated NFC, which will be used for mobile payments, and 4G LTE connectivity for high speed downloads. Apple has already used 4G in its new iPad, but held off from including it in the iPhone over battery and size concerns.

SlashGear will be at the Apple event and liveblogging the whole thing at http://live.slashgear.com/, so join us on September 12 for all the details as they're announced!