Photo of Apple's next-generation iPhone in the wild - sources
A photograph containing one of Apple's fourth-generation iPhones has been lingering undetected on the web for nearly a week now thanks to having been overshadowed -- quite literally -- by the company's new iPad, AppleInsider has learned.
People with an impeccable track record in matters such as these say the iPhone in below photo, published by gadget blog Engadget in the hours leading up to Apple's iPad announcement last Wednesday, is a prototype of one of the handsets due to hit the market in roughly five months.
We spoke with Engadget to determine whether its unedited source imagery was of any superior quality, which it reportedly is not. Therefore, all we have to go off of is the fairly distorted shot you see here, which is bound to give way to some interesting analysis.
Cosmetically, the iPhone in the photo appears without its iconic aluminum bezel. Instead, the device is surrounded by a black plastic of aluminum material. Either that, or the handset is wrapped 80 percent of the way in a rubberized protective holder like the iPad prototype it rests on top of, though the quality of the image leaves this assertion to considerable debate.
The only other distinguishable difference between the existing iPhone and the one in the photo is what appears to be a whitish blotch immediately to the left of the earpiece grill. This could represent a circular transparency in the blackened portion of the face of the device that gives way to a camera lens, though it could also be nothing more than a reflection from some other source.
Due to hit the market this summer, Apple's fourth-generation iPhone has purportedly been described by Apple chief executive as an Steve Jobs disparages">"A+" upgrade to the company's existing line of handsets. If anything, the photos above serve as evidence that those advances will largely take place under the hood and through software, rather than in any radical departure from the handset's trademark form factor.
Like the iPad, people familiar with the matter claim the fourth-generation iPhone will run a version of Apple's homebred silicon, which melds ARM's latest multi-core Cortex reference designs with Imagination's upcoming GPU components into a fine-tuned, customized SoC (system-on-a-chip) package.
These enhancements, along with improvements to the iPhone software, are expected to translate into quantifiable improvements in battery life and the overall speed of the iPhone interface and the software that runs on top of it.
Last week, in a conversation with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Jobs spoke of the battery-sipping custom chips Apple has built with the acquisition of P.A. Semi. He noted that the newly announced iPad will offer "140-something hours," or nearly six days, of continuous music playback with the screen off.
"It's all about the display," Jobs said of battery life. "Our chips don't use hardly any power."
People with an impeccable track record in matters such as these say the iPhone in below photo, published by gadget blog Engadget in the hours leading up to Apple's iPad announcement last Wednesday, is a prototype of one of the handsets due to hit the market in roughly five months.
We spoke with Engadget to determine whether its unedited source imagery was of any superior quality, which it reportedly is not. Therefore, all we have to go off of is the fairly distorted shot you see here, which is bound to give way to some interesting analysis.
Cosmetically, the iPhone in the photo appears without its iconic aluminum bezel. Instead, the device is surrounded by a black plastic of aluminum material. Either that, or the handset is wrapped 80 percent of the way in a rubberized protective holder like the iPad prototype it rests on top of, though the quality of the image leaves this assertion to considerable debate.
The only other distinguishable difference between the existing iPhone and the one in the photo is what appears to be a whitish blotch immediately to the left of the earpiece grill. This could represent a circular transparency in the blackened portion of the face of the device that gives way to a camera lens, though it could also be nothing more than a reflection from some other source.
Due to hit the market this summer, Apple's fourth-generation iPhone has purportedly been described by Apple chief executive as an Steve Jobs disparages">"A+" upgrade to the company's existing line of handsets. If anything, the photos above serve as evidence that those advances will largely take place under the hood and through software, rather than in any radical departure from the handset's trademark form factor.
Like the iPad, people familiar with the matter claim the fourth-generation iPhone will run a version of Apple's homebred silicon, which melds ARM's latest multi-core Cortex reference designs with Imagination's upcoming GPU components into a fine-tuned, customized SoC (system-on-a-chip) package.
These enhancements, along with improvements to the iPhone software, are expected to translate into quantifiable improvements in battery life and the overall speed of the iPhone interface and the software that runs on top of it.
Last week, in a conversation with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Jobs spoke of the battery-sipping custom chips Apple has built with the acquisition of P.A. Semi. He noted that the newly announced iPad will offer "140-something hours," or nearly six days, of continuous music playback with the screen off.
"It's all about the display," Jobs said of battery life. "Our chips don't use hardly any power."
Comments
A photograph containing one of Apple's fourth-generation iPhones ...
I'm sorry, but you people have lost your f*cking minds.
I see nothing in that photo to suggest that is a fourth-gen iPhone or a prototype of anything. It looks more like a regular iPhone in a morphie case to me, or simply a colourware phone.
Furthermore the lack of an aluminium ring is the only thing different. The "white smudge" to the left of the ear hole is just one of the sensors. Do you guys ever look at your own iPhones? There are three sensors in that general area one of which looks to be in the same place on my iPhone as this one.
This is the worst excuse for a story ever.
The tiniest detail worth speculating on is what a rumor site is all about. Now please discuss, we need nothing short of a hefty 600-post thread
But seriously, as far as sloppily written articles go this one takes the cake. Please let someone with an English major proofread these things before they are released. Too many errors for me to address.
"People with an impeccable track record in matters such as these say the iPhone in below photo, published by gadget blog Engadget in the hours leading up to Apple's iPad announcement last Wednesday, is a prototype of one of the handsets due to hit the market in roughly five months."
AppleInsider: "We're not happy until you're not happy!"
But seriously, as far as sloppily written articles go this one takes the cake. Please let someone with an English major proofread these things before they are released. Too many errors for me to adress.
Right on, brother (or sister). No need for a major, even. You'd get bogged down in all those "distinguishable differences." Oh Kasper, could you stick to photo editing or something?
I agree with other posters, nothing in the image suggests a 4th gen iPhone. However, this image does show an iSight camera as part of at least one iPad prototype.
I find it interesting that the iPhone is in the same top secret room as the iPad prototype. It is also interesting that the iPhone display shows it in restore mode and not running. How many times did we call BS on an iPhone photo that turned to be real?
I think the whole iPad camera thing is just the ambient light sensor.
edit: I guess someone else saw it before me
so they use lots of power?
On a side note, if that really is the new model - then it doesn't seem to have an OLED display (the backlight seems to be lighting up the "black" background).
"wow that thing look great.... going to buy it asap" based on that photo :-)
But then again: very few posts till now :-)