Take this rumor with a grain of salt the size of your fist, but this is what some people are claiming is the back of the upcoming next-gen iPhone. It could very easily be a fake, but then again, you never know. What do you guys think? Do you like the glossy black or do you missed the two-tone design of the current model and the classy brushed metal? [iPod Observer via Boy Genius Report]
Is This the Back of the 3G, Next-Gen iPhone?
12:51 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Adam Frucci
45,901 views
123 comments












Comments
8GB? Looks like a fake to me. Give me the brushed metal anytime, it probably won't get scratched as easily as this.
love it
Only 8 GB ? I doubt it ...
Its..... The Front!!!
Dun Dun Dunnnnn!
No, it's the back of a colorware painted iPhone.
Not owning an iphone (yet) I can't really comment on the color scheme.
I did want to ask whether anyone can get a good closeup on the writing at the bottom, maybe find out what it says. If that's a new Iphone it should say something new, right?
Also, it probably isn't anything 3G because that would require FCC approval, no?
Not exactly my area of expertise.
I like it, looks smooth.
sold!
8 GB? I call fake.
@jmckee: Exactly my thoughts.
I somehow doubt that the 3G would come in 8GB anyway, not with the 16 and 32 GB Touch.
It'll look hot until the back gets scratched up.
Sleek, I never liked the black band on the bottom, this works better.
Could this be a cheaper version of the 2G iphone? maybe they're trying to increase their market share by making a cheaper one. The black might be less costly to manufacture.
I just damaged my monitor by trying to reach in and grab that. But I echo all the "8gb? Fake..." comments. 32gb +3g and they'll get some more of my hard earned reading-gizmodo-at-work cash.
@jmckee: Agreed. With that little groove between the plastic and aluminum parts Photoshopped out.
It's damn sexy too.
looks nice, but i'm pretty sure it's just a custom paint job and nothing more.
Man, if i had that image software they use in "Law & Order" i could zoom in and see what the letters say in like a second.
@jmckee: Yep, it's a regular iPhone with the ColorWare jet black paint job on the back.
Shouldn't we see a reflection from the camera lens on the phone given the angle of the shot, even without flash?
Love it...you can never...never!!!...go wrong with black.
faker at 8gb
16, i would have been suckered
and yes...colorware iphone - [myskitch.com] , but doesn't mean the 3G version won't look like this, I think it should.
That definitely looks fake. Besides, you could get the same paint job at Colorwarepc.com.
i bet the next iPhone will have a much bigger camera
Will it ble--- Uh nevermind...
apple never dose any thing a solid color....let along black
Colorware paints over the FCC info, which is still visible here. I'm betting that this will be the new budget iPhone, thus the 8GB. The new flagship model will go up to 32GB and still have the metal back, along with a few extra features (front facing camera, gps, etc). Makes sense, right?
@spuntyb:
Agreed. change around the innards or don't release the next gen iPhone yet.
the colors is nice though. perhaps this will make actors seem less inept when being caught holding the thing upside down in movies and tv shows.
[url=http://regmedia.co.uk/2007/11/22/sheen_iphone.jpg]douche[/url]
Looks like Spock's coffin.
ugh why doesn't Giz support BBC Code!?
and yea colorware would mean that the original details wouldn't be listed like that. but who the hell knows it could be all photoshop. sweet color or lack there of anyway
funny, "8 gigs" is throwing everybody off...for that very reason, it's seems slightly more real to me. but probably still a fake.
The edges and back look a bit more rounded to me, not flat like the current iPhone.
It seems too soon to be a phone sequel, but then again, the timing is just about right for it to be the sequel to an Apple product. (Ahem, iPod.) Bah, looks like an ordinary, albeit modded, iPhone to me.
Eh, I don't know.
My first impression was colorware or any of the dozens of black backs you can buy and put on yourself (remember when BGR trashed one of theirs trying it out). The 8GB is a good point especially when there is talk of them phasing out the 8GB touch.
On the other hand there are some odd things about it. As pointed out before you'd get a break even on a colorware version. You'd lose the text too. That could all just be photoshop (which is why it isn't the same way as the current one) or it could really be new. It looks like they forgot some of the "icons" that would be on the back (FCC, don't throw away, etc) so thats pointing more to photoshop.
The way its curving the light is weird too. Looks more rounded then the current one.
Eh, its fake.
I wouldn't be disapointed if it wasn't though.
They still haven't even filed with the FCC for a 3g phone have they? Fake.
Whatever the color it is, it needs to be resilient and it needs to be less damn slippery than the brushed aluminum!
@grundy: It's also missing the line that separates the top metallic piece from the plastic bottom. My iPhone is black (got it done by colorwarepc), but you can clearly tell that this is not the same version form the back.
I'm guessing fake
I'll take brushed metal over shiny plastic any day.
That's definitely a different shape. Note that, unlike the current iPhone, the contour continues through the camera lens.
Looks hot.
this is so dumb. Seriously.
I'll go with fake. And ugly too.
@rockstarjoe:
Umm... aren't the macbook (white and black) and macbook air and macbook pros a solid color?
@Joseph: Hmm... they do look pretty different, now I don't know what to think.
@johnnyabnormal: The 8GB doesn't throw me. If Apple wants a cheaper iPhone, it may have to be just 8GB. That capacity would still beat the pants of just about every other smartphone and iPhone wannabe out there.
mmm.
looks awesome to me.
maybe it will be 8gb, 16, and 32, for us poor people (proportionally, at least)
@phi: backed 100%
It's ridiculous to me that they thought "almost as difficult to hold on to as a wet bar of soap" was totally ok.
I dont think 8gig makes this seem less real.
This certainly looks better than the current iPhone -- fake or not.
When are companies going to figure out that people like to modify and personalize everything they own and would, with minimal effort, be able to cash in on this fact by making more than just a shitty rubber sleeve as an accessory.
@defn: Get your eyes checked. That totally says 8TB. This is the real deal. I'm heading down to the Apple store right now to start the line. I'm stoked.
@bubba451: sharp eye.
I hope it isn't because it's still a sealed battery and has no flash for the camera.
This is NOT a colorware phone, could be a prototype, but I'd be surprised if they went with the glossy back for the final 3G - The black classic and black macbook are not glossy, and apple tends to be consistent with generations of design.
I am 70% convinced that we'll see the 3G version come June, or at least the announcement - Apple doesn't tend to sell out so far after launching a product unless an update is on the way.
I like it, but 8Gb doesn't convince me either
i like it too..
but WTF NO FLASH WITH THE CAMERA?!?!
seriously, CMON!
Gotta love how they changed the design so this phone probably wont fit into any of your previous apple doc devices.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is not fake. You heard it here first, some random guy called it real.
@Joseph: You mean, "Gotta love how they do what they normally do with every dock-able apple device." ...?
And for the record they usually include a dock adapter if it changes it won't be fitting in current docks.
if it won't be fitting in current docks*
@jmckee: yup cant beleive gizmodo didnt know its a colorware painted iphone
Looking at the size, could it be a nanophone? 8Gb would fit in that case.
It's the PS3 edition iPhone! Awww... Apple and Sony are holding hands. I'm call b. shizzle.
The camera hole is photoshoped. The perspective / orientation is way off. Someone did that in photoshop instead of a 3d modeler. Also, the wording between the word iPhone and the 8GB logo is different than what is on the back of my phone.
I call fake.
It's not a colorware painted phone. If it was, it would be missing the iPhone text at the bottom. Colorware doesn't print that on their products.
Its either photoshoped or the real thing.
If someone had the time to line up a new 3G iPhone on a Mac for a photo, they had time to take a photo of the front.....
@kush:
No, really, it's not. Colorware paints over the text at the bottom and you can still see the separation between the two sections of the back. This has no lines on the back, and it is so glosssy you would see it.
Also, I dunno about anyone else, but the text pattern on the back doesn't match my iPhone. My second line of text is longer than the first, and they both stretch wider than in this picture. Perhaps because it is missing an FCC ID?