There's Still Another Prototype iPhone in the Wild

[sassenach74]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Can people please stop calling it the 4G. It wont be 4G. It will be the 4th iPhone

4G (fourth generation) calm down newbie, we've been using this scheme for years now...

Oh have 'we' now. So I guess 'we' called the second iPhone the "iPhone 3G2G did" 'we'?

 

[Captain Planet]

At this rate, we'll have seen a dozen prototypes by the end of June...

 

[willber]

If this really is the iPhone 4G....then I'm really disappointed. It just looks like a Samsung Tocco, really cheap and naff looking

 

[Anuba]

Yeah, but who's to say the photos we have are of the most recent version?

If they change the seams, screws, and buttons then they could still keep testing the old ones in the wild. Maybe this guy lost a "November '09" prototype. It's changed since then, but since they aren't changes that alter how the phone works he was told to keep testing his model.

In theory it could be several months old, yes, but think about it. The only reason why anyone would be walking around with the next iPhone in their pocket is that it serves Apple somehow (testing, development, QC), and the only way it would serve Apple at this point is if he has a recent production or pre-production model that will work and behave like the final thing. They (or the guy himself, for that matter) get absolutely nothing out of him using some outdated prototype 8 weeks from launch. In fact it would be downright counterproductive.

If you look at the car market, prototype test vehicles (a k a mules) are usually new engines and accessories crammed into the old design. Those are typically spotted some 3-4 years before the new exterior design is finalized. A year or so before launch, you find them driving around in final or near-final versions of the car, this time with stupid masking on it (cardboard, plastic, fake badges etc). At that stage there is no point for the old mule to be traveling the roads. Whatever this phone is, it's not a mule, and as for masking, if you slip this thing into an iPhone 3G case nobody would notice the difference unless they saw it up close (the only visible difference on the front is the front-facing cam, which would be obscured by the 3G case since those don't have holes there).

 

[netwerqq]

For those who think this is a controlled leak, help me understand your rationale beyond brilliantly coincidental timing. According to Gizmodo, the phone was left in a bar on March 18th. That's over a month ago, and two plus weeks before the launch of the iPad.

This timing makes no sense to support the controlled leak theory. Why would Apple believe that if/when the phone was found, anyone would wait over a month to release the information? A more logical assumption would be that photos/news would get out there immediately (within a week's time), and quite probably before the iPad launch. Apple is a marketing genius and they control their messages and the timing of the message with military precision. They certainly wouldn't want to mix media messages before the launch of the new iPad.

If the phone was found this weekend, I might believe that it was a controlled leak brilliantly timed to competitively advantage against the HTC. But, I don't think that's the case based on Gizmodo's timeline of events.

 

[FWW]

Not to crap on the news post, but in my opinion these images are quite obviously not of an Apple product, prototype or not. As has been hinted at a number of times already, these are very likely just cheap Chinese knock-offs.

This thing is bulkier and uglier than the 3GS... Hell they are bulkier and uglier than the 1G.

 

[BrettJDeriso]

Not only that, but they make different prototypes to pinpoint leaks.

Oooo... I LIKE that! Just like "anonymous" drug surveys in sports. How do you know the comma or the period left out of your copy wasn't a deliberate, identifying "typo"?

The skeptic in me likes this tactic, even if it does seem a tad conspiratorial and resource-intensive for simply policing employee loyalty.

 

[SkippyThorson]

Also, I doubt they would have him field testing something they don't plan on ever manufacturing.

Clearly you don't know how the Government (or Apple for that fact) works!

Your mind would evidently be blown apart by the number of things tested and never released from Apple alone.

 

[richxps]

complete nonsense, if any of these were real they would be pulled from the site asap.

 

[LagunaSol]

I've got another one. I almost left it at Kate Beckinsale's house last night. She has some exquisite satin sheets, I tell ya what.

Nice looking. Too bad that sweet curvature cuts the space for internals by half. You know, space for silly things like a big enough battery to power the beast for more than an hour.

 

[sassenach74]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

So all the experts on everything that has ever existed have moved to this thread now.....ok.

 

[Otaviano]

This thing is bulkier and uglier than the 3GS... Hell they are bulkier and uglier than the 1G.

Look at the pictures, it's actually thinner that the 3GS you jack...

 

[Anuba]

The iphone 3G was out YEARS after 3G networks were released. So much for apple being ahead?

That's what I'm saying, so why can't they be ahead for once? It used to be their trademark, but now it's like they've given up... they let PC manufacturers jump on the latest Intel chips long before they show up in Macs, they slap a puny flashless 2 mp camera on the 3G when others are up to 8 mp, Zeiss lenses and whatnot, they introduce 3G some 4-5 years after it became commonplace in Europe and Japan, they're selling a 30" monitor from the 1950's... so why not surprise the **** out of everyone and be the first (at least in the US), not the last, to introduce 4G?

 

[5855997]

Not 'everyone' reads Apple news

Our most popular free newspaper (and also the others we got) started to write about Apple rumors since the iPhone got so popular. But mostly it's just a shortened article (translated) which they surely have read on MacRumors or Gizmodo.

I was always like "I think I've read the exact same things a few days ago in the internet..this isn't news anymore" (and to be exact it's not news, it's RUMORS.) But they sometimes are like "This will be it" (I think in this case there will be some truth somewhere but nothings for sure.) But I stopped reading these articles in the newspapers. I don't need a bad, shortened re-post of a rumor I've read two days earlier.

And many people are reading those articles and think they know everything now and everything is a fact which often is not true.

I bet this story will come in a few days also.


Even my mom knew about the iPad. She didn't know what it was or could do, but she knew that it existed and was from Apple. And she's really not into technology or computing. But she reads newspapers.

 

[FWW]

Look at the pictures, it's actually thinner that the 3GS you jack...

Looking at the front page pics, it is the same thickness, but has no bevel to the edges... making it... BULKIER.

Name calling, nice... Are you 12... 13?

 

[danielchow]

I like how it is referred to as "drama." It made me laugh because it's true.

I'd like to see how this all pans out in the next months and recap the series of events. This is fun!

isn't it?

i'm still convinced that this is a PR stunt and probably also to figure out the possible sources of the leaks.

PS: regarding the macrumors story headline Apple Demands Prototype iPhone Back: the letter was hardly a demand; it was a polite and formal request that the property be returned.

 

[Dead Panda]

Yes. 4G also means 4th Gen. That's how many distinguishes the different iPod versions so it's no different than the iPhone

Don't know what the hype is all about. My first impression of the devise was a Chinese knockoff as well. Anyone ever remember the knockoff 1st gen iPod Nano? reminds me of the same way construction wise with the screws etc.

By that assumption can I go ahead and say

iPhone (2G) = 1G
iPhone 3G = 2G
iPhone 3GS = 3G
iPhone 4G = 4G

?

 

[Chwisch87]

This is an engineers prototype. Do you see Johnathan Ivy anywhere in this design? I mean circular volume buttons ... YUCK!

The final iphone will be unibody!! the Sim card will move to the side of the device and there will be a forward facing camera for video conference. This why the iPad didn't come with one. They want you to use the iPhone for that. Why sell you can all in one when i can see you two things.

 

[notromeel]

Nice looking. Too bad that sweet curvature cuts the space for internals by half. You know, space for silly things like a big enough battery to power the beast for more than an hour.

Let me guess, did you have that same comment concerning the original iPod - verses todays... or MacBook Air...

 

[Anuba]

For those who think this is a controlled leak, help me understand your rationale beyond brilliantly coincidental timing. According to Gizmodo, the phone was left in a bar on March 18th. That's over a month ago, and two plus weeks before the launch of the iPad.

This timing makes no sense to support the controlled leak theory. Why would Apple believe that if/when the phone was found, anyone would wait over a month to release the information? A more logical assumption would be that photos/news would get out there immediately (within a week's time), and quite probably before the iPad launch. Apple is a marketing genius and they control their messages and the timing of the message with military precision. They certainly wouldn't want to mix media messages before the launch of the new iPad.

If the phone was found this weekend, I might believe that it was a controlled leak brilliantly timed to competitively advantage against the HTC. But, I don't think that's the case based on Gizmodo's timeline of events.

FWIW I give little to no credence to the controlled leak theory, but I still have to point out a fundamental flaw in your argument, devil's advocate style...

You accept Gizmodo's statement that the phone was left in a bar on March 18th as fact. Where's the supporting evidence for this, other than Gizmodo's statement? For all we know it could've been handed to them on April 15, but March 18 *sounds* good because it gets Apple off the hook (seeing as they wouldn't have liked it to interfere with the iPad launch).

Let me guess, did you have that same comment concerning the original iPod - verses todays... or MacBook Air...

Well, the obvious difference is that cellphone manufacturers have been fighting for ages to get these commodity components smaller, and pretty much run into a brick wall. You can't radically shrink a battery between 2009 and 2010, you can't fit 64 GB of storage (or 80, if the rumors are true) into a space smaller than one that currently holds 32. The next iPhone will have more stuff in it than the last (15% larger battery, front facing cam, noise cancellation mic, higher res display, flash, improved cam lens) and none of that stuff has shrunken radically over the last 300+ days. I think you're confusing Apple's engineering wizards with actual wizards of the Harry Potter variety.

 

[karlwig]

Im confused by the MacRumors coverage. In this and a few other posts, they use the wording "leaked next generation iPhone" -- yet, in other posts, they talk about an "iPhone prototype".

So, which is it? For all I know, these could both be wrong. Yes, its an iPhone device, and it belongs to Apple. We do not know if it is a prototype or a final product to be released, and, consequently, we do not now if this is in fact the "next generation" iPhone, i.e. the fourth edition that will be offered in stores in June. Being close to June now, it probably is. Probably...

MacRumors, I appreciate your usual neutrual and careful reporting. There is no need to get sloppy now, especially not in this case, where a lot of questions are unanswered -- and Gizmodo is pretty much the only source.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Chinese laborers work for the equivalent of $0.50/hr, if they were to manufacture this in the US it would cost at least 10 times that to make. Think about it, capitalism at its best!!

So you're telling me this from the following graph...

64gb iPad w/ 3G costs:
$334.95 in materials
$11.20 manufacturing costs(labor I presume) so x10 would be $112.00 if made in the US.

$334.95+112.00=$446.95
Retail $829.00-446.95=$382.05

There's still quite a bit of profit to be made even if going from the example of the iPad above. This is why corporate greedy America makes billions and why Mom and Pops stores gets shut down. You can still make a good profit if manufacturing was done in the US but obviously of course it won't be as much. I don't want this turning into a politics debate but this is one reason why this country is falling apart, not enough jobs.

 

[apttap]

Whoever took these pictures already "fell" out of a window.

 

[brendon2020]

this never seems to end

 

[n9n3]

I really think that the real iphone is going to be different, if you look at all Apple products then they are all alu. And why would apple use micro sim when whole world uses normal simcard??

And this design is very unapple... 2 months and 2 days left.

For one, all of the other Apple products aren't cellular phones, the iPhone is. They don't rely so heavily on the ability to transmit wireless signals as one of it's basic functions. Granted, all of the iMac and Macbook Pro and iPad models have wireless capabilities, but they don't NEED them like the iPhone does to make calls. Plus, those devices are signficantly larger than the iPhone, and have significant portions of their exterior surfaces made of relatively radio-transparent glass. As we saw with Apple's transition from the aluminum with a plastic bottom original iPhone to the all plastic 3G/3GS, the ability for the back plate to be radio-transparent was an issue with the aluminum. If you think the purported 4G iPhone is "unapple," what do you think of the 3G/3GS? Isn't that the most "unapple" product of them all?? It's ALL plastic? What about the white Macbook? If anything, as others have said, the supposed 4G iPhone is MORE Apple than the 3G/3GS, since it takes on the new iMac aesthetic as much as it can without compromising the signal quality- aluminum where they can, with glass "all the way to the edges" (as Jobs said in the iMac keynote).

Also, Apple would use the microSIM because they use it in the 3G iPad. Why adopt it in one product line and not the other? Also, they're "micro" versions of a sim card, and hence, take up less space. I'm sure soon enough you'll see more manufacturers adopting microSIM for the same reason.