Leaked photos reveal purported Apple iPhone prototype on T-Mobile

Leaked photos supposedly of a prototype iPhone indicate that Apple may be testing the smartphone on the T-Mobile USA network, a new report claims.
According to the report, the prototype runs a test version of Apple's iOS that resembles that of another prototype discovered in a video earlier this week. The fact that the N94 device has Apple test apps scubas Radar and the company's employee directory app may also serve to substantiate its authenticity.

The front of the prototype looks "a little different" from recent leaked photos of the retail white iPhone 4. "Specifically, the proximity sensor has changed on the retail version," the report noted. On Friday, photos of an official retail white iPhone 4 from Vodafone U.K. emerged, though Vodafone has reportedly halted sales of the device until next week.

The lock screen of the prototype device contains the message: "Confidential and Proprietary. If Found, please contact +1 408…", but the rest of the number has been whited out in the photos.

The report goes on to speculate that Apple is "just testing the new T-Mobile-friendly radio with its current iPhone 4 hardware, possibly in preparation for integration in a future device. It’s also entirely possible the internals on this iPhone prototype are being disguised in an iPhone 4 shell, though we doubt it."

BGR has a consistent track record with regards to wireless carrier announcements, though some of its Apple-related predictions have been off.

AT&T announced last month a $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile USA from parent company Deutsche Telekom. A subsequent ">FAQ from T-Mobile suggested that the carrier would hold off on offering the iPhone until at least after the acquisition is completed in "approximately 12 months"

iPhone 5 a 'major redesign' with multi-touch button, 3.7-inch screen

the home button on the iPhone 5 will be enlarged and will perform double duty as a "gesture area." Sources also indicated that Apple is doing very "interesting things" with bonded glass technology and could push the edges of the screen all the way out to the edge, moving the earpiece and sensors "behind the screen itself."

The report also claimed that Apple would increase the iPhone screen size from its current 3.5-inch display to a 3.7-inch one, while keeping the current resolution. The change would reduce the device's pixel density from 326 pixels-per-inch to 312ppi, though it would still remain above the 300ppi "sweet spot" that Apple uses to claim "Retina Display" technology.

"Our sources say the new model (or at least one of the new designs in testing) looks “more like the iPod touch than the iPhone 4.” The phone will be thinner than the iPhone 4, and may have a “teardrop” shape which goes from thick to thin (something along the lines of the MacBook Air profile)," Topolsky wrote.

Topolsky also claimed that art he had been shown seemed to indicate "some form of inductive or touch charging," but cautioned that sources were unable to confirm whether Apple was planning the feature. He speculated that a "swipe area" seen in drawings could be for a Near Field Communication sensor and reiterated his prior claim that the iPhone 5 will take advantage of Qualcomm's dual GSM/ CDMA Gobi chipset to make the device a "world phone."

The report included a mockup based on a sketch supplied by a source. A side view of the mockup depicts the tapered "teardrop shape."

Topolsky himself couched the report as unverified. "Keep in mind that this info isn’t fact — we’re getting lots of threads from lots of places and trying to make sense of the noise," he said. "The versions of devices our sources are seeing could be design prototypes and not production-ready phones."

It should also be noted that the report goes against the grain of other recent reports. Numerous reports have suggested lately that the iPhone 5 has been pushed back to a fall release and will feature only "slight modifications," such as the inclusion of the A5 processor and an 8 megapixel rear camera.

HTC Thunderbolt vs. Verizon iPhone sales tales based on anecdotal evidence

There's an old joke that goes, Why don't analysts look out of the window in the mornings? So they'll have something to do in the afternoon. Turns out, that's wrong -- they actually spend their mornings on the phone calling every Verizon store they can find (registration required).
OK, full disclosure: some journalists think that they and analysts do remarkably similar jobs, except that analysts have the cojones to add a few zeros to their bill at the end of the day. But it has to be admitted, calling 150 Verizon stores to ask, "Say, how's that new HTC Thunderbolt selling compared to the iPhone?" takes, well, quite some time.
And writing up the conclusion, too, that must have taken a while. "61% of the stores that we contacted said they sold an equal amount of both phones, 11% said they sold more iPhones (principally in the Southeast) and 28% of stores had sold more ThunderBolts."
The research was done by BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk, and he admits it's not a very scientific study - the salespersons to whom he spoke "did not have access to actual sales figures and their response was based on their own experience." But, he adds, "they were not much hesitation in the response [sic]."
So, a shiny new smartphone released two weeks ago is outselling one that's been available for getting on for a year on AT&T and nearly three months on Verizon? Could it be that those who crave speed picked up the latest, greatest smartphone which runs on the faster network in preference to the older model? Well, 28% of those asked in an unscientific survey did, anyway. Perhaps.