iPhone 5 to Get Aluminum Backing, Redesigned Antenna?

[ipearx]

This doesn't quite make sense. I've got a first generation phone, had it for a number of years now, and I'm still using it every day. I don't use any kind of case or glass protector.

The back has dings, scratches, dents, nicks, and blemishes. The black plastic is similar, but not quite as noticeable. The glass is near perfect sans one little scratch. So I doubt they'd move back to aluminium to avoid scratches.

Unless, does the iPhone 4 use a different type of glass for the back?

 

[cocky jeremy]

I like the iPhone 4 much better, but i won't mind aluminum back so much if it's flat like the iPhone 4 design. I hate the curved back after having the iPhone 4. It feels much more sturdy.

 

[Cougarcat]

This implies that Apple is still having trouble with the white back of the iPhone 4. Giving up on it?

 

[slimbek]

Any half-decent Industrial Designer would NEVER go back on a design.

Apple moves forward and innovates.

This is not innovation.

 

[wordoflife]

I was just starting to like the glass on the iPhone 4.
Oh well.

I trust Apple on this one. I'm sure they know what they are doing.

 

[Phil A.]

I love the mockup. However, I don't know how signals would get through the aluminum back? They needed a black plastic strip on the original iPhone as well, and on the iPad 3G. I know they have overcome black strips with WiFi somehow, with the new iPod Touch and the WiFi-only iPad, but it seems that 3G needs more transparency...

The WiFi aerials for the iPad are behind the plastic Apple logo on the back (which is is a pretty neat way of getting the signal out!)

 

[billyjoegibsonx]

WOW

I'm waiting on the iPhone 5 I hope they redesign it to something similar. I'm sure apple will have a much better design in mind. I like the iPhone 4 design but the antenna issue was too much of an issue for me Personally, I found the 3G/3GS more comfortable to hold than the iPhone 4, but It's just speculation as apple can easily make a flat or curved back out of aluminium (ipad 1g curved aluminium/macbook pros)

I really hope that if they do design it, it will be in white! I'll camp out again & have my card ready to get a hold of a white iphone 5 on launch day!!

cmon hurry up june/july!

 

[Twizz91]

Any half-decent Industrial Designer would NEVER go back on a design.

Apple moves forward and innovates.

This is not innovation.

This.


But still, keep in mind what they did with the ipod shuffle (going from no buttons back to a little clickwheel)

 

[syc23]

It the design looks like that, I'll be buying an iPhone 4 as my first smartphone. That mockup is bloody disgusting - the iP4 is classy looking with the glass front and back and brush aluminum band chassis which to my eye is a design classic.

 

[sk58781111]

the glass makes iphone too heavy and fragile. black carbon fiber would be cool as hell.

i hope apple minimizes the bezel and makes the screen at least 4".

 

[dethmaShine]

- Apple is going to reflect the iPad build on the iPhone as well. I'm more than sure about that. They did that with the iPod Touch. They did that with the iPad; here comes the iPhone 4.

- Totally makes sense; lighter and thinner; scratch resistance; no white-paint problems; less prone to scratching

- I would also assume that the iPhone Nano (as it is called) will be similar to this design as it's less expensive to manufacture and the parts cost less.
It is possible that Apple gets a similar design to the iPhone (pro?) to maintain consistency in their designs.

 

[Merkuryy]

Nobody made comments on the "the Chinese supply chain seems to be the weakest link in Apple's secrecy"? Cool

 

[CplBadboy]

Who knows what its gonna look like. One thing that is very wrong in the description by MR is that they mentioned that the iP4 suffered the major issue of losing signal and put this down to holding it a 'certain way'

What MR? Is that certain way which 99.9% of the users hold it? For one second there I think SJ actually wrote this article.......

Apple should at least offer a trade in price for the millions of users that got duped by the duff design of iP4.

 

[tonyunreal]

the original EDN article seems mislinked in the mactokara story. It links to an old article they also reference in a previous article: http://www.macotakara.jp/blog/index.php?ID=11211. I believe it was a mis-copy/paste.

Not knowing chinese, I couldn't find the article on the http://money.udn.com site. I took MacTakara's word on it. If you can read chinese, you might be able to find it.

Macotakara referred to the EDN article for the information about manufacturing progress of the iPhone 5, then cite "a Chinese source" for the rest part, I don't think EDN mentioned anything about an aluminum back or anything that related to new designs. The mock-up picture also comes from a Japanese site, not Chinese sources.

 

[Chaszmyr]

the glass makes iphone too heavy and fragile. black carbon fiber would be cool as hell.

i hope apple minimizes the bezel and makes the screen at least 4".

+1. Shape it like the original iPhone, make it out of carbon fiber and give it a 4" screen, and I'll be over the moon.

I wouldn't mind it going back to aluminum though, first gen iPhone is still the best looking of the bunch, imo. It had some minor flaws, but an updated, refined aluminum iPhone could be killer.

 

[DoFoT9]

The WiFi aerials for the iPad are behind the plastic Apple logo on the back (which is is a pretty neat way of getting the signal out!)

AAAAHHHH!! i was just wondering that. how ingenious! clever apple

 

[204353]

I remember reading somewhere that Apple spent approximately 18 months and several billion dollars designing the iPhone 4. I would be very surprised to see them dump the design that quickly, despite the antenna 'issues'.
In my experience, the current antenna gives the 4 far better signal than the 3GS, unless you happen to tightly wrap your hand round one corner (which seems like an odd thing to be doing anyway ).

If they do anything, I think the next generation will have a slightly tweaked design. Maybe shift the antennas around so that there is no seam in one of the lower corners, for example.

Another thing... If they go aluminium on the next one, what will they do with all the stainless steel manufacturing technology that they clearly invested a lot of money in?

 

[wordoflife]

It's important to realize that this is just a mockup. I'm sure it will look better.
And I bet this has to do with the white backing making the flash/pictures come out like crap,

 

[twochoicestom]

What an absolutely **** rumor.

 

[animatedude]

as much as i would kill for a sexy Aluminum backing, i'm so not ready for the "what we learnt from the iPad" marketing crap...especially with the British guy who is full of **** lol

iPhone is the mother of all halos but now Apple wants the iPad to be the slut of all halos...don't be surprised to see Mac Pros with IOS.....

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

Now this would make it REALLY scratch-prone....

I don't understand everyone who says these aluminum casings are so scratch prone. When I had my original iPhone it never scratched and I've had my MacBook Pro for almost 3 years and I take it on the go a decent amount and last I looked it has one scratch on the bottom but that's it. I'd be fine with the aluminum phone. I'd worry less about scratches and durability issues, although I love my iPhone 4 and won't be upgrading until iPhone 6. Idk if other people are just tossing your products around or taking them in extreme conditions, but I never got scratches on any iPhone except the 3G, and the scratches I got on that were from a case I used for a few months.

 

[Jacquear]

Errr

Errr I do not like that! I love my iPhone 4 never used a cover as it's not needed. Never had reception issues or anything no dropped calls etc etc, I will be solely disappointed if the iPhone 5 is anything like that!

 

[Neodym]

Entertaining...

When the first images of the suspected iPhone 4 were posted here, there was an outcry about that "horrible design" and that J. Ive would NEVER do such a thing. And now it already has become a design icon?

Will be funny to read here in 2012, when rumors of iPhone 6 design start to float around and people will declare iPhone 5 design to be iconic...

 

[insider-man]

ho ho ho . . .

 

[iZac]

I much prefer the shape of the iphone4 to the blobby 3GS. The original iPhone was also excellent, despite the hideous chrome bezel, which bothers me to this day. I think they would be missing a trick to abandon the 4 shape just because of the antenna positions, but it is a legitimate issue that needs to be resolved. A similar design, but the rear flaceplate replaced with the same stainless steel / coloured aluminium would be great.