Purported iPhone 5 Cases Suggest Nearly Identical Form Factor to iPhone 4

[MacRumors]

Hardmac posts a promotional image for cases claimed to be designed to fit the fifth-generation iPhone. If accurate, the design seems to suggest little change in the form factor and placement of physical features relative to the iPhone 4.

Supporting the idea of nearly identical form factors for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 are cases that have also appeared on the sites of other vendors with specs noting that they are for both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5.

Case designs have been rather hit and miss over the years when it comes to revealing details of future Apple product releases, although they appear to be becoming more accurate recently, most notably with the second-generation iPad.

Mockup of iPhone 5 with larger screen (Credit: bikr)
The new cases appear following the posting of claimed "engineering drawings" of the iPhone 5 last week appearing to show an essentially identical form factor compared to the iPhone 4, with the exception of a larger edge-to-edge screen, consistent with a front plate posted on the same site several weeks earlier.

As long ago as early January, photos and video of what was claimed to be the stainless steel antenna band from either a fifth-generation iPhone or a CDMA iPhone 4 surfaced through a parts supplier. While the antenna design and slight shift in the placement of several physical features seen on that part did turn up very soon after in the CDMA iPhone 4, the part in question also contained a SIM-card slot that is not needed or present on the CDMA iPhone 4. Consequently, it seems likely that the part may be a genuine fifth-generation iPhone part using almost the exact same design as the iPhone 4.

Article Link: Purported iPhone 5 Cases Suggest Nearly Identical Form Factor to iPhone 4

 

[NebulaClash]

Would not be too surprising if the iPhone 5 is similar to the iPhone 4 in many ways. Conventional wisdom now says that the big future change will be the 2012 iPhone 6 with LTE. If you want to make a statement by changing the form factor, that would be the time.

 

[wordoflife]

I wouldn't mind it staying the same. I like the iPhone 4 design.

 

[CptnJustc]

Good. As an iPhone 3GS owner, I think the iPhone 4's form is pretty sexy.

 

[marksman]

Hopefully this means they kept the iPhone 4 antenna design.

 

[NickUK69]

i-Phone 5 - do we really care?

I've kinda given up caring about the next iPhone revision - I still have 3GS as I did not like the i-P4 and if the i-P5 is similar, then I wont be getting that either!

For me it comes down to what features will I use and how will I benefit and there were none for me to make the switch from i-P3GS to i-P4.

 

[ARF900]

The 4 is the perfect size. Hugeness is my biggest gripe with android phones. Id hate to see them change it.

 

[LouieSamman]

If the iPhone 5 is the same form factor as the iPhone 4. I'm glad that it is then because that would mean a really big change to come for the iPhone 6th generation and a good time to upgrade for all the iPhone 4 users because of the 2 year contract ending.

 

[DTphonehome]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I bet Apple is settling into a two year fom factor pattern. 3G -> 3GS, no change in form factor. 4 -> 5, no form factor change. In the interim, spec bumps.

 

[Heb1228]

And all of us Verizon customers were absolute idiotsmfor buying iPhone 4s because the iPhone 5 was supposed to be an earth-shattering upgrade. I'm guess it's more like the iPhone 4gs. It'll get the iPads new processor, better graphics capability and not much else.

 

[derek1984]

2012

No surprise. I am very happy with my iPhone 4. 2012 will see me getting an iPad 3 (finally) and also iPhone 6 (Verizon). I expect great updates next year. Nothing much this year.

 

[Batteman87]

Ha Ha

Faster processer etc. like iPad 2 but Now big change until iPhone 6 and LTE I bet. Glad I got i4 already. Upgrade ready for i6!

 

[Jesse3121]

Doubt that it will happen, but I am really hoping for a bit bigger screen.

 

[bluenik25]

I have a feeling we are going to be seeing an iPhone 4S and an iPhone 5. Just a hunch. For me personally if the iPhone 5 doesn't have a larger screen I'm out. I know it's not for everyone but for me it makes a huge difference.

 

[Popeye206]

Seems logical... I like the iPhone4 feel. Upgrade what's there. Add 4G and away we go!

Although... I think 4G is more hype than reality for most markets... I won't see it for a while where I'm at. So it's not a big deal.

 

[HarryKeogh]

Doubt that it will happen, but I am really hoping for a bit bigger screen.

+1

Doubt it would happen but same form factor with a 4" screen would be great.

The larger screen is the only thing I really like on my Droid X (still wish I stayed with an iPhone instead of trying out a Droid though...thankfully I only got a one-year contract)

 

[camelsnot]

geez.. you didn't think apple was going to keep innovating did you? After a 1.0 release, that ship sails...

Now it's all about money through small refreshes and rehashes (vPhone and some dumb white iphone4 dropping shortly).

$teve Job$ bashed larger screens on phones, therefore his huge ego won't allow him to let engineers put a larger screen in any iphone from here on out.

 

[skafia]

I love how the people's opinions on future products reflect what they currently have. I upgrade every year so it doesn't matter to me

Question: If the new iPhone has a slightly larger screen, what will the resolution be? Would developers have to redo their apps again?

 

[chrmjenkins]

Too much of a lip to support a larger screen, at least on the case shown.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Awesome. If true this means I won't feel jealous when the iPhone 5 is announced b/c I'm not eligible for a new until November and I won't feel the need to upgrade until the iPhone 6. Ha. (Hoping iPhone 6 will be called iPhone eLTE. OK, that's a joke).

 

[iMattcotv]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I hope to god they keep the iPhone 4 design and just flatten it and bump up the specs.

The design of the iPhone 4 is the most amazing milestone of both engineering and design, I couldn't buy another iPhone if it looked any different.

1 thing I would like is if they reduce the thickness of the glass and just make it so the side is 99.97% aluminum rim, instead of that 2mm of black plastic that holds the glass.

I honestly can't wait to see what devs can and will do with the insane power of the A5 chip in the iPhone 5. I will definitely e upgrading no matter what.

 

[grockk]

And all of us Verizon customers were absolute idiotsmfor buying iPhone 4s because the iPhone 5 was supposed to be an earth-shattering upgrade. I'm guess it's more like the iPhone 4gs. It'll get the iPads new processor, better graphics capability and not much else.

Original to 3G only added new form factor and 3G connectivity. Same processor, ram, graphics, camera, etc. The bigger step change was from 3G to 3GS. And it was a leap to the iPhone 4.

 

[koruki]

Ok what I don't get is that the so called leaked cases fit the iPhone 4 so why are they being suggested at the case for the iPhone 5?

 

[sniffies]

I bet lines will be no less crazy than those for iPad 2.

 

[bassfingers]

And all of us Verizon customers were absolute idiotsmfor buying iPhone 4s because the iPhone 5 was supposed to be an earth-shattering upgrade. I'm guess it's more like the iPhone 4gs. It'll get the iPads new processor, better graphics capability and not much else.

whatever soothes the buyers remorse