Apple designer Chris Stringer reveals dozens of iPhone prototypes at trial

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
During the Apple v. Samsung trial on Tuesday, Apple industrial designer Chris Stringer went over the company's design ethos and revealed a number of prototype iPhone models, some of which he presented in person.

When Stringer took the stand as Apple's first witness on Tuesday, he presented a bevy of pictures of prototypes and physical models to illustrate the behind-the-scenes design process that went into making the handset.

Stringer is being called upon due to his expertise in the area of industrial design, especially related to Apple as he has contributed in some way to every one of the company's "Designed in California" products since 1995.

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Source: Apple v. Samsung


In his testimony, the designer said that a small group of 15 or 16 people form a team and, as reported by All Things D, literally sit around a kitchen table to come up with Apple's next product.

?We?ll sit there with our sketch books and trade ideas,? Stringer said. ?That?s where the really hard, brutal honest criticism comes in.?

After the brainstorming session, the team renders CAD drawings for the best design ideas and creates a physical model if they find potential in a particular piece.



?Our role is to imagine products that don?t exist and guide them to life,? Stringer said. He noted the team's low tolerance of poor design, saying that the process can sometimes result in 50 designs for a single component. ?We?re a pretty maniacal group of people."

According to The Verge, Stringer showed nearly 40 prototype models to the jury with some nearing what would become the original iPhone while others don't even bear a passing resemblance.

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Stringer said that because Apple was new to the wireless market, the design team had extra pressure to get the product right. The company wanted something to "wow" consumers.

When asked why one of the prototypes bore the "iPod" logo, Stringer replied that either the "iPhone" term had not yet been coined or the team was attempting to "disguise its iPhone identity."



While later designs moved to brushed aluminum and a flatter, lozenge shape, the company ended up returning to earlier handset concepts.



?We found something more beautiful,? Stringer said of the early designs.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68


    Samsung is totally screwed in this case, Apple is going to nail their butt's to the cross....

  • Reply 2 of 68
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Why is AI being so stingy with showing all the images? I think people want to see these.

    <img src="http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/12.07.31-iPhone-4.png" alt=" width=" height=" border="0">

    "All of this has happened before, and it will happen again."
  • Reply 3 of 68
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,822member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Market_Player View Post


    Samsung is totally screwed in this case, Apple is going to nail their butt's to the cross....



    This is a trial by jury... anything is (sought of) possible (sigh).


     


    All the best.

  • Reply 4 of 68
    Samsung is totally screwed in this case, Apple is going to nail their butt's to the cross....
    Hope you enjoy disappointment.
  • Reply 5 of 68
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member


    Innovate don't litigate, Apple.

  • Reply 6 of 68
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by sennen View Post

    Innovate don't litigate, Apple.


     


    Ah, what a classic. image

  • Reply 7 of 68
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I posted this on another thread. Stringer is the guy on the left with the long hair and beard.

    [IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/5z2y5u.jpg[/IMG]
  • Reply 8 of 68
    ufwaufwa Posts: 64member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    I posted this on another thread. Stringer is the guy on the left with the long hair and beard.

    5z2y5u.jpg




    You know that photo makes Stringer and Ive look like guys whose job is "clean" things up.

  • Reply 9 of 68
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sennen View Post


    Innovate don't litigate, Apple.



     


    You meant:


     


    'Innovated, then Imitated, then Litigated'


     


    Didn't you?

  • Reply 10 of 68
    moxommoxom Posts: 326member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ufwa View Post




    You know that photo makes Stringer and Ivy look like guys who's job is "clean" things up.



    Hehe... image

  • Reply 11 of 68
    dickprinterdickprinter Posts: 1,060member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ufwa View Post




    You know that photo makes Stringer and Ivy look like guys who's job is "clean" things up.



     


    You mean like Harvey Keitel?

  • Reply 12 of 68

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ufwa View Post




    You know that photo makes Stringer and Ivy look like guys who's job is "clean" things up.



     


     


    Poor Jonathan Ive, nobody ever knows how to spell his name.  And by the way, it's WHOSE.

  • Reply 13 of 68
    ufwaufwa Posts: 64member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by the_steve View Post


     


     


    Poor Jonathan Ive, nobody ever knows how to spell his name.  And by the way, it's WHOSE.





    fixed it. Happy now?

  • Reply 14 of 68
    blitz1blitz1 Posts: 433member
    [QUOTE]McElhinny asked Stringer about the inspiration for the iPhone.
    “We were looking for a new original and beautiful object, something that would really wow the world,” Stringer testified. “We wanted to create something that seemed so wonderful you can’t imagine how you’d follow it.”
    Apple designers spent “years” trying to create the “most simple, purest manifestation of what that can be -- something that people can love.[/QUOTE]

    now that's a design process!

    Btw, evolution in ideas, as opposed to genetic evolution, works horizontally as well as vertically. For instance, general relativity would have found it's way, even without Einstein. Pointcaré came up with th same ideas at about the same time but following a more geometric route.

    The images presented by Samsung, where the F700 is depicted, show just that.

    As does the notification center on my iphone...
  • Reply 15 of 68
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    I posted this on another thread. Stringer is the guy on the left with the long hair and beard.

     


    Stringer looks like he wants to deck the photographer.

  • Reply 16 of 68
    ufwaufwa Posts: 64member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dickprinter View Post


     


    You mean like Harvey Keitel?



    Yeah pretty much like his character in Pulp Fiction and other shows/movies with similar characters.


     


    If only the guy on the right would have similar type of stance and facial expression.

  • Reply 17 of 68
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    ufwa wrote: »
    Yeah pretty much like his character in Pulp Fiction and other shows/movies with similar characters.

    If only the guy on the right would have similar type of stance and facial expression.

    His comment was a reference to Keitel's character, Victor the Cleaner, in the 90's movie Point of No Return, an American remake of Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita.
  • Reply 18 of 68
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member


    I have never heard of Sony or Samsung coming out like this.  But yet this is a trial and legal proceedings are at hand.  Maybe we will see Samsung present their creative processes.  LOL.

  • Reply 19 of 68
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Why is AI being so stingy with showing all the images? I think people want to see these.

    I agree, so much more to see

    Apple's lead attorney says Samsung will claim that "the Devil made me do it"

    1000

    Samsung's Official Statement on Apple Suit in Germany

    1000

    Apple v. Samsung: hammering out details before a giant patent battle

    700

    There's a 100 of these pics over at AllThingsD

    1000

    edit: AllThingD says 100, but the show ends at pic 51. Bastards!

    1000
  • Reply 20 of 68
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ufwa View Post




    You know that photo makes Stringer and Ive look like guys whose job is "clean" things up.



    For Ive and everybody *except* Stringer I agree.  


     


    Stringer himself has a whole "Aragorn" thing going on.  


    Way more noble and cool looking than a "fixer," and tougher too.   

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