The iPhone 4.0 may just have been leaked out early in truly spectacular style. We’ve heard tales of 16:9 windscreens and aluminium back panels, but what we’re looking at here is the most concrete, detailed glimpse of an iPhone ahead of schedule, ever. Read on for all the details.
Tech blog Engadget received photos over the weekend of what it claims is a prototype iPhone 4.0, with a revamped shell, with straight edges and circular buttons on the side. The tipster supposedly found it on the floor of a bar, and while it’s not unheard of for Apple to lose its iPhone test models (It happened with the iPhone 3GS), the lack of a working operating system made us take it with a pinch of salt.
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But this alleged iPhone 4.0 got a whole lot more legitimate when it was noticed that the same model was seen in the same spyshot as the iPad, the day before its launch in January. That shot was from an Apple testbed, as indicated by the bolted down iPad we’ve seen Apple giving to developers, pointing to the supposed iPhone 4.0 pictures being the real deal. And to top things off, a source has now confirmed to the site that this is the iPhone 4.0.
What can we expect from the iPhone 4.0 then? The photos reveal little beyond the exterior redesign, which keeps the recognisable home button and black front, but radically changes the side and back. But the source claims that the iPhone 4.0 will come with a higher resolution screen, front facing camera for video chat, a higher resolution camera with a flash, and will even accept the new micro SIM cards that the iPad uses.
Most excitingly though, the original tipster claims the iPhone 4.0 model is rocking a glass back, similar to that of the trackpad on new MacBook Pro laptops, which ties in with Apple insider John Gruber‘s previous claims on the subject – as well as a 2006 Apple patent application for a ceramic casing, which is “radio transparent.” In other words, this potential iPhone 4.0 will use an all new case material, without any negative impact on phone signal quality.
Of course, there’s still scope for Apple to pull out something completely different come launch (Which would be in June following previous years’ iPhone announcements) but all the evidence points to this being iPhone 4.0. And given what we’re seeing here, it looks like Christmas could be coming as early as Summer.
