Following reports saying that Apple will be announcing the new (3G) iPhone model at this

year's WWDC debut, analysts are stressing out that the new device shan't surprise much at first. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes the 3G SKU will be sporting only a thicker body (due to an increased size in the chipset as well as the exterior design), while the rest of the improvements are scheduled for next year.

The researcher predicts that, aside from the above mentioned changes, the only remaining modification occurring with the iPhone for now is, of course, the price. Muster claims the new phone will be priced just a tad higher (with $12 to $18 more), since Apple is holding the most of the "true revisions" for next year, AppleInsider reports.

"We expect more dramatic changes with the expansion of the iPhone family to multiple models and price points by [January]," the Piper Jaffray researcher explains, also making mention of iPhone firmware 2.0. While the firmware update won't bring that many changes either (the App Store and Microsoft Exchange support), according to the analyst, some Wi-Fi-only features, such as iTunes Store purchases, could potentially be using 3G networks, the analyst suggests.

There's also a bit of a gap between Apple's iPhone firmware 2.0 release (scheduled for late June) and the iPhone's (rumored) immediate availability once WWDC '08 debuts. This gap, Munster suggests, may enable Apple to take pre-orders for 3G iPhones as soon as Steve Jobs officially introduces the new device on June 9, the day WWDC '08 is on.

Still, even Munster claims Apple may nevertheless surprise us and launch the new iPhone earlier: "A mid-June shipment... would enable Apple to sell an initial surge of 3G models at the end of the June quarter," he notes.