Four G or not 4G, that is the question. Apple hasn’t even set an official date for the release of its latest iPhone version, but photos of a prototype reportedly found in a bar in California have touched off a typical round of free publicity for the world’s fastest-growing smartphone.
Photos posted by Gizmodo and Engadget show a sleek black 20GB device similar to current iPhones, but with a flat, glassy back, featuring two volume buttons, a front-facing video camera and a back camera with a bigger lens and a flash, a second microphone for noise cancellation, and a SIM card slot that would accommodate a micro-SIM for user identification.
Last week a different blog posted a photo of what it said was the back plate of the 4G iPhone, which appeared silver-gray.
The newer photos prompted pages of debate on blogs and comment boards about whether they were of an authentic device or a knockoff. Some believe it’s an authentic 4G iPhone in a 3G-like casing. But for some critics it was hard to believe a company that prides itself on controlled releases of its products would have allowed a beta device to disappear outside of its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
An Apple spokesperson didn’t reply to our e-mail seeking confirmation or denial of the photos in time for publication.
Gizmodo, insisting it’s confident that the device is real, cited reports that Apple has acknowledged one is missing, that the device was running iPhone OS 4 before that system was unveiled, and that the device seemed to have been shut down remotely soon after it was found, making it impossible to get past the connect-to iTunes screen. Further, reverse engineering showed that it was made of authentic Apple components.
Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg said the specifications released by the two blogs…