iPhone 5 transparent concept looks stunning in mock advert

By Rich Trenholm on 18 June 2012, 12:09pm

I'm looking through you -- you're not the same, as birthday boy Paul McCartney memorably put it. This cool advert for a possible future iPhone 5 definitely isn't the same -- and you can look through it.

The first glimpses of the next iPhone have started to emerge, revealing that the phone is set to have a new widescreen design. Those glimpses, such as the video comparing the prospective iPhone 5 with the current iPhone 4S, may or may not be genuine -- but we know this one's from the realm of pure fantasy.

Click play on the video to see the advert for the gorgeous see-through iPhone concept.

Designed by Apple fan Dakota Adney, this speculative iPhone concept design sports an 'iClear retina display' -- in other words, it's transparent, layering text, apps and games on the clear display.

The see-through screen is handy for taking photos, as well as offering augmented reality, layering information on the screen over whatever's in front of you.

Set the phone down on a flat surface and twin projectors beam a virtual keyboard in front of you, with sensors spotting where you tap and turning that into typing.

If you like the idea of a transparent phone, the designer of this concept has also put together a promo video for a transparent iPad.

For more mind-blowing concept phones, check out our favourite made-up iPhone 5 designs, our favourite made-up iPad designs, a Nokia phone that's a touchscreen all over, and a bendy PaperPhone flexible phone.

We're expecting to see the next iPhone this autumn. Whether it's called the iPhone 5 or the new iPhone, Apple's next blower will be the first to show off iOS 6, the latest version of i-flavoured software, complete with improved Siri, a new Apple maps app and assorted other improvements.

Would you use a see-through phone? What would you like to see in the iPhone 5? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Comments 39

Add your comment

anonymous 18 June, 2012 12:28

Now this is what you want to see from apple. Something revolutionary, innovative or just completely uncharted territory, not doing what everyone else is doing, and calling it amazing because it's 'magically different'
Oh and then patenting it too, because all of a sudden Apple invented it...

anonymous 18 June, 2012 12:43

People only think this is a good idea because it's new, but think about it, how will you be able to read anything if the background clashes with the colour of the text? To bright/too dark etc. Really is pointless. You need to see through it why?

anonymous 18 June, 2012 13:30

impossible because of the battery

anonymous 18 June, 2012 13:52

i like i phon

anonymous 18 June, 2012 14:24

Not impossible because a battery can be shaped to fit behind the earpiece...

anonymous 18 June, 2012 14:24

very pretty I'm sure, but utterly pointless and worthless. Oh and anyway, this has nothing to do with Apple at all - weren't Sony experimenting with a concept of this a few years back? Quick Sony, patent this now, just to screw over Apple, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease

anonymous 18 June, 2012 14:31

Absolutely ridiculous, why on earth would you want a transparent screen? If you want to view whats behind the phone, use the camera for AR, or SHOCK, move the phone from in front of your face.

Looks pretty though.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 14:52

Iphone 5 will look like the Iphone 4s but with a bigger screen.
Apple don't innovate they litigate ;)
Innovation is not in the apple dictionary

anonymous 18 June, 2012 14:58

Wasn't there sopmething like this done early , i could i swear thier was something in Ironman 2 you know the court room scene .

anonymous 18 June, 2012 15:03

crap & pointless very innovative iShit

anonymous 18 June, 2012 15:35

Why would anybody want a transparent screen!!! It is all over movies and dumb concepts like this. Why would I want to see what is behind my phone let alone my computer?

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:07

I think the see through screen will stop iphone from users being knocked out when they bark out siri instructions on crowded trains.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:14

This can be particularly useful while walking/driving and texting. Watch where you're going, jerkface.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:38

dumb, and your hand will block the light required to show a clear picture

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:45

Umm.... no augemented reality examples?

missed a BIG opportunity to make this look useful, rather than just fancy. Eeeeediots.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:48

oh yea, nothings private anymore, not even in the palm of your hand. cool concept but give the idea to Google, they got some pretty "Innovative" and AWESOME stuff going on with "Project Glass"

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:56

Put the phone down and turn around now find it again. Wait it's blended into the surroundings...

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:56

this is pretty unnecessary and useless. might be eye candy, but its utility value evaluates to zero. a simple clash of background with the on screen text will render all of the display useless.
its an amateurish idea, with nothing to gain from it

anonymous 18 June, 2012 16:57

anonymous 18 June, 2012 19:05

does it come with the house at 0:21 ?

but no seriously this would be a pointless waste of battery power. That keyboard though would be cool.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 20:07

Virtual Keyboard is nothing new. I was actually looking at buying one and it runs at like $80 but it seems very uncomfortable and it is like typing on a tablet... still not as fast on an actually keyboard.

The see-through display is kind of useless. It is just going to be using some form of camera or other gimmick. Plus how much battery life is this going to eat away? Better augmented reality is not really going to be better since camera on a phone is accomplish same exact thing.

I lose physical qwert keyboard on my phone and I had that on my Droid2. I did not get Droid4 because of the weak battery. I went with the Droid Razr Maxx beast that never dies. Apple just adding better battery drain options.

anonymous 18 June, 2012 21:04

how about an iphone with a projector mode?

anonymous 18 June, 2012 22:31

For Pete's sake......now the fantasies of a fanboy are news? At least the speculation on the S3 had SOME grounding in reality. Though I predict the Xbox 720 will have be just over a micron thick and you can roll it up and store it in the hollow body of the magic wand you control it with. If I get my crayons out and draw a picture can I have some more publicity for Microsoft please?

anonymous 18 June, 2012 23:11

how is apple not innovative? first of all they created the first ever touchscreen phone, that you can surf the internet, play awesome games, listen to music and call people all in one...secondly the 3gs to 4 was a major remodification that contained an amazing new look and hundreds of new features, third they are the most profitable company in the world above exon (which FYI is a gas company, ya thats right they are making more money then the people that are supplying gas for your car) they sure as hell wouldnt be there if they didn't have new innovative ideas and thats also why nobody can compete with them everyone has tried copying the iPhone and all have failed. forth of all apple is an insanely smart company there not gonna release a phone that looks exactly like the previous one they are much more intelligent then that.... oh and fifth of all they make finished technology unlike our android friends, they don't make crappy software that isn't complete i would know i have had both phones and only one of them doesn't have a glitch every 30 secs. oh and finally if you haven't seen ios6 then you have no right to say that apple isn't awesome, they make hardware and software making there phones and other technology much more capable tell that to samsung and htc....

anonymous 19 June, 2012 10:50

"there not gonna release a phone that looks exactly like the previous one they are much more intelligent then that"

Ummm...didn't the 4 and the 4s look the same except for the retina screen?? Don't the new Macs look the same. Doesn't the new ipad look the same as the ipad 2.

The only reason ithe new iphone will be will be different is because Samsung has changed the game with the larger screens and Apple has been forced to change to keep up. They can have the best os going around but most people when they see the larger screen prefer it over the iphone.

anonymous 19 June, 2012 11:03

CNet: This is amazing!

Real world/CNet's audience: This is not amazing, and is not journalism.

anonymous 19 June, 2012 12:55

Obviously it would co$t so you'd protect your investment with a case and...DOH!

anonymous 19 June, 2012 14:03

a well... i still buy it xd lol ,-) if it cames .... yes i want lol,why because its cool! to have and i think thats all about it, functions will be not like the original phone, i dont count on it , i think a other company will make this sooner then apple ,or might already did it ...!!?? but honestly... when something came like this i would buy it and i dont mind if its a apple or android ,-)

anonymous 19 June, 2012 15:42

I wonder if people know that there have been previous transparent phones...?

tommybrissenden 19 June, 2012 20:08

Like to see what would happen when either side of that very thin screen smashes as now its just more of a easier breakable phone as it has no back protecting it.

Also no privacy so others can see you do stuff like internet banking or logging on your facebook wont be happy till everyone starts wondering why they are getting facebook hacked and money missing out of their accounts.

anonymous 20 June, 2012 21:01

Actually, if we can introduce reality for a bit, Apple were not the 1st company to introduce a cellphine that was touchscreen, with apps etc. There were several before it. What they DID do was wrap it in a nice package, eventually introduce an app store....but most importantly make it useable without fiddling around with a stylus.

However.....jump to today and the iPhone looks tired and dated in comparisson to both the top-of-the-range android phones and Windows Phone. Anyone claiming android in unfinished either hasn't used it recently or lacks objectivity. I make no apologies for preferring android - I like how customizable it is - but if I were to go for a more locked-down OS I'd currently go for Windows Mobile - it just look so much cooler than the competition. Apple may well do something to tempt me in the future but it won't be for anything I've seen in iOS 6.

Anas Malas 21 June, 2012 18:27

so now droping it from 1 feet will break it instead of four
good plan apple on making people buy more

anonymous 10 July, 2012 18:30

I can't see Apple pulling this off, in fact it would be near impossible it to mention expensive! Would be very cool though admittedly. However, you can easily tell that advert is fake and Apple clearly ARE NOT going to do this simply because the notification bar and the twitter bar just below is also part of the screen. If that's so, then why isn't that transparent too?

Be fantastic if Apple could pull this off but I can't see it happening. I do think the new iPhone will have some cool tricks up its sleeve though...

champrizi 13 July, 2012 14:51

There are thousands of apps available for your iphone 4s some for business, and some for pleasure. For those of us who use the iPhones primarily for fun, the new iPhone 4S can offer state-of-the-art viewing and listening delight. Apple’s brand new iPhone 4S features a dynamic, powerful dual-core processor and an advanced 8 megapixel camera, which make streaming music and taking brilliant photographs a walk in the park. Plus, with an f/2.4 aperture to let in more light and fast multi-tasking capabilities, Apple’s new model makes it quicker and easier than ever to listen to and capture your world. If you use your iPhone 4S for music, there are a lot of great apps available to help you get the most out of your listening experience. The popular song-recognition app Shazam lets you press a button, play a song for your iPhone 4S to hear, and find out instantly the name of the song, the recording artist, the album the song appears on, the lyrics to the song, the music video, a link to buy the song, and a link to share the song with your social network. I’m always amazed at how well this app works, even with some more obscure songs and artists. Shazam is a must-have app for any music aficionado. And if you’re like me and love listening to music on the go, Last.fm,Spotify and Pandora apps all have excellent streaming capability, tons of features and simple user interface. They do take up a lot of data, though, so check with your service provider before streaming. Apple’s newest product, the iPhone 4S, introduces several new features and a whole lot of upgrades from the iPhone 4. Even though the new model looks almost exactly the same as the previous one, the iPhone 4S features some great performance improvements that make it the most advanced smartphone on the market. First of all, the iPhone 4S boasts Apple’s newest, super-fast dual-core processor and GPU. So what does that mean for you? Apple claims this new A5 processor (the same one used in the brand new iPad 2) will make the iPhone 4S twice as fast as the iPhone 4, and graphic performance up to seven times as fast. The A5 chip makes the new iPhone 4S ideal for games and other graphics-intensive apps. Even web-browsing and multi-tasking will reach new levels with this kind of speed and power. And even with all that processing power, the iPhone 4S will offer a much longer battery life – up to 8 hours of talking on a 3G network, 9 hours of watching videos or 40 hours of listening to music. Apple also claims the smartphone delivers a standby time of up to 200 hours.
iPhone 5 will be blockbuster .....