Video shows purported next-gen iPhone 'uni-body' backplate in detail - Page 2

I suspected it might look better in video than photos and I think what's shown here looks really good. The white one, I'm not so sure about as it's silver against white vs black on black but again, a video will clear that up.

The black aluminum might make a nice looking Macbook Air too.

I'm definitely on board with this design in the black after seeing it in a video.

I'd like to see them be able to recess the charging cable inside the port too so that only a small tab is extruding from the port.

I think it will be good if the lower amount of glass helps reduce the weight or perception of it. The iPhone 4 feels too heavy IMO despite not really being heavier than the 3GS.

I can't imagine they'd wait until October to announce this if the parts are already in manufacturing. They could announce a pre-order at WWDC and shipping in July/August.

 

I agree, but it's something that has to happen sooner or later. Components will be improved over time and while the newfound incompatibilities about which you bemoan will cause headaches for a while, they will eventually be forgotten and, in the long run, make for a better device.

The headphone jack has been moved to the bottom so the the display can extend closer to the top edge. I'm guessing that the display and headphone jack would not be able to overlap within the new thinner form factor.

It's definitely looking like a micro-USB connector with MHL for HD video out, much the way it works in other phones and devices. Between Air-Play, iCloud, and OTA updates, other than charging, the need for a connector is dwindling these days anyway, unless you're clinging to your old iHome stuff. 

This looks awesome.  With parts making it to the the mainstream, I think it means that Apple has moved this device to production--we've seen this before.  Maybe we'll have an announcement next week, and preorders beginning 8/1?

Maybe on the iPhone 6 they'll go to inductive charging and bluetooth data transfer. No need for any connector port in that case.

1) This looks good and it looks real. I'm glad I qualified my reaction to the original leaks to note the first iPhone 4 leaks were less than appealing.

2) Being able to access the components from the top should make a lot of people happy.

They've used the same 30-pin connector for a decade. Think about that! A decade in consumer technology for 3 device categories. I think the change is long over due and welcome it with open arms.

I'd like more features with it, too, but MagSafe isn't one of them. I don' see how it can work without being much larger than it currently is. Look at the current MagSafe, there are only 2 channels (+ and -) but there are 4 pins so you can turn the plug in any direction. It's also quite large and more expensive despite only supplying power.

How does Apple deal with 30 pins? Make it 60 pins so it can be reversible? Remove the FireWire pins and make it the bare minimum so it's only about 40-50 pins total? Make it plug in only way so that can still have about 20 to 30 pins? How large does the magnet need to be? What is the cost of this cable come to when it's the only type that will work with the expensive design? WIll Apple license MagSafe or will all these cables only come from Apple? I certainly won't be happy if Apple tries an artificial lock in that doesn't help the user experience.

I felt like he was talking to a 2 year old when he's asking where the headphone jack went.

Me too, but it will be an issue for awhile. Even the Apple logo on notebooks being reversed was an issue for awhile and Apple didn't even have a strong presence then.


I'm not seeing the same shape as you. I'm seeing something completely unique with that port interface.

Request...please post screen-caps of this. Some of us in china cant view certain types of video, mainly YouTube.

Except that a teardrop design was never seen in public.  Merely artist renditions.  This one has the part out in the wild, assuming it's real, which I think it's near final.  

• http://forums.appleinsider.com/gallery/album/view/id/6088763/user_id/150681

First off, final judgement won't be made until I have one in my hand to play with once released.  My thoughts are that I don't like the different textures on the back.  I wonder why they decided to coat the antenna the same color as the frame.  I didn't see a noise canceling mic anywhere and am not a fan of moving the headphone jack.  Speaker grills look ugly and for me, changing the size of the dock connector isn't a big deal as I don't use my phone with any accessories except the dock.  I can always get a new dock.  I have a Nano hooked up to my truck for music instead.  Interesting how there doesn't seem to be a way to remove the back plate.   Didn't they change policy where Apple can look at the internal water indicator to make a final decision on water damage since the headphone and dock ones can register false positives?  Apple does replace worn out batteries for a fee, so how will they change it now? 

 

Just random questions and  again, I won't be making a final judgement until I have one hands on.   

The front. It's currently a huge PITA (and costly) to change a broken front plate so this could be a positive change for consumers.

On a more important topic, this guy called it the iPhone 5.

Tallest's head is going to explode.

Thanks!

It's actually glass on the back? If so, hate it with a passion. If its just they didn't polish the majority of th back for better grip, I can see that but still hate it. I already think the 4/4S is not that comfortable to hold without a curved case. Personally, I think the thickness of the 4 and this one are going to make it even more uncomfortable to hold. I know SJ's obsession with thinness, but why not the teardrop design? Yes the iPhone has always been a stand-out design, but I'd rather have something that cups my hand than it being crazy thin for thinness sake. I like the idea of the unibody, but I'd rather is have better ergonomics. The 3G/3GS was the best design in that category. And i miss that every time i use my 4. If this is real, it's kind of a let down for me because I was so hoping for a turn for better ergonomics. Boo

In addition, as long as they keep the 30 pin on the iPods for the next 5 years or so I'll be happy. My car has a native proprietary 30 pin in the armrest and it's a brand new 2012. So if my iPod dies in the next 5 years and is replaced with this micro jack, I'll be a bit pissed. Otherwise, I don't care about the iPhone jack changing. I actually like the bottom headphone jack, it's about time.

1) To me it looks like a solid metal shell on the sides and back.

2) If it's thinner it does make it easier for the hand to wrap a little bit more to sweep the display with the thumb.

3) The width of the casing does look a little wider to me which does lend to the rumour of a 4.08" 320 PPI display.

4) Being thinner does mean that it likely has to be bigger to accommodate the components, although personally I'm okay with the thickness and would have prefered a larger display without increasing the footprint. I wonder how the volume difference compares.

5) The teardrop design looked great in the mock ups but I think there is an issue when using in landscape.

6) I think better ergonomics will come later one once the tech plateau's a bit more.

7) I think the original iPhone had the best design feel but the iPhone 4/4S is the best engineering design.

I can't remember if it was Jobs or someone paraphrasing him saying he likened the 4 design to a Leica camera. Well even though Leicas are more hard edged and square, they do have the proper ergonomics like finger grips and protrude and thumb holds. The 4 and this leaked design are all smooth.

After using both the 3G and the 4 I find that gripping the 4 is much less secure than when the back/edges were curved. And frankly, I find the teardrop of the iPad and touch is a bit too sharp at the screen edge too. Ive dropped the 4 many times due to bad gripping and I never dropped the 3G. It always felt secure.

I actually like the design although I actually would prefer the metal to be the standard aluminium color. Its going to be pretty interesting to see where things go from here with steve gone, its a pretty big release; hopefully they maintain a bit of the direction that lead them to this success all while using the opportunity for tim cook to incorporate his direction for the company into the mix.

 

In case anyone hasn't mentioned it yet, this part is actually not true.  

 

Look at 4:07 of the video and you can see that the mid-section of the iPhone 4s is quite a bit thinner than this part is.  The new part looks about a millimetre thinner than the previous middle and back parts together however, so overall the phone should be slimmer by a fraction.  

 

Your reasoning is a bit off here.  All Apple's trackpads are actually made of glass.  

 

So while it's really quite unlikely that they would put any kind of touch surface on the back at all, if they did, it would be more likely to be on the iPhone 4 based on the material choice alone. 

Re: the two different textures/colours on the back ...

 

I'm pretty sure it's not.  If you look at the very beginning where he shows a good close up of the inside, the top and bottom parts of the back appear to be clearly separate pieces that have been attached.  This also explains the "lines" on the sides that separate these pieces that look a lot like the antenna separator bands on the 4 and 4s.  

 

I still think this is about manufacturing savings.  This new "single part" is a unibody back that the workers can easily screw things in on an assembly line giving all the advantages (and a lot less steps) of the manufacturing process used on the 3 and 3s, but even though it's a single part, it's obviously constructed out of multiple parts.  I would guess that this part is entirely "robot made" up to this point and then shipped to the assembly plant as a single part.  

 

The really, really annoying thing about this video is that this is the crucial difference between this part and other parts, and the one thing we really don't know much about, but despite turning it around in his hands for five minutes(!) the guy never really takes a close look at the seams and the "glass parts" moulded into the back.  

 

Are they glass? Are they (as they look to be), separate parts?  This dufuss doesn't bother to let us know.  

I like the "smoked gray" sides.....looks like the back will be less slippery.   Nice.

 

I'm curious why you say this and why everyone is assuming that it's micro-USB.  The odds are completely against Apple dropping the 30 pin connector.

 

It seems that people are seeing it and deciding on size alone that it's going to be micro-USB, when it's far more likely to be simply a smaller 30 pin connector.  

Apple has even officially let us know that they are working on a smaller 30 pin connector. 

Why would anyone think it was USB?

Still looks either fake or disguised to me.

I think there is an assumption being made that there is no protruding front glass, so it's flush with this part, which would make it significantly thinner than a 4/4S.

 

The odds are against (read: 0%) a MicroUSB connector. You'd have to be a real… something… to think that; agreed.

 

But a new Dock Connector is needed. Smaller allows for greater flexibility in future designs, and if they can push data through faster or if a redesign can offer some other feature that the current one cannot, it should be done.

People should stop whining about a the smaller connector. We'd all be stuck with 8-track if technology didn't move forward. It has to change sometime and the current connector looks like a Soviet Union era connector. There will certainly be an adapter available likely in the box and at low cost otherwise.
 

And, yup, it's not micro-USB. Apple likes proprietary connectors and it's well known they are working on a smaller 30-pin.

 

The part is real. Machining this just for fun would have been one huge and time-consuming PITA for no gain. As for whether this is the new iPhone part that Apple will use who knows as Apple always has many different prototypes that they test. Apple doesn't even know which on they are going to use until they do all their prototyping and testing.

 

I would have liked to have seen the same form factor even if it was the same weight and thickness as the current iPhone but I guess Apple determined in it's testing that the best way to accomodate a larger screen with same the width as the current iPhone (therefore enabling one hand operation) was to make it thinner and longer. The same width and thinner does of course have the side benefit of actually making it easier to use with one hand as your hand can wrap around it easier. This is better for those with smaller hands (and bodes well for all the buyers in China, whose population is typically smaller framed than a lot of the rest of the world).

 

Moving the headphone port to the bottom, which was likely a necessity to increase the screen size, is way better for not having the headphone cable flop over the front of the screen and also for putting it in your pocket and retreiving it with the screen facing you in portrait mode and not having to flip it around. But then the world is slowly moving to bluetooth headsets and other wireless technologies for getting the iPhone audio and video transferred so that will begin to matter less and less as time goes on.

 

The SIM tray is slightly smaller but the phone likely uses the same micro-SIM. They did this because it was possible to make it smaller in order to save space. It seems to me it would be way smaller if the new SIM standard that Apple spearheaded was being employed. Also, the approval of this standard probably came a bit to late for Apple to employ it in their new iPhone.

 

Magsafe? Nope. Many have enumerated the reasons why. But, this doesn't mean that inductive charging won't come at some point. It will for sure. Cables are a hassle. It just won't be the current Magsafe standard.

 

As for increasing the length of the iPhone while keeping the width the same, one has to think about how these electronic devices are built. IC's and circuit boards are oriented basically in two planes and as such are layered over one another. Therefore space the 'Z' plane is not as important as room in the 'X' and 'Y' planes. If there is not enough room in the Y plane extra space can be used in the X plane. Layering these IC's and circuit boards therefore requires more X and Y space than Z space. To pack everything that Apple needed to into the phone in order to make the screen size larger they simply had to make the phone longer. Making it thicker was not an option, given their previous thicknesses, nor would it have helped as much given the X and Y space matters more. I am not sure how battery technology affected this, likely not too much, but the fact that batteries have been developed that can be molded into any shape and thickness for use in such a phone bodes well in the future for such a thinner and longer phone.

 

Now that we have a pretty good idea of what the future iPhone might look like (or not) I can't wait to find out what new features the phone will have other than the givens of larger screen size, smaller connector, better speakers and better camera. I don't really care much about NFC. It just means I wave something different other than my credit card in front of a reader which doesn't really make my life any easier or less expensive, plus opens up a new host of fraud problems (and possibity of problems paying for something if I lose my phone).

 

As usual, we can see that Apple does a lot of thinking when they design new devices.

Edited by Apple II Plus - 6/7/12 at 8:50am

why does everyone insist on saying "iPhone 5"

 

its unlikely they'll name it any number at all, but if they do, its the 6th iPhone model.

 

iPhone 1 = iPhone

iPhone 2 = iPhone 3G

iPhone 3 = iPhone 3Gs

iPhone 4 = iPhone 4

iPhone 5 = iPhone 4s

iPhone 6 = ??????????

Some of you said it's great design, I have to disagree. Mainly because of shiny top and bottom, it looks cheap. Cheap looks are reserved for Samsung, and I would love to stay that way.

I think you would notice several other people objected to that name.

If recent changes are any indicator, "iPhone" will be the formal name of the product. That each iteration was named is an abberation. Personally, I like having the identifier, as it's easier for people to communicate the model in question. For example, if I'm talking about a MacBook Pro, I'd need to figure out which generation it is and communicate it in a way others understand it. It makes identifying parts and such easier too.

 

"What could it be? Hmm, is this a new iPhone 5 component? It looks like it could be... It has an Apple logo and it says iPhone, maybe it is..."

I see what you mean. I still think a difference in finish can easily be just a difference finish of the same material, though maybe not the same part, but I can see where it can be a different material. In this case, a dozen high quality stills from different angles might be more informative than that five minute video.

I hope they just call it "iPhone", like they did with the "iPad" name.

I think the term you're looking for here is 'theft'.

I think it is because of the new ITC standard.

Gee.. I wonder if Apple will ever sell one? I wonder.

You do understand that developers only have to add real estate if they find it appropriate, right? If they want to stay the same, then its exactly the same as before.

looks nice. But i think the aluminum will be more likely dent or ding if dropped than compared to the steel and glass of the 4. My original iPhone with aluminum back dented quite easily from hitting objects as hard as my shoe while I was sitting.

And you still insist that all your desktop and laptop computers have a SCSI and VGA connector, right? Must be costing you tons to keep those running as well.

I prefer that Apple keep improving instead of getting stuck in backwards compatibility like MS.

Yes, boo-hoo bixxle ...

With AirPlay, Bluetooth, wifi, and 4G, aside from charging the thing, there's no reason to ever plug it in. If inductive charging is included, then there you go ... Completely wireless.

The 30-pin connector has been around for almost 10 years ... It seemed outdated and clunky to me then. It consumes too much space for such a small device and frankly is no longer needed. Yes, millions of dock connectors will be rendered useless this year by the latest products, but there will be adapters for permanant home and car use. And you can bet the after market industry will step up quickly to offer new products (with backward compatible adapters).

If you just bought a 4S and a new car specifically to dock it, too bad for you. But seriously do you remember the years before the iPhone? Every time you bought a new cell phone, you had to buy a completely new set of accessories because every manufacture had a different set of standards, sometimes even between their own models ... and you do know that all of Apple's 30-pin dock connectors are not compatible with every dock, right?

Be grateful for the decade of consistency Apple offered for their portable devices ... You realize that Apple didn't have to make the entire family of iPods, iPhones and iPads compatible wi each other at all right?

Believe me, I do my fair share of complaining about apple, and some of it is even justified, but this my friend is not one of them.