Schematic Purportedly Shows Next-Generation iPhone Front Panel Design with 4-Inch Display

[b166er]

I really like the overall "iPhone 4" design, but I have to admit I kind of cringe every time I want to lay my phone down on a table. The flat back being flush with the camera is very aesthetically pleasing, but I would still rather have a curved back. I'd like to set the phone down without having to worry much about scratches/schmutz getting in the camera area.

If they run this design a third year I am ok with that. Just so long as the internals are better.

 

[phpmaven]

I am the original Apple fanboy, but these pics and the 4S just haven't cut it with me. Is it me, but are the Android phones looking sexier and more in pace with the mobile user? Especially the neW Galaxy S3

(Hides behind couch and gets ready for barrage of abuse)

I'm in the same boat. I jumped ship and got a Galaxy SII after the 4S came out and I love the screen but really want to come back to IOS. But if the iPhone 5 turns out to be a tall skinny dufus looking phone like these mock ups, I won't be switching back and that really makes me sad, because I love IOS but Apple is making a mistake sticking with the dinky screen.

I sure hope all of this is just deliberate misinformation and the next iPhone is at least has a 4 inch screen that is increased vertically AND horizontally. I guess we'll know soon. If it does turn out to be true, I think it may go down as one of Apple's biggest blunders ever, and they haven't had many.

 

[henryhbk]

Was there ever any leak in Apple's history that shows the schematics of a non released product?

In the decade that I follow Apple/MR I never saw a leak like this.

I think it's more like a controlled leak now with all those stories coming in at a fast pace.

Also, I can't imagine that Apple doesn't number their copies of schematics, so they can tell which ones are being viewed (heck even construction companies do that so you know that you have the latest), and since they lock their prototypes to tables in boxed, I can't imagine the blueprints aren't individually numbered...

 

[xgman]

Why does everyone feel the need to over-think this?

 

[Carmenia83]

I've loved my iPhones, but I will be a little disappointed if this ends up being the final product. I'm hoping it's just one of many prototypes. I knew last year all the 'tapered' rumors were nonsense but I was liking the idea of a metal back with rounded edges, similar to the iPod and iPad.

The taller screen is a little strange but it's better than the current I guess. It certainly wouldn't be the first phone with a 16:9 ratio. They'll sell millions, and we'll soon forget what it was like before the bigger screen.

The internals will undoubtedly offer better performance. The addition of 4G LTE will be great. Im just a little bummed about the similar form factor. It's been just about two years now since the iPhone 4 launched, and I miss the wow feeling of going from the 3GS to the 4. It wasnt the same when the 4S came around, and it won't be the same this time either if this is 'the new iPhone'.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be buying it, and I'm sure it will be a great phone. I just had higher expectations. But with an iMac, MacBook, iPad, Apple TV, and a number of paid apps, I'm far too invested in Apple to be jumping ship.

Maybe we'll all be surprised in the coming months and this will just be a unibody shell to field test new internal parts, intentionally made to look similar to the 4/4S for secrecy. Maybe thats what Tim was talking about yesterday. Maybe there's still hope... Maybe...

 

[mttcee]

so the versus io 'press shot' matches the blueprint—i mixed them again ...

direct link: http://versusio.com/en/apple-iphone-5-64gb-vs-apple-iphone-4s-64gb

it's somehow sad that this seems to be the final design. I wished a thinner bezel and a much small top and bottom

 

[paradox00]

I am the original Apple fanboy, but these pics and the 4S just haven't cut it with me. Is it me, but are the Android phones looking sexier and more in pace with the mobile user? Especially the neW Galaxy S3

(Hides behind couch and gets ready for barrage of abuse)

You trolling? I doubt many people are buying the S III for its looks. I can't believe you picked that as the example of a sexy Android device when the HTC One S, One E, and One X all exist (HTC naming win btw).

Then again if the Galaxy S III is your thing, I guess no one should be offended that you don't like this design.

 

[chaosconan]

Perfect

Yes, this is what the new iphone should be. Taller iphone over wider.

1. More control pad area for games
2. More area for games
3. More rows for notification
4. More rows for siri voice
5. More rows for office apps
6. Play 16:9 videos without having to press the wide button
7. Ads can be displayed nicely without blocking a lot of my viewing area for apps that had ads.
8. Another row of icons for springboard
9. When you bring up task list (double-clicking on home button) you will get two rows of icons for your task list instead of one row.
10. This additional row will allow the introduction of Dashboard in the notification window for icons such as "airplane mode, bluetooth, wifi, and sound".
11. When you are IM'ing someone with the keyboard up, there will be more room to see your messages that are being sent and received.
12. In landscape mode, the keyboard will be either wider or they will add more keys or more control buttons for other things.
13. In landscape mode, you can now put the buttons on the side instead of at the top which is a waste of a row.

I do hope iPod touch follows with the same dimensions.

 

[-LikesMac-]

Here's what I think

It's good, but I hope Apple builds in true resolution independence for iOS, starting with iOS 6. That would make the problems relating to screen size mitigated.

 

[chaosconan]

It's good, but I hope Apple builds in true resolution independence for iOS, starting with iOS 6. That would make the problems relating to screen size mitigated.

I think most of the apps are already resolution independent. If you make the screen taller, this will just provide more area for the body of the app to display data scrolling up and down. I dont see how this will break any apps. Now for games, thats another story.

 

[apolloa]

I really cannot believe that we now have schematics!!!! But anyway, if they ARE real then I can live with a 7mm increase in length.

 

[marklachance]

It's on a piece of paper?

 

[SteveKnobs]

Who knows how much value you can put into this, and maybe I just haven't noticed them until recently. But over the past couple of weeks I've noticed the Gazelle commercials for trading in your iPhone have began to be run on a consistent basis during late night television. I even said to my fiancé about three weeks ago, "Watch. The new iPhone will be coming out pretty soon."

These leaks seem to quite a coincidence, don't you think?

 

[-LikesMac-]

I think most of the apps are already resolution independent. If you make the screen taller, this will just provide more area for the body of the app to display data scrolling up and down. I dont see how this will break any apps. Now for games, thats another story.

So most of the complaints about resolution really apply mainly to games?

I think that Apple should just make everything in iOS resolution independent..
They should also do the same for Mac OS X.

 

[AidenShaw]

So most of the complaints about resolution really apply mainly to games?

I think that Apple should just make everything in iOS resolution independent..
They should also do the same for Mac OS X.

Yes, it should be embarrassing for Apple that Windows 7, while far from perfect, does a much better job than Apple OSX at handling resolution independence.

(And to be fair, it's not Windows 7's fault that some old and/or poorly written apps are "pixel counting", rather than using the appropriate API calls.)

I have a 15" ThinkPad with a 1920x1200 screen - and without Win7's ability to scale the UI I'd need +3 reading glasses to use it.

Apple OSX's (and Apple IOS's) "pixel doubling" approach is so, so lame. Everyone in Apple engineering should get a tattoo....

 

[medazinol]

Yeah, I'd say the details are falling into place.

Only question, really, remaining for me is June/July or September/October?

I always believed the fall, but with so much news slipping by, could it be earlier?

My money is an announcement at WWDC. Parts for the iPad 3 leaked about 3-4 weeks prior to it coming out. October is too far away to have parts in the supply chain already in place.

However I'm sad to say that for now at least, I'm done with the iPhone. A 4" screen is just too small for doing so many touch-related tasks. Last year I was ready to buy the purported iPhone 5 or a Galaxy Nexus but when the iPhone 4S came out I thought Id wait for another year and see if the iPhone 5 finally got a bigger screen. While it will get a bigger screen it's just not big enough for what I want. I'm not saying I need a Galaxy Note, that thing is WAY too big but 4.7" is just about right. I've taken the plunge and pre-ordered a Galaxy S3 in Canada. We'll see how that goes. If I can't stand it I'll give it to my wife and go back to my tiny iPhone 4 screen I guess.

 

[kdarling]

The presence of an engineering diagram kind of puts the whole story over the top for me, and now makes me think it could actually all be a red herring.

The almost too-perfect sequence of escalating leaked info surrounding this design has all the earmarks of a deliberate plan of misdirection, with just enough plausibility to lead everyone on.

(OTOH, life is often stranger than fiction, and I've alway said to never look for a conspiracy if laziness or greed or stupidity can explain something. If I take my own advice, then it's more probable to believe that someone simply went through a company's garbage and found discarded materials that should've been destroyed.)

How's that for waffling?

 

[medazinol]

Yes, it should be embarrassing for Apple that Windows 7, while far from perfect, does a much better job than Apple OSX at handling resolution independence.

(And to be fair, it's not Windows 7's fault that some old and/or poorly written apps are "pixel counting", rather than using the appropriate API calls.)

I have a 15" ThinkPad with a 1920x1200 screen - and without Win7's ability to scale the UI I'd need +3 reading glasses to use it.

Apple OSX's (and Apple IOS's) "pixel doubling" approach is so, so lame. Everyone in Apple engineering should get a tattoo....

I'll chime in and say that maybe Windows 7 has better pixel doubling for the time being but they really don't have any monitor hardware to take advantage of it. Have you seen any "retina display" monitors in the PC world? Didn't think so.

Apple will have the hardware in place very soon and the software will handle it better once they get it all together. Lion 10.7.4 is pretty much there, I expect Mountain Lion to be fully HIDPI ready and put the other OS to shame in that regards. Remember the Apple mantra: "Slow and steady but do it right".

----------

The presence of an engineering diagram kind of puts the whole story over the top for me, and now makes me think it could actually all be a red herring.

The almost too-perfect sequence of escalating leaked info surrounding this design has all the earmarks of a deliberate plan of misdirection, with just enough plausibility to lead everyone on.

(OTOH, life is often stranger than fiction, and I've alway said to never look for a conspiracy if laziness or greed or stupidity can explain something. If I take my own advice, then it's more probable to believe that someone simply went through a company's garbage and found discarded materials that should've been destroyed.)

Misdirection might have been something Apple did once to ferret out an internal leaker (remember the "Asteroid" music device ad the Think Secret website debacle?) but I really doubt they spend time on this kind of activity. These leaks are coming from the Chinese supply chain. Pure and simple.

----------

So most of the complaints about resolution really apply mainly to games?

I think that Apple should just make everything in iOS resolution independent..
They should also do the same for Mac OS X.

That's definitely the plan but you have to give them time. Moving interface elements to vector graphics from bitmaps and getting developers on board and making sure you have backwards compatibility is a huge task to do it right.


Lastly, let's not forget that we seem to be so focussed on the hardware here. Don't forget we'll be getting iOS 6 as part of the deal and we don't know all the details on that part. Apple always has something up their sleeve with software to help sell the hardware...

 

[dra]

omg just found the new iphone in a club , any takers ? bidding starts at 8000

please no newspaper or bloggers allowed to bid.

 

[AidenShaw]

How's that for waffling?

Pretty good!

I'll chime in and say that maybe Windows 7 has better pixel doubling...

Win7 doesn't have crude "pixel doubling" like Apple OSX/IOS, it has "pixel scaling".

Apple's displays should be called "retina hardware restricted by a "Neanderthal operating system"".

... but [Windows] really don't have any monitor hardware to take advantage of it. Have you seen any "retina display" monitors in the PC world? Didn't think so.

But, have you seen it in the Apple OSX world? I have a 1920x1200 15" laptop, which is roughly 150 dpi. That's pretty close to or better than [insert Apple's mostly meaningless marketing term here] "retina" level.

Why don't Apple fans realize that "pixel doubling" simply means that "our OS is too crude to cope"?

 

[kdarling]

Misdirection might have been something Apple did once to ferret out an internal leaker (remember the "Asteroid" music device ad the Think Secret website debacle?) but I really doubt they spend time on this kind of activity. These leaks are coming from the Chinese supply chain. Pure and simple.

That does make the most sense. Occam's Razor and all that.

Yet Cook kept repeating that Apple was "going to double down on secrecy". It could be a pun on his part about doubling the models in play.

Apple is still known to put new engineers on fake projects to test their ability to keep a secret, and it would make sense if they did the same with various outside suppliers.

I usually ignore feelings like this, but this time it's nagging at me for some reason. I was in MI, and have both received and given out a fair amount of fake intel. My hindbrain is raising a warning, even though my forebrain says no. Ah, heck, maybe I just need more sleep

Cheers!

 

[marcusj0015]

Wasn't worth 15 minutes of my time. kknpgtfo

But it was worth posting? If you're going to do something, do it right.

 

[x-evil-x]

But it was worth posting? If you're going to do something, do it right.

I think that only applies to things that are important. I would of spent 5 minutes on that too.

 

[marcusj0015]

I think that only applies to things that are important. I would of spent 5 minutes on that too.

If your're going to do it, it's important.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Still don't really believe this.

Especially when Tim said: "We're going to double down on secrecy on products. I'm serious."

Duh. He just said this today, so any leaks, photos presented today - have most likely been taken over a few days ago at the earliest and presented now! for all we know staff at Macrumors waited until today's D10 in order to release the news to salivate our palettes. Then again news of this was leaked yesterday.

DUH!

"We're going to double down on secrecy on products. I'm serious."

Someone already beat me to this lol. Slow is this mind today. Kids, don't over drink not good for brain cells.