Apple has seeded a new version of the iPhone 2.0 Beta OS for developers enrolled in the beta iPhone Developer Program. Also available today to all ADC members is an updated version of the iPhone SDK (Beta 3).

This week Apple released the new version of their iPhone SDK. The latest iPhone SDK build 9M2158a, beta 3 which includes the iPhone Simulator now has the pre-release iPhone firmware 2.0 build 5A240d running on it. The latest firmware build has revealed couple of interesting new features which we will ultimately see in the iPhone firmware update to be released to iPhone owners in June.

We’ve got two big bits of news lined up today for the guys keen on developing their own software on the Apple iPhone. The first matter we’re reporting is that a new version of the iPhone’s 2.0 Beta firmware (aka firmware 1.2) has been released.

This new build, dubbed version 5A240d, will carry updates focused on Exchange support (according to MacRumors). In line with this news, Apple’s also released iPhone SDK Beta 3. We advice the users to clear some room - if the Beta 2 SDK’s release indicates anything, it’s going to require a ton of space on your hard drive.

We also remind the readers that the iPhone firmware 2.0’s public release is currently set for the month of June, at about the same time as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2008. Drop by again in case we run into any more updates. The download for the iPhone’s SDK Beta 3 is available via the source link below.

Apple has added a contact search function to the new build of iPhone OS 2.0, 5A240d. The search function is also included with the revised iPhone Simulator that comes with the iPhone SDK build 9M2158a, beta 3. The search works much like iTunes search — a live-refining list of result.

The iPhone SDK Beta 3 has barely been out for a few hours and Zibri, maker of the ZiPhone iPhone tool, has found references to a future 3G chip inside the new firmware. The chipset is the SGOLD3, which follows up the current S-GOLD2 in today’s iPhone. Here’s what the S-GOLD3 has support for, not all of which will make it into the next-gen iPhone: HSDPA category 8 (7.2 Mbps), cameras of up to 5-megapixels, MPEG4/H.263 hardware acceleration and “video telephony, streaming, recording and playback.” Again, Apple might not enable all these features in the actual 3G iPhone, but at least we know that they’re theoretically possible. [ZiPhone]