We’re already in the iPhone 16 era, but taking a look at old Apple prototypes is always interesting as we can see details that the company scrapped during the development process. Now a rare iPhone 14 Pro prototype gives us a closer look at what the rumored haptic volume button might look like.
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Apple experiments with a lot of things inside its laboratories, and many of these experiments never see the light of day. One of these experiments is a quite intriguing silicone band for the Apple Watch that has a metal buckle. And thanks to a leaked prototype, we can now take a look at it.
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The first Apple Watch was launched in stores in April 2015, but Apple had worked on the device long before. Now, thanks to rare Apple device collector Giulio Zompetti, we’ve been able to take a look at one of the earliest Apple Watch prototypes, built more than a year before its official launch.
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Twitter account DongleBookPro has shared a newly revealed Apple Watch Series 2 prototype that shows that cellular compatibility was initially planned to be launched a year earlier. The prototype shown off by DongleBookPro also has a red Digital Crown, just like the Series 3 watch, which was the first shipping model with cellular.
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YouTuber “Krazy Ken” has posted a video on his Computer Clan channel where he goes hands-on with a rare prototype of the original Bondi blue iMac G3. This particular prototype is quite different from the shipping version, despite bearing a similar resemblance. Unfortunately, the unit doesn’t power on at the moment, but Ken says that he’s working with other tech YouTubers to repair it and make it functional.
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An iPhone 12 Pro prototype has just surfaced and it gives an interesting look at the latest build of Apple’s nonUI version of iOS 14 called SwitchBoard along with an early version of what’s become the very popular Pacific Blue color.
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Every so often we see a prototype Apple product hit eBay and go for an astronomical amount of money. Today, a “vintage” iPhone 6 prototype with a red Lightning connector has surfaced on eBay. The listing just went up earlier today and has a starting price of $4,999. But expect it to go for much higher than that.
Apple is continuing its recent hiring spree from the automotive industry for its not-so-secretive car project, this time hinting at the company’s work prototyping car parts.
Apple is preparing to bring some motion from the Apple Watch to the iPhone 6S. One of the new device’s differentiators over its predecessor will likely be a spiced up set of animated wallpapers, according to three sources who have used internal iPhone 6S prototypes within Apple. The new animated wallpapers come from the same family as the set of “Motion” watch faces that dominate the main screen of the Apple Watch, where the user can choose from jellyfish, multi-colored butterflies, or brightly colored flowers.
Apple’s latest iPad Air 2 tablet
Mercury News reports that an iPad test model was one of the items stolen in a robbery and kidnapping that took place at a Cupertino house earlier this month. Specific details regarding the device are sparse at this point, although it has not yet been recovered. The victim of the robbery was a 20-year old man who was also kidnapped after responding to an online advertisement from a woman. The victim is thankfully safe following the incident.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNuUCoHH9Bc]
Product designer Radu Dutzan posted the video above showing off a working prototype that explores touchscreen style gestures via a conceptual remote for Apple TV alongside an updated interface.
Wouldn’t it be great if instead of trying to imitate clicks, Remote allowed you to scroll lists on the screen, directly responding to the position of your finger on the tracking surface? Wouldn’t selection in a complex button layout — such as the keyboard — be much more usable if you could make the cursor move in any direction instantly? Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Apple TV remote control was a smooth clickable trackpad, like the one on the MacBook, that allowed for these behaviors without having to look at a second screen?
The prototype utilizes an iPhone and AirPlay, and would essentially be a next-generation version of Apple’s Remote app for Apple TV, but the designer also designed it with a new remote in mind, as pictured below on the right next to the current Apple TV remote:
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French site iGen has posted what it claims are screenshots from Foxconn, which – if genuine – confirm a number of details from earlier reports, and to reveal the dimensions of prototypes of both iPhone 6 models. The screenshots appear to be fuller versions of the raised camera schematic posted by Apple Club Taiwan a couple of days ago.
It should be noted that there is no way to know when these prototypes were created (though some photos appear to date back to February), and that dimensions of the production model could change. The 4.7-inch model (code-named N61) is shown as measuring 138.14x97x6.9mm, while two different 5.5-inch prototypes (code-named N56) are shown, the larger of them measuring 158.07×77.79×7.1mm. The codenames are consistent with ones we’ve seen before, but are well-known so this is not evidence that the screenshots are genuine …
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Vietnamese website Tinhte, which has a solid track record of getting its hands on pre-release Apple products and accurate mock ups,today posted what it claims are mock ups of two next-generation iPhones. One is the full-fledged “iPhone 5S” upgrade, while the other claims to show the much rumored low-cost “iPhone 5C” that we’ve been hearing a lot about recently. It’s worth noting that Tinhte says the source of the images, Vietnamese accessory supplier PhukienGiare, also supplied the publication with accurate pre-release mock ups of the iPad mini leading up to its launch.
For the iPhone 5S, the design of the mock up appears to be largely the same as the current iPhone 5. Most rumors seem to agree with that much, and the site notes its report from earlier this year that claimed the device will pack in a new 12-megapixel camera. The mock up also shows the dual LED flash that is rumored to make an appearance on the device.
The second mock up shows what the site is referring to the “iPhone 5C“, and shows the all-plastic design that we’ve seen several times in other alleged leaks. The site notes that the Lightning connector looks slightly smaller on the mock up, but it’s unsure if this is just on the mock up or if Apple is experimenting with tweaked connector designs. (The iPhone in the images with the leather skin is an iPhone 5 for comparison).
Earlier this week photographs leaked showing the iPad mini-like design for the next-generation 9.7-inch iPad that we posted of photos of back in January.
Originally thought to be a prototype by its seller, this rare, transparent Apple Newton 110 was apparently given to a limited number of developers during an Apple Conference. The seller estimated through his research that there was somewhere between 150 units and 1,200 units produced. These have popped up for sale online in the past, but it’s clearly a rare piece. The seller will let it go for the Buy Now price of $1,350. A gallery is below:
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What does that symbol mean? It is the “Protologo”.
[tweet https://twitter.com/protologo/status/237262624142786560]
More pictures and a video below:
We brought you high-res shots of the black and white next-generation iPhone backs in May, and then we brought you a video hands-on with similar looking casings in June that surfaced online. Today, Neowin posted images it claims to be a “prototype finalized design casing” of the next-gen iPhone (not a functioning device) in the hands of an ex-staff member at MBK Center in Bangkok, Thailand. Present is the repositioned headphone jack, redesigned speaker grills, smaller dock connector, etc., from past leaks, but we have no way of confirming its authenticity. It is possible this is a really good knock-off based on our earlier leaks.
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We hope you are not sick of early iPhone prototypes just yet, because the monster Apple vs. Samsung trial is kicking off today and another prototype has hit the docket. This time, Apple is releasing images of its “purple” iPhone design from 2005. It actually has some, if not most, of the design elements of the iPhone 4 design, which Samsung accused Apple of lifting from Sony. This one, again, is labeled “iPod”.
The chronological progression below is also posted in the filing (PDF) [via The Verge]:
We reported this morning that Apple has now begun internally seeding a prototype next-gen iPhone with the A5X chip that debuted in the new iPad and 1GB of RAM. Based on his recent trips to China and Taiwan, Topeka Capital Market analyst Brian White, who has Apple’s price target at $1,001 as of this morning, shared some new details of what he described as “the buzz around the new iPhone 5.” According to White (via Barron’s), he expects a “sleek” new iPhone to launch in the December quarter. He also expects the device to sport a new 4-inch display and include 4G LTE capabilities.
White set his price target based on an expected August or September unveiling of the product. He also claimed the launch “could be extraordinary” by dwarfing previous launches and driving the stock closer to our $1,001 price target.” According to the report, Apple is expected to start component production for the “iPhone 5” in June.
White also claimed sales of the new iPad could have been higher if not for a production issue with panel makers related to the new Retina display. Last month, Apple announced its “strongest iPad launch yet” with sales of three million new iPads on its debut weekend…
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Not to be confused with yesterday’s story of an iPhone 5 prototype potentially being lost in the wild, today CNET reports that two men involved in last year’s high profile case of the lost iPhone 4 prototype purchased by Gizmodo have pled not guilty.
This comes after the court decided to not file charges against Gizmodo and instead file misdemeanours against the two men, Brian Hogan (pictured above) and Robert Sage Wallower, suspected of finding and selling the device.
Hogan, the man who allegedly obtained the prototype iPhone in a bar last year has plead not guiltily, along with Robert Sage Wallower, who is charged with possessing stolen property in the case, in front of Judge Jonathan Karesh this morning. Pretrial is slated for October 11.
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We just posted images that allegedly show the ‘iPhone 4S’ body, an entry-level iPhone that Apple is rumored to release alongside the iPhone 5. Now, MacPost (via MacRumors) has published images of what they describe as the “iPhone 5 EVT prototype (N94) back cover”.
The report notes that we found references to the “N94” in the iOS 5.0 SDK earlier this year, which we suspect could be an A5-powered next-gen iPhone (whether it’s the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 is still unclear). While it’s obvious this is an “early development prototype” thanks to the “’07-June-2011” markings, we can’t help but notice it bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 4 variant that BGR reported was being tested for T-Mobile.
The leaked images today back up rumors of an A5 processor, antenna redesign, and more than likely support for T-mobile. There is still no way of telling whether we’re looking at an upgraded iPhone 4 that will act as an entry-level model, or perhaps an iPhone 4S variant that will become the iPhone 5. However, the prototype in the image, at least, doesn’t seem to support mocks ups based on evidence from leaked case designs pointing to a more streamlined design for the next-gen iPhone.
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Have you ever wanted to get your hands on an iPhone that Apple engineers have used for testing? If you’ve got 5 figures to blow on a non working phone, now’s your chance because an iPhone 4 prototype has shown up on Ebay. The listing comes from a user by the name of jtmaxo, who lists the device as ‘Apple iPhone 4 black APPLE GENUINE PROTOTYPE, GENUINE’. In the description the users states the device as a GSM iPhone labeled with the model number XXXXX FCC ID: BCGAXXXXX IC ID: 579C-AXXXXX.
Just like Gizmodo’s iPhone 4 prototype, the volume buttons are missing ‘+’ and ‘-‘ labels and storage information (XXGB) on the back of the device. Also, the seller says the device won’t activate through an AT&T SIM card plugged in through iTunes. Lastly, on the front of the device a ‘DF1692’ label is shown, which is thought of as a tracking code used by Apple. When the seller searched the serial number on Apple.com, it returned no results. So, where did the seller get this device?
(update: the prices keep fluctuating. It was over $100,000 last night but somehow is down to $7K this morning. Apple will likely pull this auction anyway.)
A prototype of Apple’s first portable Macintosh has just been posted for sale on eBay. The device is said to have not been intended for sale and is clearly marked as a prototype unit with a label stating “this device is a demonstration unit only. Production units will comply with all applicable Federal Rules and Regulations.” The device itself is in “perfect condition” but does not power on. By perfect the seller means the outside as the inside contains a defunct acid battery.
The Macintosh Portable is the basis for the laptop computers we use today. It ran on a rechargeable battery , included a screen which flipped shut and had an input device. In the case of the Macintosh Portable is was a trackball. More photos of the protoype device are at eBay.
