Images of Unreleased iPhone 5s in Black and Slate Shared Online

[JPack]

It's because of the pandemic, but mass production is usually it's 6 months or so before launch day, so they have stock in the inventory not like Tesla.

The date codes for the components in the launch day units already tell you it's not 6 months. It's closer to 6 weeks. Foxconn doesn't even begin seasonal hiring until the middle of the year.

 

[macduke]

I really liked the slate. It was so different at the time and even for years after, aside from the plastic 5C which introduced more color.

The iPhone 5 is one of my favorite iPhone models. iOS 6 ran like butter, the lightning port was so much better than the giant 30-pin port, LTE finally made using a smartphone anywhere feel like Wi-Fi, it was the first iPhone with a larger display, and it was the first iPhone to have a really high-quality construction with very tightly fit body pieces and chamfered edges. It looked great aside from the anodization issues. It’s also the only iPhone I still have aside from the original and my current one.

 

[19callum93]

I’m glad Apple ditched the slate colour. My iPhone 5 was riddled in chips 😫

 

[newyorksole]

This is not true. A lot of prototypes are manufactured a year before they’re revealed, but iPhones for sale are manufactured around 2 months before they’re released at the earliest. This year that wasn’t the case, because of the pandemic they were shipping them out as soon as they were built.

I preordered my iPhone 12 Pro Max, and looking up the serial number shows it was manufactured in the first week of November.

Welp I guess the internal manufacture dates on multiple phones were wrong then because I worked in Apple Retail and saw several phones with wayyy early manufacturing dates.

 

[Tozovac]

View attachment 1714632

Bleh, that image is an awful reminder reminiscent of iOS7's fisher-price-my-first-ios.

 

[christarp]

Bleh, that image is an awful reminder reminiscent of iOS7's fisher-price-my-first-ios.

it still looks like that lmao

 

[goobot]

iPhone 5 slate black was so nice even tho it got damaged easily

 

[Tozovac]

it still looks like that lmao

No, the interface is much less pastel-y.

 

[Cleartz]

It's always cool to see unreleased / prototypes Apple products.

 

[verniesgarden]

"Space Grey" the color apple makes that's what ever the grey turns out to be. Its amazing how inconsistent space grey is between products and models.

Mapping Apple’s vast universe of space gray shades - 9to5Mac

Silver aluminum, once the defining look of Apple products, has been met with increasing variety over the last several years...

9to5mac.com

 

[madge28]

I’m glad they went with space grey instead. That color looked so cool

View attachment 1714632

what! I was so sad when I changed from the Black & Slate iPhone 5 to the uglier Space Grey 5S.
The Black & Slate looks so much better, albeit easily scuffed. I just hope the would find a solution to the scuffing problem with that color in the future.

 

[CJ Dorschel]

I remember this like it was yesterday

 

[GuruZac]

My 5s in space gray and 7 Plus in matte black were my favorite iPhones I’ve ever had. I love my 11 Pro, but the 7 Plus looks, performance, 3D Touch, etc were amazing at the time. My mom still has a 7 Plus and it screams still. Amazing phone. Would love a new Mac option in that Slate. I love my space gray MacBook Pro , especially in lower light, but that slate was really nice on the 5.

 

[mannyvel]

Mass production usually begins in early summer, followed by a September release.

Which still begs the question: if the devices are manufactured months before release how do they get the newest GA firmware onto them before shipping?

 

[transpo1]

Black & Slate was a badass colorway. I still have my 5 in that finish, signed by Woz on the back (saw him at a conference).

Apple should definitely make a matte black finish for the next iPhone— no fingerprints and I think it would sell.

 

[odonnelly99]

I realy would like to have a true black iPhone for once instead of same shade of gray. In my eyes real black is the most elegant color.

Oh boy! Do I have a surprise for YOU!

 

[aleni]

And that ladies and gentlemen, the most beautiful iphone ever made. Except the bezel on the front.

 

[aleni]

Oh boy! Do I have a surprise for YOU!

That shiny glass back looks ugly. It’s a fingerprint magnet too.

 

[Localcelebrity]

To date this is still my favorite iPhone to hold. The 12 Pro comes close but doesn’t get the whole way there. I absolutely adored the way the chamfered edges would get beat up and scratched.

 

[Macbookprodude]

too little, too late. 2013 was in past.

 

[entropys]

Still my favourite phone I've owned. I'm still on the 8-plus and I have never been a big fan of its camera — for some reason my 5s photos seemed sharper and less washed out than what I take on the 8-plus.

Get a mini. I am very happy with mine and it is only slightly bigger.

 

[44267547]

For the love of god, Apple make space grey slate again. Even if it has wear+tear consequences

And make space grey laptops the saturated black that the 13" polycarbonate MacBooks were, again.

Ploycarbonate is a very robust material, highly durable even over {DLC substrate}. The problem with polycarbonate, it’s heavier/dense and more arduous to manufacture, which we all know how Apple is about products being thin and light weight, it would only detract from how they envision things. If you look at the tech industry, it’s a material that was primarily abandoned, I suspect mainly due to cost if anything.

 

[NewBench]

Black/Slate is my all time favourite iPhone colour, although the Space Grey option on the 5S is up there too.

I hope we get another Black/Slate option in future handsets.

 

[cargoplex]

Found some pics of when I sold my iPhone 5 on eBay 😔

 

[Nütztjanix]

I realy would like to have a true black iPhone for once instead of same shade of gray. In my eyes real black is the most elegant color.

Pick one, or take them all:

- iPhone 12
- iPhone 11
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone XR