This, according to China Ontrade, is the 4th generation iPhone midboard. Having accurately leaked part of the iPhone 3GS assembly in May 2009, weeks before Phil Schiller showed the launch device off at WWDC in June, they’ve gained some measure of credibility. However, this isn’t May 2010 and its hard to see ever-prototyping, last-minute-camera-ditching Apple setting anything in stone (or aluminum or plastic) this early in the cycle.
iPhones get introduced in June/July, after all, according to the same Phil Schiller. That’s their product cycle, and that’s what Apple has done for the first three versions. Could they be planning an early surprise? Gizmodo thinks pressure from Android (technically Android hardware manufacturers like HTC and Motorola in this case, we suppose) might get them to ramp up faster. However, a great iPhone 3.2 (which we’ve still not seen beta nor screenshot of) could relieve pressure on the OS side.
So is it real? Perhaps, and could well represent the current state of the art of 4th generation iPhone prototyping. Is it what we’ll see when the actual iPhone (insert new brand name here) ships? Eh, it’s just a midboard so it’s hard to get terribly excited unless/until some hardware whizzes figure out the dimensions must mean a 16:9 display, or it’s 8 feet high or something…
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
UPDATE: Video has been posted, check it out after the jump!
ORIGINAL: New images have surfaced purported to be Apple’s third generation iPod touch, showing a top, center mounted camera for the presumed-to-be-announced in September product revision.
To catch up, we’ve heard the new iPod touch would have a camera and mic, and potentially come in at 16GB/32GB/64GB for $199/$299/$399. Now, as to the picture above…
Real? Fake? Really fake? There are certain constants in this Apple ‘verse, including spec and image leaks prior to, and in anticipation of, any new Apple event. So either way, we’re right on schedule!
[via MacRumors, thanks for the tip Gregg!]
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Turns out that leaked black bezel that made the internet rounds prior to the iPhone 3GS’ rounds was… actually for a Creative Zii Egg. Says CNET Asia provides the picture, and MacRumors the short version:
The Zii Egg is a multi-touch iPod touch-like device that runs Google’s Android operating system. The device, though, bears a strong resemblance to the leaked bezel images, suggesting that it had simply been mislabeled all along.
[Insert Price is Right fail music]
Hey, at least now we know. Though, admittedly, the nearly intoxicating swarm of pre-release rumors are much more fun than the cold, headachy, post-release rumor smashing that followers…
Way back in February a matte black next generation casing (for what’s now known as the iPhone 3G S) made it’s way around the internet. No one knew if it was real or not, and since WWDC introduced the iPhone 3G S with the same glossy finish as the previous generation, doubts — they were raised.
According to Macrumors, however, the FCC ID and model numbers exactly match those released on the official, glossy, iPhone 3G S.
Yeahbuwhat?
Did Apple flirt with matte and change its mind? Did problems arise in with the mass production of the matte versions? Are the matte versions being held for some sort of holiday roll out?
Panic’s Cabel Sassar (via DF) wonders on Twitter whether it just might have been one of Apple’s infamous canary trap — information left out to see if it gets leaked, and to catch the source of the leak. Tom Clancy, meet Steve Jobs…
Either way, somebody at Apple thought matte was an option. Are you sad we didn’t get it?
Curiouser and crazier is our motto of the moment, as we get what could be our third (3rd!) carrier leak of the day, following the T-Mobile Austria faux pas highlight an iPhone 32GB and the Vodafone Australia early EOL notice for the 16GB.
This one, according to PhoneArena.com, comes courtesy of and AT&T, which — if accurate — is offering to take in your as yet non-existent iPhone 32GB and give you $355.00 towards a trade in for last year’s BlackBerry Bold.
Okay…
MacRumors has been keeping tabs on Chinese forum Weiphone, and says — in addition to the screen shot above — the following specs have been leaked about the next generation iPhone, widely believed to be announced in just under a month at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC):
- Model number MB717LL
- 600MHz CPU Speed (up from 400MHz)
- 256MB RAM (up from 128MB)
- Digital Compass and FM
- 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
- 32GB size
- No major changes in battery, screen and external casing.
Do we believe it? Some parts seem in line with other rumors we’ve been hearing, but who knows? (Other than Steve Jobs and his closest minions, of course). No doubt, we’ll be seeing more and more of these as WWDC approaches. So, for our purposes, we’ll just ask if this resembles the next gen iPhone you want?
With a Schiller-confirmed June product cycle, it’s a bit early for iPhone Next-Gen case leaks, innit? Not that time or likelihood will stop the internet. MacRumors says:
This new iPhone case is said to “shed its glossy appearance for a matte black look” and also introduce a new case-back made of metal. [iPodObserver] seems confident in the photo and reminded readers that they were also responsible for publishing an early back-case photo of the iPhone 3G.
Has Apple ever done matt finish anything? And would Apple really milk the 16GB capacity in a next-gen iPhone? Or would they do 16GB and 32GB next time, the way they did 8 and 16, and 4 and 8 for the previous generations? And will this simply be another iPhone 3G, or will include any (or all) of the guts we’ve been clamoring for in an iPhone HD?
First questions first, though, is this for real?
Internal comparison photos after the break!
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Given how kick-in-the-crotch fake the last supposed leaked memo from Rogers (the Canadian GSM monopoly and exclusive iPhone 3G carrier) was, I’m taking this with a Rockies-sized grain of salt. If even remotely accurate, however, it looks like:
In order to unbrick the iPhone in store (which is a requirement of the iPhone Sales Process), you must have iTunes version 7.6.3b4. Installed on your computer. This version has a special ‘Activation Only Mode’ that must be enabled and used in store.
For complete details, including the unbelievable but very Rogers-like ban on all forms of publicity, posters, and promotion (no advertising until 13 weeks post-launch?!), and more telco-related acronyms and contractions than you can shake your head at, check out the read link.
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Confession: Yes, when one of these crazy AT&T or Intel rumors come up, I draft a rumor-smasher just as soon as I finish the post. Chalk it up to experience.
Case in point: yesterday we (and everyone else in the blogsphere) reported that Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer done let slip word of an Atom-powered iTablet. Or done did he?
“No Intel exec has said anything about any future Apple product, Atom processor or otherwise,” an Intel spokesperson told AppleInsider. “I think that’s important to note as everyone speculates on future products from Apple.”
And more awkwardly:
“Intel knows nothing over future products of other manufacturers and can therefore over it also nothing say,” press spokesman Mike Cato told ZDNet
Of course, just like AT&T leaking and un-leaking the iPhone Black, this could just be Intel desperately spinning damage control following a “phone call” from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
So, basically, either the interwebs have gone slappy-happy bonkers with pent-up pre-WWDC mania, or a large-screen, Atom-powered, iChat’ing iPhone Tablet 3G Black is coming our way very, very shortly?
MacRumors, source of the original hubbub, is standing firm on the latter, and offers up further corroboration-by-way-of-translation:
“PCGH-Editor Daniel Waadt was there as well an can attest, that Schwaderer referred to the iPhone as an example for the use of the atom-processor from Intel. The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1.”
My bet? iPhone 3G sans-Intel takes stage at WWDC, ships sometime soonish thereafter, and while an iTablet certainly exists, and certainly furthers Apple’s mobile WiFi platform and App Store program, we won’t hear about it until sometime between Thanksgiving 2008 and Macworld 2009. Only way it makes sense anytime soon is if Steve Jobs smells blood in the water and is willing to sacrifice short-term roadmaps for the ultra-mobile kill.
What do you think?
ReadVia
True story: before the iPhone, Apple’s multi-touch screen mobile efforts were focused on a tablet-like device known internally as Safari Pad. But when El Jobso unleashed his awesome powers of prediction, he saw cell phones coming on so strongly, he shifted Apple’s gears — and mobile OS X Touch development efforts — to what became the iPhone.
Since then — heck, since way before then, probably back since Jobs first axed the original Apple ultra-mobile, the Newton — rumors have persisted that Apple was still working on the iTablet/Safari Pad/Mac Touch. And since the iPhone back in January 2007, every time a Jobsnote is scheduled, the interwebs explode with rumor that this time, at last, the dream machine will finally be released.
Well, this time we may have more than just rumor and hope to go on, as Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer let slip that:
There is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.
Okay, so possible Non-Disclosure violations aside, does “slightly larger” mean tablet sized to anyone the Apple rumorati? And how does this factor in to previous rumors of the next-gen iPhone being Infineon powered, never mind Apple’s recent purchase of PA Semi and its mobile PowerPC architecture?
More and more questions, with less and less time remaining before WWDC…
What do you think? Could this be this year’s One More Thing…?
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