Magnifying glasses out! Another photo purporting to show Apple's iPhone 5 has appeared, and seems to show a thinner mobile, with a slimmer bezel and rounded edges.
The sneaky photo was posted to MacRumor's forums, and supposedly was shot in the office of a French phone network. It's much clearer than the spy photo that popped up last week, but on the other hand, a well-posed image is arguably more likely to be a fake.
The hands in the photo look suspiciously more blurry than the phone itself. Perhaps the original photo of the hands was blurred to give the impression of a zoomed-in shot, then the mock-up of the phone was placed over the top.
Also suspect is the fact there doesn't appear to be a volume rocker or mute switch, at least not on the left side of the device, which is where those things appear on current and previous iterations of the iPhone.
The image does match something of what we've heard about the iPhone 5, however. The wide display for one thing, and the rounded design. That said, leaked case schematics suggested a smoothly curved back plate, while this device seems to have only gently rounded corners.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but that could be the slightly wider home button we've been hearing about.
The silver stripe around the edge looks like the iPhone 4's external antenna, though we would hope Apple has figured out a way to solve the embarrassing signal attenuation issue that plagues the current iPhone.
Indeed, more than anything else this device just looks like a slightly squashed iPhone 4, which would chime with reports that the iPhone 5 will be an incremental update, rather than a radical overhaul.
We won't know for sure until Apple gets off its backside and announces the darn thing. We're expecting that to happen in September, though we've heard whispers of an October release, and even seen job postings that hint that the iPhone 5 could be only a few weeks away.
Do you think the image above is genuine? Or a sneaky fake? Educate us in the comments section below, or on our entirely un-Photoshopped Facebook page.




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Anonymous 5 August, 2011 12:09
I just genuinely can't imagine why anyone gives a rat's
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 12:16
Well i work for apple and that is not the new iphone why can people just wait for the new iphone or maybe go and buy the iphone 4
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 12:17
i was only jokin about working for apple
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 12:25
The actual phone looks to be a reversed image, the front camera is on the right instead of left and the screen icons also seem reversed.
davidkclark 5 August, 2011 12:28
While I think it does a great job at what it does, I still find the iPhone a bit 'meh'. All these damned phones look the same nowadays. It was a lot more fun when they all looked a bit different and you got some proper mentalist designs. Now, the only distinctive issues are whether it has a qwerty keyboard and how big the screen is. Big frikkin whup.
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 12:59
Seriously, what camera are they using to take a photo of these iphones? A Kodak Instamatic would take better photos than this.
androin 5 August, 2011 13:17
Looks real to me
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 13:37
yea im starting to think this may be the real thing, although it doesn't look that great. I know i should wait until its released but well see once we get better pics of it.
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 14:13
PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE PUNCH SELF IN FACE
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 14:27
who's the muppet above. Yea jump off a cliff while ur at it
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 15:07
This is fake, look there are no buttons on the left side of it. It would be too awkward to use the phone if the buttons were on the right side unless your left handed it would be perfect :)
Andyt95 5 August, 2011 17:54
It looks like a LG phone... not at all Apple-y
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 18:08
I think it could be real... Good shout about the image being reversed, that appears to be the case- The buttons would be out-of-sight in the photo, but on the correct left side in 'real life'. Looks like to me that the blurring around the hands has been added in an [lame] attempt to disguise the employee...
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 18:49
again?
cnet.co.uk stop publishing these iphone fake reports, you are putting this site in a cheap manner.
Moazam Khan 5 August, 2011 19:12
Hey everybody now listen carefully Steve Jobs(apple's ceo) is my best friend.He told me that the next iphone is releasing on 25th of August.So just calm down and wait for the original product,these rumours would not take you anywhere.Cheers!!!
Anonymous 5 August, 2011 21:23
iPhone 5 will be released first in US, UK & Japan on 15th September, it will be announced 5th sept, wait and see. It is worth waiting for, it'll blow all competition out of the water, there is a big surprise also planned...AJB
Anonymous 6 August, 2011 11:05
Anyone know if the new iPhone 5 will be available in white to start out with?
j33356 7 August, 2011 11:10
All the apple fans getting excited about the new iphone! you sad sad people. iPhones are over priced rubbish. You just wish they could do what android can. Android fans know this, iphone fans just pretend they dont.
If that picture is real, dont believe the other companies need worry.
Anonymous 7 August, 2011 23:25
OOOOOHHHHH OOOOOHHHHH OOOOOHHHHH OOOOOHHHHH OOOOOHHHHH AAAAAHHHHH....
There we go, 5 seconds was enough time for me to crack one off over the iPhone 5....... now where did I put those tissues?
Craggle2000 8 August, 2011 10:04
The Supposed 'iPhone 5' in the 1st picture looks more like a 3gs then the one in this picture.
With no front facing camera in this picture apple must of abandoned Facetime - which i doubt they would do and since android is catching up on the high popularity, apple would not put on a menu that looks similar to simbian or that low resolution. (Could well be introducing a new 3D Screen - I hope not)
Also the Galaxy S II is slim if not slimmer than the iPhone 4 and so apple would want to do something about that and so the picture could be right on that. But with the antenna issue with the stainless steel band aroung the phone - Apple knows how much of a let down that is and would want to trash the design and start from stratch.
If I'm wrong you'll have to prove it when the actual iPhone 5 comes out, Ha ha.
-Craggle2000
Anonymous 9 August, 2011 12:37
I think Apple have done a marvellous job in leaking out red herrings, false dates, 'spy' photos.
We have a whirlwind of publicity, yet nobody knows a SINGLE THING about the next iPhone.
That's why they are winning.
Anonymous 15 August, 2011 15:02
This is a real silly article. Its just a story to drive traffic to this site.
Look at the pixelation on the hand and on the phone, they are completely different, which to me is a clear indication that the phone has been photoshop'd on an image of a hand which has far less image resolution.
Iphone 5 thinner! woopy doo?
nope