Prototype Apple Watch with case designed to look like a brick phone leaks

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited June 2021
New images of a prototype first-generation Apple Watch inside a special case designed to conceal its appearance have surfaced online.

Credit: AppleDemoCredit: AppleDemo
Credit: AppleDemoCredit: AppleDemo


The images depict a 38mm Apple Watch with a so-called Security Case. The 38mm variant appears to be hidden within a case that looks like a brick-style phone, which served to conceal the design when transported.

Prototype Apple Watches (38mm and 42mm) with Security Cases side by side. These cases where made to conceal the design of the Apple Watch 1st Generation during transport out of lockdown. Here is the never before seen 38mm version! Gotta love the brick phone design! #appleinternal pic.twitter.com/eo7IUUNVba

-- Apple Demo (@AppleDemoYT)


Although prototype devices are typically destroyed by Apple, YouTube channel Apple Demo has managed to get its hands on this specific model. Apple Demo also obtained a 42mm variant in a different securitycase in December 2020.

The prototype Apple Watch runs an internal testing software that existed before watchOS. The box that the device comes in describes it as "classified" under an "Ultra" security program. It also calls for the tester to return the prototype when the work is done.

In a YouTube video published on Saturday, Apple Demo compared the 38mm prototype with the 42mm side-by-side, showing off the differences in their security cases.





Leaks of devices from Apple's internal testing are uncommon, but do happen occasionally. In January, images of a prototype iPhone 12 Pro with a non-finalized colorway surfaced online. Earlier in June, images of what appear to be an iPod touch shell with a square design were published by a leaker.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,879member
    edited June 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 11
    XedXed Posts: 2,560member
    For comparison. this is the brick (n.) in a candy bar (adj.) form factor. 😃


    edited June 2021 [Deleted User]cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 11
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    That doesn't make any sense. Anyone looking at that screen instantly understands it's not for a phone.

    It would have been far better to disguise it as an iPod Nano.
    [Deleted User]watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 11
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 620member
    Don't let the hipsters see it!
    cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 11
    harry wildharry wild Posts: 809member
    Dumb! ;) Shows nothing!
  • Reply 6 of 11
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    Mission Impossible video, and targeted “leaks” of “ultra secret” development prototypes long after the corresponding products are released: a way to maintain the myth and excitement about what’s to come next.

    Hardly an accident, it’s smart marketing.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 11
    Hank2.0Hank2.0 Posts: 151member
    I wonder just what Apple is trying to hide. Not the watch face obviously. Here's my shot in the dark...a keyboard. Now before all of you folks get upset, I would point out the idea has been done before and it worked. I know because I had a couple of these early "smart" watches from Casio.

    Referencealltime Casio Smart Watches
    watto_cobradarkvader
  • Reply 8 of 11
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Hank2.0 said:
    I wonder just what Apple is trying to hide. Not the watch face obviously. Here's my shot in the dark...a keyboard. Now before all of you folks get upset, I would point out the idea has been done before and it worked. I know because I had a couple of these early "smart" watches from Casio.

    Referencealltime Casio Smart Watches
    And I would point out that it is no different than the early cellphones with keyboards, all FAILURES. Remember, Steve Ballmer said the iPhone couldn’t used for business because it didn’t have a keyboard and therefore was not a good email device. No one but socially disabled nerds would go for all those buttons.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 11
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Hank2.0 said:
    I wonder just what Apple is trying to hide. 
    That it's a watch?
    cornchipfastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 11
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Hank2.0 said:
    I wonder just what Apple is trying to hide. Not the watch face obviously. Here's my shot in the dark...a keyboard. Now before all of you folks get upset, I would point out the idea has been done before and it worked. I know because I had a couple of these early "smart" watches from Casio.

     Referencealltime Casio Smart Watches
    Haha I’d assume this was a joke had you not mentioned this comment in the other thread. Yes, it’d be totally like Apple about to stick a bunch of physical buttons on a Watch. You know there’s a keypad on the screen already when needed? 

    FTFA: “These cases where made to conceal the design of the Apple Watch 1st Generation during transport out of lockdown.”
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 11
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    Any evidence this isn't just somebody's homemade 3D-printed goofing off toy watch case?

    I'm not saying it isn't real.  I'm just saying that without some sort of documented provenance it's not at all likely to be.
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