Design schematic claims to show front panel of Apple's next iPhone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A picture purporting to show the design schematic for Apple's next-generation iPhone lends even more support to rumors that the device will be slightly taller with a larger display.

The images published on Wednesday by iPhone repair firm iLab Factory (via Macotakara) show what appears to be a slightly taller iPhone design, accommodating a larger screen that has been rumored to be 4 inches diagonally. The design also appears to have moved the forward-facing FaceTime camera to the center of the device, just above the earpiece.

The schematics appear to match up with images that surfaced a day earlier, showing an elongated back panel claimed to be from Apple's next iPhone. That part shows an aluminum back with what look to be like small glass ends on the top and bottom of the handset.

The back panel that was pictured online on Tuesday is one solid piece connected to the sides. Pictures of the bottom of the panel also show space for a smaller dock connector, and a headphone jack that has been moved from the top to the bottom of the device.

However, the font on the product name "iPhone" on the back of the alleged prototype part also appears suspicious, and does not identically match Apple's existing logo, which has suggested to some that the part could be an elaborate counterfeit.

Schematic


The alleged iPhone schematic that surfaced Wednesday is just the latest in a line of evidence that the next iPhone could have a slightly larger screen. Numerous reports earlier this month, including one from The Wall Street Journal, claimed that Apple has been ordering larger screens that measure 4 inches diagonally for its next iPhone.

The sixth-generation iPhone is expected to be a major departure from the largely identical external appearances of the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4. Rumors have pegged the next iPhone to launch this fall, about one year after the debut of the iPhone 4S.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Didn't we see a schematic like this for an earlier model?


     


    I don't recall what became of that one, though. I think it was debunked, but I'm not sure.

  • Reply 2 of 51
    roontoonroontoon Posts: 20member

    Quote:


    "show what appears to be a slightly taller iPhone design, accommodating a larger screen that has been rumored to be 4 inches in diameter."



     


    4" in diameter. So we are getting a round iPhone now?

  • Reply 3 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by roontoon View Post

    4" in diameter. So we are getting a round iPhone now?


     


    Spherical, actually! All those 3D GUI patents Apple has have finally come to fruition.


     


    They can call it the iPhone 6S. S for "sphere" this time.

  • Reply 4 of 51
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Spherical, actually! All those 3D GUI patents Apple has have finally come to fruition.


     


    They can call it the iPhone 6S. S for "sphere" this time.



    Hm.. I think I will have to buy new trousers for that one.

  • Reply 5 of 51
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Spherical, actually! All those 3D GUI patents Apple has have finally come to fruition.


     


    They can call it the iPhone 6S. S for "sphere" this time.



     


    It's a new iPhone targeted at physicists, so they don't have to assume their phone is a sphere.

  • Reply 6 of 51
    blackbookblackbook Posts: 1,361member
    Didn't we see a schematic like this for an earlier model?

    I don't recall what became of that one, though. I think it was debunked, but I'm not sure.

    Yup and it was wrong

    Schematic showed an edge to edge screen on the 4S and we see what happened with that.
  • Reply 7 of 51
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member


    That picture isn't of a schematic. It's just a drawing.

  • Reply 8 of 51
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    chabig wrote: »
    That picture isn't of a schematic. It's just a drawing.

    Either way, Appleinsiders posting of the print is an act of engaging in theft if the print is real. It is one thing to post a picture of a spare part, it is another thing to post proprietary information.
  • Reply 9 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post

    Either way, Appleinsiders posting of the print is an act of engaging in theft if the print is real. It is one thing to post a picture of a spare part, it is another thing to post proprietary information.


     


    It's nothing we haven't already seen in physical form. The actual specs are all blurred out, for once.

  • Reply 10 of 51
    roontoonroontoon Posts: 20member


    Is that an iPhone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me.....

  • Reply 11 of 51
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    That looks ugly.
  • Reply 12 of 51
    bsimpsenbsimpsen Posts: 398member


    The previously shown (suspected fake or knockoff) iPhone back would have required drawings to be made. Showing such drawings doesn't add much to the story.

  • Reply 13 of 51
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bsimpsen View Post


    The previously shown (suspected fake or knockoff) iPhone back would have required drawings to be made. Showing such drawings doesn't add much to the story.



     


    The trouble is ... that other than the (to some) intense ugliness, there isn't anything about this new iPhone design that can be pointed to as obviously fake.  


     


    In fact it quite neatly meshes every rumour, leak and suspected phone part together into a whole.  That alone makes it suspicious, but there isn't (yet) anything that I can see that would argue against this being the next iPhone.  

  • Reply 14 of 51
    ahmlcoahmlco Posts: 432member


    But all of that aside, why would Apple make such a major change... for just a half inch in screen height?


    Bad jokes to the contrary, a half inch in height alone isn't going to help all that much. If Apple is going to make a bigger phone, it needs to be a bigger phone. Height and width. Despite the entire house-cleaning argument I promoted in my earlier article on the subject, I don't believe that Apple would disrupt their entire ecosystem for a single device.



    But now we come to the qualifying phrase: For a single device.


    Apple has a new iPhone coming. Apple is rumored to have a 7-inch iPad coming. Apple is said to be working on MacBook Airs and Pros with "Retina" high resolution displays. And Apple has been working on adding resolution independence to OS X for years now.


    Is disrupting the entire ecosystem worthwhile for a single device? No.


    But is it worthwhile disrupting the entire ecosystem for an entire series of devices? Yes.


    I think the key phrase Apple is going to repeat over and over again at this year's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) is "resolution independence".


    Because that opens the door for smaller iPads. Larger iPads. Aa 5-inch iPod Touch. iOS apps running on OS X. iOS apps running on the Apple TV. And because resolution independence opens the door to a brand new user experience, one best suited to each and every individual.


    From iSights.org : A 16x9 iPhone? Why?


     









  • Reply 15 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by ahmlco View Post

    Apple is rumored to have a 7-inch iPad coming.



     


    Which Tim Cook laughed at.


     


    Quote:


    Apple is said to be working on MacBook Airs and Pros with "Retina" high resolution displays. And Apple has been working on adding resolution independence to OS X for years now.


    But is it worthwhile disrupting the entire ecosystem for an entire series of devices? Yes.




     


    Not when Macs and iDevices have nothing to do with one another.

  • Reply 16 of 51

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ksec View Post



    That looks ugly.


    Either you think the iPhone4/4s is also ugly (as this drawing looks identical but slightly taller than the 4/4s) or you don't understand how engineering drawings work.

  • Reply 17 of 51
    lerxtlerxt Posts: 186member
    Being taller and thus out of proportion is ugly.
  • Reply 18 of 51
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member


    I'd prefer it to be wider and taller, not just taller.  Being taller is just ugly IMO.  We won't know until September anyways when they usually have their iPod event, which as of last year is probably now defunct and is now the iPhone event.  

  • Reply 19 of 51
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Lerxt View Post



    Being taller and thus out of proportion is ugly.


     


    This is my biggest beef against this (supposed) new design for iPhone.  


     


    Literally for all of recorded history on planet earth, 16:10 has been the magic or "golden ratio" for rectangles that interact with human beings. Doors, tables, books, buildings ... everything.  


     


    Then some a-holes in Hollywood come out with 16:9 for widescreen movies and make it a standard and now all our stuff is changing to 16:9.  


    It's a f*cking abomination is what it is.  


     


    Apple was the last company clinging to 16:10 in the tech business and held off 16:9 for over twenty years, and now they've caved. 


    All that beauty down the drain because the latest "action" (war) picture must be formatted correctly on your telephone and none of the explosions missed!  


    What a travesty. 

  • Reply 20 of 51
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Eventually we'll have 2.39:1 iPhones because movies aren't released in 16:9 anymore. It's too mainstream for Hollywood.


     


    No. Seriously. That's the actual reason for 2.39:1. Televisions were 4:3, so theaters moved to 16:9. Now that TVs are 16:9, movies are 2.39:1.

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