Alleged next-gen iPhone part shows aluminum back, smaller dock connector
Pictures claiming to show the back panel of an unreleased iPhone suggest Apple's next-generation handset could feature an aluminum back, a new, smaller dock connector, and a relocated headphone jack.
The images showing a slightly taller iPhone design were provided by repair firm "uBreakiFix" (via Engadget). The images appear to show an iPhone with an aluminum back, featuring ends made of glass at the top and bottom.
The significant redesign also features a much smaller dock connector on the bottom of the device. It also shows a headphone jack that has been relocated to the bottom of the handset.
However, the purported next-generation iPhone component also features a suspicious font used to display the "iPhone" product name on the rear panel, suggesting the component could be an elaborate counterfeit.
The component does align with a number of rumors that have surrounded Apple's anticipated sixth-generation handset. Some reports have claimed that Apple plans to ditch the glass-back design employed on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S for a new aluminum back.
A relocation of the headphone jack on the next iPhone could also explain why a previous component showed the headphone component attached to the earpiece and Wi-Fi parts. In the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, the headphone jack is included with the handset's volume buttons and mute switch on the same component, as all of those features are located in the upper left corner of the device.
In addition, Apple is also rumored to retire the 30-pin iPod dock connector, which its devices have featured for years, with a new, smaller port that would save space on its devices. The new dock connector is rumored to make its debut on Apple's sixth-generation iPhone, which is expected to launch this fall.
Finally, the next iPhone is also rumored to feature a 4-inch display, slightly larger than the 3.5-inch screen found on all previous iPhone models. The back panel pictured in the latest component appears to show a slightly longer design, which could accommodate a larger screen on the next iPhone.
The images showing a slightly taller iPhone design were provided by repair firm "uBreakiFix" (via Engadget). The images appear to show an iPhone with an aluminum back, featuring ends made of glass at the top and bottom.
The significant redesign also features a much smaller dock connector on the bottom of the device. It also shows a headphone jack that has been relocated to the bottom of the handset.
However, the purported next-generation iPhone component also features a suspicious font used to display the "iPhone" product name on the rear panel, suggesting the component could be an elaborate counterfeit.
The component does align with a number of rumors that have surrounded Apple's anticipated sixth-generation handset. Some reports have claimed that Apple plans to ditch the glass-back design employed on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S for a new aluminum back.
A relocation of the headphone jack on the next iPhone could also explain why a previous component showed the headphone component attached to the earpiece and Wi-Fi parts. In the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, the headphone jack is included with the handset's volume buttons and mute switch on the same component, as all of those features are located in the upper left corner of the device.
In addition, Apple is also rumored to retire the 30-pin iPod dock connector, which its devices have featured for years, with a new, smaller port that would save space on its devices. The new dock connector is rumored to make its debut on Apple's sixth-generation iPhone, which is expected to launch this fall.
Finally, the next iPhone is also rumored to feature a 4-inch display, slightly larger than the 3.5-inch screen found on all previous iPhone models. The back panel pictured in the latest component appears to show a slightly longer design, which could accommodate a larger screen on the next iPhone.
Comments
I hope that is fake, because that is ugly and not innovative at all. The font and horrible design suggests it is in my opinion. Large plastic holes for the speakers? (iPhone 2g had much smaller holes) Dot between camera and LED? Too many bad design decisions that go against Apple's profile. Anyone else agree?
I think its a chinese fake, and the mini-connector is likely micro USB.
iPhony, iReckon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaHarder
Who Knows... but if the overall design does end up looking this (mildly) evolutionary, as in just an elongated version of the current theme, it'll just serve as further evidence that Apple's design team appears to have few truly new ideas on the horizon.
Does a device have to look dramatically different to improve? It's about the function first and foremost, isn't it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Pictures claiming to show the back panel of an unreleased iPhone suggest Apple's next-generation handset could feature an aluminum back, a new, smaller dock connector, and a relocated headphone jack. ...
I'm not sure I buy this at all. Given the timing, wouldn't right now be more the time when various prototypes are being created and far too soon for a finished product?
Also, why replace the glass back (which admittedly can shatter sometimes), with an aluminium back that won't shatter, but will scratch far more easily? It seems to me that there would be more complaints about the scratching than there would be incidences of shattered backs. Even if you're going to do an aluminium back, why leave the glass bits at the top and bottom? That's gives you the worst of both choices in that the glass bits could still shatter and the aluminium bits will still scratch. It's also a bitch to join them up and creates two new seams where there (apparently) needn't be any at all.
Also, why move the headphone jack to the bottom, and the speaker holes look both ugly and less efficient. It really doesn't look very "Appley" to me at all.
That is horrible. Is that headphone jack on the bottom right? What's up with the terrible speaker grille? That elongated iPhone looks terrible. I really want LTE, but not if it looks like that. I don't mind a smaller dock connector though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaHarder
Who Knows... but if the overall design does end up looking this (mildly) evolutionary, as in just an elongated version of the current theme, it'll just serve as further evidence that Apple's design team appears to have few truly new ideas on the horizon.
Did you expect the device to look circular, or like an octagon? What would be defined as 'revolutionary' to you, while still being realistic, practical, and reasonable? It's a phone/device that's going to be marketed almost every country in the world, sell in the hundreds of millons, and has to maintain compatibility with hundreds of millions of apps, etc. It's going to be thin and rectangular. The main points in question are screen size, aspect ratio, and build material. Being as rectangular slab is not 'further evidence' of fucking anything, which is garbage sensationalism. You honestly think Apple's design team doesn't have any 'ideas'? If they did, do you want them to just throw all those ideas at the wall and release them, regardless of the thousands of factors they need to consider when implementing these ideas? By your definition every single iteration of a product that wasn't the 1st is evolutionary, but that doesn't mean it's evidence of any lack of creativity. This isn't a boutique product to be sold to a boutique audience. It will be the best selling and most mainstream device in the world. The iPad and the iPhone will stay largely the same physically for years to come.
I call B.S. on this one. Those mis-placed and mis-sized ports are signature features of the counterfeit iPods we see all over the 3rd world.
This is absolutely awful. There is no way this is the real deal. If it is, bye bye Apple, hello Android
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
Did you expect the device to look circular, or like an octagon? What would be defined as 'revolutionary' to you, while still being realistic, practical, and reasonable? It's a phone/device that's going to be marketed almost every country in the world, sell in the hundreds of millons, and has to maintain compatibility with hundreds of millions of apps, etc. It's going to be thin and rectangular. The main points in question are screen size, aspect ratio, and build material. Being as rectangular slab is not 'further evidence' of fucking anything, which is garbage sensationalism. You honestly think Apple's design team doesn't have any 'ideas'? If they did, do you want them to just throw all those ideas at the wall and release them, regardless of the thousands of factors they need to consider when implementing these ideas? By your definition every single iteration of a product that wasn't the 1st is evolutionary, but that doesn't mean it's evidence of any lack of creativity. This isn't a boutique product to be sold to a boutique audience. It will be the best selling and most mainstream device in the world. The iPad and the iPhone will stay largely the same physically for years to come.
You sound like Samsung.
Folks just like you said the exact same thing when the iPhone4's design leaked out. They were proven wrong on such an epic level.
Wait and see...
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaHarder
Who Knows... but if the overall design does end up looking this (mildly) evolutionary, as in just an elongated version of the current theme, it'll just serve as further evidence that Apple's design team appears to have few truly new ideas on the horizon.
Its a phone. A device that is pretty much one big screen, with a few little buttons & a connector. How much different will it ever look than elongated version of the current theme?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tazz52
This is absolutely awful. There is no way this is the real deal. If it is, bye bye Apple, hello Android
So you'd move to an even WORSE design and WORSE OS? I don't get it.
Looks more like an opening for the lock button. I'd say this is a poorly done knockoff.
Definitely needs more "trick" stuff to appease the hacker-in-the-basement crowd, like neon lights, internal cooling ducts, and a WICKED "schwa" sticker.
Love the iPhone 4 / 4S design but it's time for something new. And I have to say, I'm not crazy about the "tall iPhone 4" look. I want a 4" iPhone screen but with the same aspect ratio as the 3.5" screen and designed physically like an iPad 3 with an aluminum back, tapered edges. This is the direction the design should move in- they should unify it with the iPad look if they can and make it the thinnest phone on the market.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NE1
Love the iPhone 4 / 4S design but it's time for something new.
Why?
Quote:
…they should unify it with the iPad look if they can and make it the thinnest phone on the market.
I'd rather have usable battery life. It's already too thin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
It will be the best selling and most mainstream device in the world. The iPad and the iPhone will stay largely the same physically for years to come.
People buy the iPhone and iPad because they have cutting edge design blended with leading edge technology.
Remove the annual or bi-annual design changes and you reduce the incentive for existing users to upgrade and you allow the competition to start putting out better looking devices.
Frankly I don't want to pay top dollar for something "mainstream". I could buy something a lot cheaper than the iPhone/iPad if that's all I wanted. I want something that looks amazing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ankleskater
Does a device have to look dramatically different to improve? It's about the function first and foremost, isn't it?
Function has nothing to do with it. My first car from over 25 years ago functioned quite well. Yet todays same car version looks drastically different then the version I had even though its function was superb.
There is a word however, that both the automakers and Apple's iPhone wish to avoid, and that word is...
STALE!
And making a smaller dock connector, moving a headphone jack, etc. doesn't cut it. You can't see internal improvements and functionality on a phone's software soul of this type when it is turned off as it rests on a table. You can when the exterior is remodeled and is new and different! Hopefully Steve, as it was said, put a lot of work into this before he passed. I hope his last collaboration does not come out looking like some rehash version of a model introduced almost three years ago.