Apple blueprints offer highly detailed view of iPhone 5

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Blueprints of the iPhone 5 intended for aftermarket product manufacturers have been made available on Apple's developer website, with the documents offering not only precise dimensions but notes on how to properly build a case for the new device.

As discovered by Joel Johnson (via Engadget), the PDF file is supposedly restricted to Apple developers, however it appears the direct link to the schematics can be accessed by the public.

iPhone 5 Blueprint
Source: @joeljohnson via Twitter


It should be noted that AppleInsider cannot verify the legitimacy of the blueprints, however the linked webpage has been authenticated by the Entrust Certificate Authority to be owned by Apple.

While the iPhone 5 has seen massive press coverage since its debut on Wednesday, the handset is not yet available to the public and has thus not been subject to a teardown. The blueprints, despite only showing the phone's external attributes, provide the most comprehensive look at the device so far.

New to the iPhone 5 is the rearrangement of the ambient light sensor and front-facing camera, which are now located directly above the ear speaker, and the proximity sensor that takes its place next to the earpiece. Also added is a third microphone seated between the iPhone 5's rebuilt rear-facing camera and LED flash.

Pre-orders for Apple's newest smartphone went live Friday morning, with Apple selling out of initial launch-day supply in an hour. Two of the company's partner carriers, Verizon and AT&T, followed suit some hours later and all are now quoting shipping estimates of two to three weeks. As of this writing, Sprint still has 32GB and 64GB versions available for delivery on Sept. 21.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 56
    Being nitpicky here, but this is a part drawing and not a blueprint. The term blueprint is rarely used in mechanical design.
  • Reply 2 of 56
    harbinger wrote: »
    Being nitpicky here, but this is a part drawing and not a blueprint. The term blueprint is rarely used in mechanical design.

    In every modern way this is a blueprint. It's not printed on blue paper via a special process but it doesn't have to be for the term and accepted definitions to be correct. It's been used in the non-literal sense since at least 1926.

    blueprint |?blo?o?print|
    noun
    • a design plan or other technical drawing.
    • something that acts as a plan, model, or template.
  • Reply 3 of 56
    Samsung, start your photocopiers...
  • Reply 4 of 56


    Nothing secret about it. It's right on the public Apple developer website, no need to even login...


    https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/

  • Reply 5 of 56
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mobius View Post



    Samsung, start your photocopiers...


    They don't have to. Just drag and drop. :D

  • Reply 6 of 56


    a bit like Oil Blue Barrel .... (BBL) which no presently living human being has ever seen ...

  • Reply 7 of 56


    By the way, did you guys notice that (apart from the screen size), Apple moved to the metric system to indicate, during the keynote, the iPhone weight and thickness ? (this has been noticed by one of my own country website, but this , I guess should have been more noticeable for you).

  • Reply 8 of 56
    harbinger wrote: »
    Being nitpicky here, but this is a part drawing and not a blueprint. The term blueprint is rarely used in mechanical design.

    The term is understood, but has recently been morphed into "Prints". Any contractor or mechanical design personnel could ask someone for "Prints" and will receive either a real 'Blue Print', a CAD drawing, or even a photocopy of a cad drawing. Most involved would consider any of them 'Blue Prints'.

    The original meaning will be lost with those who actually used blue paper prints and mechanical drafting. Although called "mechanical drafting" it was actually done by hand.

    This is just from what I have read. I have only seen a few real 'Blue Prints'. My father has one for his boat that's framed. It looks messy when compared to a CAD drawing...
  • Reply 9 of 56


    I guess this is due to the power of habits ... (in my own speciality (aeronautics) all (numerous) project plans refer to specification data as "drawings", as a general term (which makes little sense for software, for example ...).

  • Reply 10 of 56
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,625member
    If you change the 5 to 4-s you can get the outer dims for the iPhone4S. I was unable to find the 3GS.

    Blueprint is an antiquated term related to how they used to copy original prints. The blue was how the paper changed color when exposed to ammonia. One can google it.
  • Reply 11 of 56
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,625member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TD912 View Post


    Nothing secret about it. It's right on the public Apple developer website, no need to even login...


    https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/



    This is cool.  I'd consider saving them all just for the heck of it.


     


     


    Blueprint is an antiquated term related to how they used to copy original prints.  The blue was how the paper changed color when exposed to ammonia.  One can google it.
  • Reply 12 of 56

    Quote:



    Originally Posted by umrk_lab



    By the way, did you guys notice that (apart from the screen size), Apple moved to the metric system to indicate, during the keynote, the iPhone weight and thickness ?




     


    I guess they did that for consistency reasons. Up until now they never talked about the weight of the iPhone - and to be honest, it never was a light phone to begin with so why talk about it. Now it is. And showing in the keynote that it weighs 3.95 ounces would confuse everyone outside the US. So it had to be grams and the metric system in general. But that's just my reasoning...

  • Reply 13 of 56
    deleted
  • Reply 14 of 56


    This is absolutely a blueprint.  The key difference between this drawing and a traditional blueprint is that the old cadmium-ammonia process is no longer used for reproduction of the drawing, resulting in the blue-tinted final product.  This drawing provides dimensions, tolerances, details (highlighted portions of the phone), and general specifications necessary for case design -- all key aspects of a what was considered at one time, a blueprint.

  • Reply 15 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vadania View Post





    The term is understood, but has recently been morphed into "Prints". Any contractor or mechanical design personnel could ask someone for "Prints" and will receive either a real 'Blue Print', a CAD drawing, or even a photocopy of a cad drawing. Most involved would consider any of them 'Blue Prints'.

    The original meaning will be lost with those who actually used blue paper prints and mechanical drafting. Although called "mechanical drafting" it was actually done by hand.

    This is just from what I have read. I have only seen a few real 'Blue Prints'. My father has one for his boat that's framed. It looks messy when compared to a CAD drawing...


    I started my career (over 30 years ago) as a petroleum engineer, and we made extensive use of blue prints.  Mechanical drawing is so called due to the various mechanical elements used (T-square, angles, mechanical pens vs. freehand drawing which made use of none of these elements) used to produce a precision drawing, and, ostensibly, due to the nature of the drawings themselves, which were typically of mechanical devices.  I also used one of the very first CAD systems -- Intergraph -- which used a $1M+ Digital VAX 780 minicomputer as its CPU.  The VAX was a superb machine, and much larger than many mainframe systems or high-end clusters (such as HP SuperDome, which is a great-great-great-grandchild of the VAX 780).  In any case, it has been only over the past 20 years or so that "true blue" blueprints have given way to modern CAD and plotted (currently, inkjet printed) drawings.

  • Reply 16 of 56
    Why should this be a secret? Developer membership is inexpensive (it starts at free) and Apple presumably wants cases and accessories to be designed properly. Here's another example: https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/Case-Design-Guidelines.pdf
  • Reply 17 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vadania View Post





    The term is understood, but has recently been morphed into "Prints". Any contractor or mechanical design personnel could ask someone for "Prints" and will receive either a real 'Blue Print', a CAD drawing, or even a photocopy of a cad drawing. Most involved would consider any of them 'Blue Prints'.

    The original meaning will be lost with those who actually used blue paper prints and mechanical drafting. Although called "mechanical drafting" it was actually done by hand.

    This is just from what I have read. I have only seen a few real 'Blue Prints'. My father has one for his boat that's framed. It looks messy when compared to a CAD drawing...


    Is this a engineering website or is it a site dedicated to Apple enthusiasts? Everyone understood what was meant by the headline. But thanks for the answer to a question that nobody asked.

  • Reply 18 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by umrk_lab View Post


    By the way, did you guys notice that (apart from the screen size), Apple moved to the metric system to indicate, during the keynote, the iPhone weight and thickness ? (this has been noticed by one of my own country website, but this , I guess should have been more noticeable for you).



    About time too.  

  • Reply 19 of 56

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SixPenceRicher View Post


    This is absolutely a blueprint.  The key difference between this drawing and a traditional blueprint is that the old cadmium-ammonia process is no longer used for reproduction of the drawing, resulting in the blue-tinted final product.  This drawing provides dimensions, tolerances, details (highlighted portions of the phone), and general specifications necessary for case design -- all key aspects of a what was considered at one time, a blueprint.



    Jesus, seriously people? It doesn't matter, it was a simple headline!

  • Reply 20 of 56


    Originally Posted by Radjin View Post

    About time too.  


     


    Imperial for life. *stereotypical modern definition gangster fist on chest and then in the air with a finger symbol*


     


    Maybe that should be "Impeer4lyf"… 

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