Posted by Andrew R Hickey

The buildup to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where the iPhone-hungry masses anticipate a new Apple iPhone will be unveiled, continued Tuesday with a China Times report indicating that Apple has ordered 4 million new iPhones for the second quarter.

According to the report, that 4 million comprises three separate new iPhone models.

One of those three models is expected to be an EDGE-based smartphone, while another will be run on the 3G network. The third new iPhone is rumored to be made exclusively for the Chinese market.

Rumors of a new iPhone started in earnest last month, when Apple revealed it would hold WWDC in June. While a new iPhone is just one of many expected announcements at WWDC, it has certainly become the subject of the most speculation.

Perpetuating the speculation was a report last week that Apple had bought 100 million 8-GB NAND flash memory chips from Samsung and other suppliers. The chips, which are used to build 16-GB, 32-GB and 64-GB devices, sparked rumors that Apple is building a 32-GB iPhone to complement the 8-GB and 16-GB iPhone 3G models already available. A 32-GB iPhone would bulk up the storage capacity enough to support new memory-intensive features like video recording and a higher-resolution 3.2-megapixel camera.

The massive memory order dovetails on a report released last month by Lazard Capital Markets, which noted that Apple is expected to start production of a 32-GB iPhone 3G in April and May.