Pictures of Alleged New iPhone 4G Leaked

New pictures purporting to be of Apple’s next generation iPhone – the iPhone 4G – have emerged online, in what could be a shocking security breach of Apple’s development programme.

Is this the new Apple iPhone?

The pictures of the pre-production or prototype device surfaced on tech website Engadget, after the handset was supposedly found on the floor of a San Jose bar. Indeed, the mystery deepened further after it was reported that the new device was actually residing inside the casing of an iPhone 3G handset.

It is not clear at this time whether the pictures are genuine, but according to Engadget’s source, the new device has a front facing camera, a 960 x 640 pixel display, 80GB of storage, and was “running an OS that was decidedly new.” However, it seems that the device no longer boots up, which could mean that it has been ‘bricked‘.

Meanwhile, further credence that the pictures could be the real deal came after technology pundit John Gruber, who has a good track record on Apple predictions, wrote on his blog that he believed the device to be a genuine Apple product. “I now believe this is an actual unit from Apple – a unit Apple is very interested in getting back. I am not certain that this looks like the actual production unit Apple intends to ship to consumers. I think it’s a testbed frame,” he wrote.

“Multiple sources familiar with the next iPhone have confirmed to me that the back is made out of some sort of fancy glass – and looks pretty much exactly like what’s pictured at Engadget,” Gruber wrote later. “That’s not the only reason I believe Engadget’s unit is legit, but it’s one.“

Increasing Competition

The current iPhone form factor has been around now since 2007, when Apple first introduced the original iPhone to the world. Since then the company has released a number of upgraded handsets featuring technology upgrades, but the form factor has remained remarkably the same, except for getting thinner.

Rumours have been circulating for a while now that Apple is currently working on the next generation iPhone handset, especially as Apple has released three iPhones in three consecutive years. Indeed, back in February this year, Daniel Amir of Lazard Capital Markets, wrote in a research note that Apple was developing two new iPhones, and the updated handsets were expected to arrive sometime in June this year.

Apple has already released a preview of its next-generation iPhone OS 4 earlier this month, which finally gives the iPhone the ability to multi-task.

Meanwhile the launch of what could be Nokia’s long awaited answer to iPhone, the Nokia N8, has been reportedly delayed until July. It was originally slated for a May launch, but a July launch would allow the Finnish mobile giant to make latest minutes adjustments, particularly around the price point of the device.