I think that a quad core processor and maybe a micro SD card slot would be nice. I honestly think that a memory card slot would be a benny for us iPhone users. But from the look at the picture we won't have the micro SD card. Maybe in the iPhone 5s.
Seems like Apple is on a trend of sorts. Look at Leopard/ Snow Leopard Lion/ Mountain Lion iPhone 4/ iPhone 4s. instead of the iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 then 6 and so on.
Agreed, iSheep buy anything with Apple's name on it and Apple knows it. If this phone proves true, it proves Apple knows its customers. Why innovate, they buy anything.
Oh I get it! You take a derogatory word and put the letter "i" in front of it... Clever!
LOL! Let me re-phrase that... There is no way Apple would produce a two-tone rear case in the pattern shown in that photo.
Yeah, there IS something not quite "right" about the aesthetic… something lacking in the attention to the proportional details...
Could it be that lacking Jobs' eye and input can have that much impact?
We got used to everything being "just right"… it's possible that won't be Apple's M.O. going forward. I hope it all remains EXCELLENT, but a part of me feels I'd better lower my expectations just a smidgeon...
If this phone is really it, then that process will start right here.
I'll still prefer the iPhone to the available alternatives, but man… I love the way my iPhone fits my hand, the proportions, the fact that it ISN'T 16:9… I'm not sure why people are clamoring for major changes when it's already working pretty darned well as it is...
Analogy: The Fender Stratocaster. Designed in the 50s, and hasn't changed a whole lot since. Why? Because they nailed it after only a few iterations. Why change a good thing? Just improve on materials, electronics, and build quality. But when something is designed just right, DON'T CHANGE IT! In this case, upgrade the internals… OK… widen the screen to the edge, OK, maybe… add faster processing, higher res cameras and screens, etc… fine!
Anyway, you get my drift… to continue would be flogging the horse...
(edit: I should say that I personally don't like the giant-screen "slab" phones like the new 4.x" samsung phones… I find the proportions clumsy and awkward in my hands, and just too big for a PHONE. seriously…)
THIS IS FAKE!!!!! and a bad attempt at makeing it look real and here are my reasons:
1. HTC ONE X and SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII already blow the 4S out of the water.
2. Apple needs to come up with something very spectacular to fend off Android supremecy
3. I could not beleive that Ivy and his team would come up with a phone that looks this shit.
4. ....this is an insult to any apple lover
Wow another fandroid pretending to be concerned about Apple. How original.
I don't think this will sell that well. Looks like the same thing. They should have thought of something else.
One can only hope that the limo-iPhone rumors is just a decoy, and Apple will not regurgitate the now stale design with all its shortcomings (easily breakable due to its impractical glass-steel construction and the narrow screen). If this is indeed the next iPhone, Apple is in deep trouble.
To avoid needless arguments, I emphasize that 1) some people will absolutely love it, 2) this is the best sold smartphone design ever (the combined iPhone 4 and 4S sales).
But, please, dig deeper and stay ahead of the curve (and not behind as I getting the feeling Tim Cook does). Do not rely on the pass-success as the proof of the future one.
[Where were those newly baked Apple fanatics when I predicted in 2005 that Apple will make a revolution in consumer electronics and its share price will increase ten-fold?]
The key question is will sales of the new iPhone exceed those of iPhone 4 + 4S? Will it meet the high expectations generally? The mobile world drastically changed in the last two years, the competition is much stronger and diverse, and consumer expectations are much heightened.
That Apple camp is in trouble became apparent in Spring of this year. Now Apple just missed the earnings expectations while analysts are touting $1000 share price and Tim Cook has his head in the sand. But more trouble is ahead if this is indeed the new iPhone design. imho, the sales will disappoint... thoroughly.
One can only hope that the limo-iPhone rumors is just a decoy, and Apple will not regurgitate the now stale design with all its shortcomings (easily breakable due to its impractical glass-steel construction and the narrow screen). If this is indeed the next iPhone, Apple is in deep trouble.
To avoid needless arguments, I emphasize that 1) some people will absolutely love it, 2) this is the best sold smartphone design ever (the combined iPhone 4 and 4S sales).
But, please, dig deeper and stay ahead of the curve (and not behind as I getting the feeling Tim Cook does). Do not rely on the pass-success as the proof of the future one.
[Where were those newly baked Apple fanatics when I predicted in 2005 that Apple will make a revolution in consumer electronics and its share price will increase ten-fold?]
The key question is will sales of the new iPhone exceed those of iPhone 4 + 4S? Will it meet the high expectations generally? The mobile world drastically changed in the last two years, the competition is much stronger and diverse, and consumer expectations are much heightened.
That Apple camp is in trouble became apparent in Spring of this year. Now Apple just missed the earnings expectations while analysts are touting $1000 share price and Tim Cook has his head in the sand. But more trouble is ahead if this is indeed the new iPhone design. imho, the sales will disappoint... thoroughly.
Though you are about to get attacked by fanbois, you speak true. Many great companies grow complacent. Steve was never satisfied and that died with him.
The blue tint is bad photography. The back is two toned because the majority of it is metal, but the top and bottom "stripes" are inlaid glass or ceramic. The antennas are the top and bottom "loops" of metal as they were in the last model, separated from the main steel chassis by non-ferrous black bands as before. The glass on the top and bottom back in combination with the antenna separators gives the antennas the separation they need from the metal backplate. This makes for a "unibody" back piece but still keeps the antennas separate.
Using glass between two steel pieces would not be unibody but I guess antenna design might necessitate a compromise on the concept. But what about the antenna for GPS, Wifi, bluetooth?
LOL.... Well. It is a fake. Not for the "fandroid" reasons....
1) you can see, it's "photoshoped". Yeah, it is really good.
2) If this is the same source, why does the first pic seems to have an display in it, the disassembled one not?
3) If you take the sketches from 2 month ago and make them a super realistic "photos hoped" pic, it would look 100% like that! (just for the not so bright readers here: no, that's not the same point a 1)
4) is that is the real deal, there would have been more marks on the back for the disposal symbols and so.... However... if this would be a prototype, theses symbols would most likely have been replaced with some form of other identification and not simply "iPhone". This point is probably the proven point, for we have seen this before.
These look like the real deal. Hopefully this level of completion implies we'll see the new model sooner rather than later. Apple needs to hit a home run with the iPhone 5; Samsung has been (surprisingly, at least to me) outselling Apple 2:1 lately.
Three comments on that:
1. Always worth reminding that most of these reports compare other company's SHIPPING quantities to Apple's selling numbers. All iPhones shipped are sold. Ask HP if that's true of all non iOS devices...
And isn't that Android as a whole (with all the junk at the bottom of the lines running like v2.3 included) rather than Samsung alone (and especially not considering top phone to top phone and tab to tab). So many dueling metrics and hard to keep straight.
2. Also, I believe that's Android penetration in Europe, not here. Where the whole subsidy structure is different. Although, long term, dealing with world-wide sticker shock IS a bit of challenge for Apple to crack.
3. No maker of Android devices (nor I believe all of them combined) is "out-profiting" Apple in the iDevice/mobile markets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaHarder
This 'alleged' new iPhone simply looks like a slightly elongated version of the now 2-year-old iPhone 4/4S with a few tweaks here and there - Which is hardly anyhting remotely ground-breaking/innovative and it's beginning to appear that there's a certain degree of complacency in the Apple design deparment lately.
Time for Apple to start to 'Think Different' again.
Anyway... It'll likely sell well enough (merely because it's an Apple product), but it's becoming pretty obvious that the once creative arm of Apple is (seemingly) coming up very short on interesting ideas as of late (to include iOS 6), while competitors are truly advancing the state of mobile device technology/design.
Come on Cook, Ivy and Company... Surely there are still a few great (design) ideas left in you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Are you people freaking kidding me? Do you really think that after over a year of saying this that it means anything at all?
Yes and no....... ...the iP4 was "tick" and the 4s the "tock" on the 2 year contract cycle. At 1st glance - assuming it's remotely real - this "feels" more like "toooock" than a new tick.
But how much can the form change if "form follows function" without changing for its own sake? Or just to be novel (plenty of passing novelty phun fones on that other OS). Remember when Detroit radically changed body styles EVERY YEAR in the '50's? And after a great run of Chevies, e.g., that played out in bizarre finned boats that wore out fast, rusted almost as fast - and those from other countries who focused on building good lasting stuff with tight tolerances began to take 'em out...
...I think people can discern value - both in the device and the whole growing system.
Also, the screen can't get wider without violating Apple's ergonomic guidelines for average hands, but it can get a bit longer, tho' "that's a stretch" ;-D Nor - for marketing reasons partly - can it stay at 3.5" forever without starting to "look small." Though at some point I do expect Apple to have at least two CURRENT SKU's, not just "this year's" selling alongside "last year's" (and the year before's).
And what's in the innards? LTE's gonna be nice. New CPU too. NFC? Not big on my 2013 needs list, but.... ...And maybe T-Mob and that big China phone company will be brought into the fold (increasing our choices and the value proposition for app developers, which WILL benefit all iPhone users).
iOS6 moves its own ball. (Admittedly Android OS is making some leaps and bounds - but getting current versions updated and deployed to the Android device world is still not). Plus expect other value-add refinements. More storage is always nice. Better batteries too.
And it'll be enough extra real estate to keep the top spot in the US AND keep the lion's share of the profits to be had.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Socrates
No idea what the haters are on about. This is exactly what I was hoping they would ship, and the new screen looks like the perfect compromise between the comfortable existing size and the ludicrous giant panels of their competitors.
16:9 will be great for movies and games, and in portrait offers more usable screen real estate for scrolling content like web pages and lists (which make up the lion's share of most non-game applications).
I hope it has some non-obvious tech like an NFC chip in there as well, but either way I'm buying this, and so will most of you guys once you actually see Tim Cook bring it out on stage and explain why it's great.
I agree. Media will actually grow more in display than the screen size because of fewer black bars on widescreen content and I can always use more, err, that is less, portrait scrolling. Plus this solution barely changes the device holding ergonomics and pocketability at all.
Also from what I've read adding pixels in this new space will pose a smaller challenge to developers and API guidelines than any other up-sizing. Meanwhile the 4:3 of the 9.7" iPad continues to make more sense for general holding/toting/using than a wide screen tablet.
Leaving to be determined only how Apple's gonna approach the space between 4" and 9.7" Remember Cook's already announced he plans to leave no room for competitors under a "price umbrella." So a 7.85 mini (with its own solutions and niches to deal with the "filed down fingers" problem, e.g., in the K-9 ed market for one) is likely given all the clues, but even though there's hardly a peep and the specs have gone stale, I also wonder if a 4.5-5" Touch couldn't be the bigger than 4" device that's still absent, even in the rumor mills, and aimed at hand-held gaming, photography, etc. and looking as cool as any "phablet." As in maybe next spring??
Still all this evolution still will leave some wanting the next "revolution" - and I'm in that camp too. What IS the next "insanely great" idea? And will it come from Apple? One would assume. But if so, when and what??
Finally, the Apple mythos requires a new truly DIFFERENT idea in the post-Jobs era within a year or two to keep its "dream share," and show the mojo's still baked in the company genes and not gone off into the beyond with the visionary.
--still waiting for my iJetpack (or whatever) after all these years......
Though you are about to get attacked by fanbois, you speak true. Many great companies grow complacent. Steve was never satisfied and that died with him.
Where are you in the last 15 years ?
Apple never changed design because you were bored. They improve on it.
Did you never see the iPods or MacBook Air ? Never ?
Using glass between two steel pieces would not be unibody but I guess antenna design might necessitate a compromise on the concept. But what about the antenna for GPS, Wifi, bluetooth?
I'm pretty sure the current model only uses two antenna bands at the top and bottom. One is for cell, the other is for WiFi, bluetooth, and GPS. This would be the same.
As far as I understand (all educated guesswork only), the pieces that make the "unibody" back are assembled together before the final milling is done. So that's why some people are calling it "unibody" and why I put it in quotes because like you, I don't really see that as being "unibody."
The way I see it however, the "unibody" construction makes it easier to manufacture in that the "unibody" back part arrives at the assembly factory and all the various inside bits are securely screwed into it. Then the front plate is attached in the same manner as the back plate was attached on previous models (annular steel ring), and secured with the two little screws at the bottom of the device.
The chief wins of this design over the previous one would be faster, more efficient and more accurate assembly and greater resistance to breakage. It's going to be almost impossible to break the glass on the back now for instance. It should give them more volume inside the phone as well.
I could be completely wrong of course, but I have been following very closely and this seems like the most reasonable explanation of why they are using this design if they in fact do end up using it.
Comments
I think that a quad core processor and maybe a micro SD card slot would be nice. I honestly think that a memory card slot would be a benny for us iPhone users. But from the look at the picture we won't have the micro SD card. Maybe in the iPhone 5s.
Seems like Apple is on a trend of sorts. Look at Leopard/ Snow Leopard Lion/ Mountain Lion iPhone 4/ iPhone 4s. instead of the iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 then 6 and so on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellacool
Agreed, iSheep buy anything with Apple's name on it and Apple knows it. If this phone proves true, it proves Apple knows its customers. Why innovate, they buy anything.
Oh I get it! You take a derogatory word and put the letter "i" in front of it... Clever!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chadmatic
LOL! Let me re-phrase that... There is no way Apple would produce a two-tone rear case in the pattern shown in that photo.
Yeah, there IS something not quite "right" about the aesthetic… something lacking in the attention to the proportional details...
Could it be that lacking Jobs' eye and input can have that much impact?
We got used to everything being "just right"… it's possible that won't be Apple's M.O. going forward. I hope it all remains EXCELLENT, but a part of me feels I'd better lower my expectations just a smidgeon...
If this phone is really it, then that process will start right here.
I'll still prefer the iPhone to the available alternatives, but man… I love the way my iPhone fits my hand, the proportions, the fact that it ISN'T 16:9… I'm not sure why people are clamoring for major changes when it's already working pretty darned well as it is...
Analogy: The Fender Stratocaster. Designed in the 50s, and hasn't changed a whole lot since. Why? Because they nailed it after only a few iterations. Why change a good thing? Just improve on materials, electronics, and build quality. But when something is designed just right, DON'T CHANGE IT! In this case, upgrade the internals… OK… widen the screen to the edge, OK, maybe… add faster processing, higher res cameras and screens, etc… fine!
Anyway, you get my drift… to continue would be flogging the horse...
(edit: I should say that I personally don't like the giant-screen "slab" phones like the new 4.x" samsung phones… I find the proportions clumsy and awkward in my hands, and just too big for a PHONE. seriously…)
THIS IS FAKE!!!!! and a bad attempt at makeing it look real and here are my reasons:
1. HTC ONE X and SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII already blow the 4S out of the water.
2. Apple needs to come up with something very spectacular to fend off Android supremecy
3. I could not beleive that Ivy and his team would come up with a phone that looks this shit.
4. ....this is an insult to any apple lover
Right because the word sheep is known around the world as derogatory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maijojacob
I don't think this will sell that well. Looks like the same thing. They should have thought of something else.
One can only hope that the limo-iPhone rumors is just a decoy, and Apple will not regurgitate the now stale design with all its shortcomings (easily breakable due to its impractical glass-steel construction and the narrow screen). If this is indeed the next iPhone, Apple is in deep trouble.
To avoid needless arguments, I emphasize that 1) some people will absolutely love it, 2) this is the best sold smartphone design ever (the combined iPhone 4 and 4S sales).
But, please, dig deeper and stay ahead of the curve (and not behind as I getting the feeling Tim Cook does). Do not rely on the pass-success as the proof of the future one.
[Where were those newly baked Apple fanatics when I predicted in 2005 that Apple will make a revolution in consumer electronics and its share price will increase ten-fold?]
The key question is will sales of the new iPhone exceed those of iPhone 4 + 4S? Will it meet the high expectations generally? The mobile world drastically changed in the last two years, the competition is much stronger and diverse, and consumer expectations are much heightened.
That Apple camp is in trouble became apparent in Spring of this year. Now Apple just missed the earnings expectations while analysts are touting $1000 share price and Tim Cook has his head in the sand. But more trouble is ahead if this is indeed the new iPhone design. imho, the sales will disappoint... thoroughly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maijojacob
I don't think this will sell that well. Looks like the same thing. They should have thought of something else.
Like WHAT, specifically? Round, maybe?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gyorgy Peto
THIS IS FAKE!!!!! and a bad attempt at makeing it look real and here are my reasons:
1. HTC ONE X and SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII already blow the 4S out of the water.
2. Apple needs to come up with something very spectacular to fend off Android supremecy
3. I could not beleive that Ivy and his team would come up with a phone that looks this shit.
4. ....this is an insult to any apple lover
For the record, these are actually not "reasons," they are only "opinions."
You might as well have said, "This is fake because I don't like the colour black." It would have made about the same amount of sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chadmatic
Oh I get it! You take a derogatory word and put the letter "i" in front of it... Clever!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellacool
Right because the word sheep is known around the world as derogatory.
It is in that context.
Though you are about to get attacked by fanbois, you speak true. Many great companies grow complacent. Steve was never satisfied and that died with him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
The blue tint is bad photography. The back is two toned because the majority of it is metal, but the top and bottom "stripes" are inlaid glass or ceramic. The antennas are the top and bottom "loops" of metal as they were in the last model, separated from the main steel chassis by non-ferrous black bands as before. The glass on the top and bottom back in combination with the antenna separators gives the antennas the separation they need from the metal backplate. This makes for a "unibody" back piece but still keeps the antennas separate.
Using glass between two steel pieces would not be unibody but I guess antenna design might necessitate a compromise on the concept. But what about the antenna for GPS, Wifi, bluetooth?
If the shoe fits it is, if not it is a fuzzy animal, either way you lose.
LOL.... Well. It is a fake. Not for the "fandroid" reasons....
1) you can see, it's "photoshoped". Yeah, it is really good.
2) If this is the same source, why does the first pic seems to have an display in it, the disassembled one not?
3) If you take the sketches from 2 month ago and make them a super realistic "photos hoped" pic, it would look 100% like that! (just for the not so bright readers here: no, that's not the same point a 1)
4) is that is the real deal, there would have been more marks on the back for the disposal symbols and so.... However... if this would be a prototype, theses symbols would most likely have been replaced with some form of other identification and not simply "iPhone". This point is probably the proven point, for we have seen this before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ktappe
These look like the real deal. Hopefully this level of completion implies we'll see the new model sooner rather than later. Apple needs to hit a home run with the iPhone 5; Samsung has been (surprisingly, at least to me) outselling Apple 2:1 lately.
Three comments on that:
1. Always worth reminding that most of these reports compare other company's SHIPPING quantities to Apple's selling numbers. All iPhones shipped are sold. Ask HP if that's true of all non iOS devices...
And isn't that Android as a whole (with all the junk at the bottom of the lines running like v2.3 included) rather than Samsung alone (and especially not considering top phone to top phone and tab to tab). So many dueling metrics and hard to keep straight.
2. Also, I believe that's Android penetration in Europe, not here. Where the whole subsidy structure is different. Although, long term, dealing with world-wide sticker shock IS a bit of challenge for Apple to crack.
3. No maker of Android devices (nor I believe all of them combined) is "out-profiting" Apple in the iDevice/mobile markets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaHarder
This 'alleged' new iPhone simply looks like a slightly elongated version of the now 2-year-old iPhone 4/4S with a few tweaks here and there - Which is hardly anyhting remotely ground-breaking/innovative and it's beginning to appear that there's a certain degree of complacency in the Apple design deparment lately.
Time for Apple to start to 'Think Different' again.
Anyway... It'll likely sell well enough (merely because it's an Apple product), but it's becoming pretty obvious that the once creative arm of Apple is (seemingly) coming up very short on interesting ideas as of late (to include iOS 6), while competitors are truly advancing the state of mobile device technology/design.
Come on Cook, Ivy and Company... Surely there are still a few great (design) ideas left in you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Are you people freaking kidding me? Do you really think that after over a year of saying this that it means anything at all?
Yes and no....... ...the iP4 was "tick" and the 4s the "tock" on the 2 year contract cycle. At 1st glance - assuming it's remotely real - this "feels" more like "toooock" than a new tick.
But how much can the form change if "form follows function" without changing for its own sake? Or just to be novel (plenty of passing novelty phun fones on that other OS). Remember when Detroit radically changed body styles EVERY YEAR in the '50's? And after a great run of Chevies, e.g., that played out in bizarre finned boats that wore out fast, rusted almost as fast - and those from other countries who focused on building good lasting stuff with tight tolerances began to take 'em out...
...I think people can discern value - both in the device and the whole growing system.
Also, the screen can't get wider without violating Apple's ergonomic guidelines for average hands, but it can get a bit longer, tho' "that's a stretch" ;-D Nor - for marketing reasons partly - can it stay at 3.5" forever without starting to "look small." Though at some point I do expect Apple to have at least two CURRENT SKU's, not just "this year's" selling alongside "last year's" (and the year before's).
And what's in the innards? LTE's gonna be nice. New CPU too. NFC? Not big on my 2013 needs list, but.... ...And maybe T-Mob and that big China phone company will be brought into the fold (increasing our choices and the value proposition for app developers, which WILL benefit all iPhone users).
iOS6 moves its own ball. (Admittedly Android OS is making some leaps and bounds - but getting current versions updated and deployed to the Android device world is still not). Plus expect other value-add refinements. More storage is always nice. Better batteries too.
And it'll be enough extra real estate to keep the top spot in the US AND keep the lion's share of the profits to be had.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Socrates
No idea what the haters are on about. This is exactly what I was hoping they would ship, and the new screen looks like the perfect compromise between the comfortable existing size and the ludicrous giant panels of their competitors.
16:9 will be great for movies and games, and in portrait offers more usable screen real estate for scrolling content like web pages and lists (which make up the lion's share of most non-game applications).
I hope it has some non-obvious tech like an NFC chip in there as well, but either way I'm buying this, and so will most of you guys once you actually see Tim Cook bring it out on stage and explain why it's great.
I agree. Media will actually grow more in display than the screen size because of fewer black bars on widescreen content and I can always use more, err, that is less, portrait scrolling. Plus this solution barely changes the device holding ergonomics and pocketability at all.
Also from what I've read adding pixels in this new space will pose a smaller challenge to developers and API guidelines than any other up-sizing. Meanwhile the 4:3 of the 9.7" iPad continues to make more sense for general holding/toting/using than a wide screen tablet.
Leaving to be determined only how Apple's gonna approach the space between 4" and 9.7" Remember Cook's already announced he plans to leave no room for competitors under a "price umbrella." So a 7.85 mini (with its own solutions and niches to deal with the "filed down fingers" problem, e.g., in the K-9 ed market for one) is likely given all the clues, but even though there's hardly a peep and the specs have gone stale, I also wonder if a 4.5-5" Touch couldn't be the bigger than 4" device that's still absent, even in the rumor mills, and aimed at hand-held gaming, photography, etc. and looking as cool as any "phablet." As in maybe next spring??
Still all this evolution still will leave some wanting the next "revolution" - and I'm in that camp too. What IS the next "insanely great" idea? And will it come from Apple? One would assume. But if so, when and what??
Finally, the Apple mythos requires a new truly DIFFERENT idea in the post-Jobs era within a year or two to keep its "dream share," and show the mojo's still baked in the company genes and not gone off into the beyond with the visionary.
--still waiting for my iJetpack (or whatever) after all these years......
Where are you in the last 15 years ?
Apple never changed design because you were bored. They improve on it.
Did you never see the iPods or MacBook Air ? Never ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbinger
Using glass between two steel pieces would not be unibody but I guess antenna design might necessitate a compromise on the concept. But what about the antenna for GPS, Wifi, bluetooth?
I'm pretty sure the current model only uses two antenna bands at the top and bottom. One is for cell, the other is for WiFi, bluetooth, and GPS. This would be the same.
As far as I understand (all educated guesswork only), the pieces that make the "unibody" back are assembled together before the final milling is done. So that's why some people are calling it "unibody" and why I put it in quotes because like you, I don't really see that as being "unibody."
The way I see it however, the "unibody" construction makes it easier to manufacture in that the "unibody" back part arrives at the assembly factory and all the various inside bits are securely screwed into it. Then the front plate is attached in the same manner as the back plate was attached on previous models (annular steel ring), and secured with the two little screws at the bottom of the device.
The chief wins of this design over the previous one would be faster, more efficient and more accurate assembly and greater resistance to breakage. It's going to be almost impossible to break the glass on the back now for instance. It should give them more volume inside the phone as well.
I could be completely wrong of course, but I have been following very closely and this seems like the most reasonable explanation of why they are using this design if they in fact do end up using it.
I think they should make a pear shaped phone. Of course, they'd have to license the design from iCarly.