Is this a matte black iPhone? (answer: probably not) Update: more pics
By Laura June 
posted Feb 12th 2009 3:39PM
posted Feb 12th 2009 3:39PM
So, this is sort of fun. The leaked photo above appears to be of a new iPhone back -- in matte black. Sure, we have to be highly suspicious of all kinds of purported evidence of new products in general, and we've heard enough crazy Apple rumors over the years to fill an issue of US Weekly. Regardless, this one's worth at least considering: it's got a model number, A1303, that's previously unseen, but has all the other requisite data, including FCC ID numbers, that we've grown to know and love on the back of real, actual, undoctored iPhones. Look, it's probably fake. Discuss.
Update: Some more pics have surfaced -- check one after the break and the other at MacRumors. Seems a bit early for these sorts of leaks to us, but crazier things have happened.
[Via Electronista; thanks, Ryan]
Update: Some more pics have surfaced -- check one after the break and the other at MacRumors. Seems a bit early for these sorts of leaks to us, but crazier things have happened.
[Via Electronista; thanks, Ryan]
i'm 1st and it's fake
I hope it isn't fake. The matte finish on the back would be welcome. No more fingerprints!
Yes....it is not like things get old and people stop using them...sooner or later the iphone WILL have to be trashed, it is part of life..like many electronic things
Ignore the above ..comment...i was replying to a post that was deleted....
I don't think it's fake, more pictures on MacRumors even show the backside and full front.
http://www.macrumors.com
How much abuse that a case like that take? I can easily see the letters and everything getting scratched off within days.
how much abuse can*, typo sorry.
I saw those pics of your mom, both backside and front...
So you meant to say:
"How much abuse can that a case like that take?"
Still poor grammar, dude.
"Still poor grammar, dude."
Yeah, I realized I made one more than mistake now. Thanks.
It's supposed to read as:
"How much abuse can a case like that take?"
Nice glowing effect on iPhone to make us think the flash went off but didn't reflect off of the "matte" finish.
Fake.
I definitely hope it's fake.
I always appreciated the straight bricky lines of Apple products.
Curvy back of the 3G and plastic finish prevented me from upgrading. I am really happy with the overall form of the 2G iPhone.
If it ends up looking curvy, like the new Palm, they lost to me.
I hate to jump on the 'fake' bandwagon but on the higher res version of the shot the FCC, etc logos are pixel perfect, zoom in on the 'Do not trash' icon and look at the arrangement of the pixels on the cross.
Worst-case scenario: fake. Best-case scenario: pre production mock-up. I'd tend to go for the former.
Where is the dock connector, from that angle you should be able to see it and the holes for speaker and mic.
apple has been all into glossy lately... don't think they will make an exception
Glossy? You mean slippery and finger printy?
This could be an aluminium back like the ipod nano's
Fake, but I like the idea of matte, those corners look a bit softer too
How hard would it be for Engadget to create a spam blocker for the words 1st or first in the first three words of a comment?
And yes, it's fake.
then people would just type 3 words, then type first. I think that any first comment with any variation of the number one should be deleted. They should put a FIRST!!!111 button right next to the +/-/! buttons, and more than 5 of those would delete the comment or mark it as spam.
A simple fix might be to delay any post with 1st or first in it for 15 minutes. It would certainly remove any incentive from the posters without requiring human intervention. That way any valid coments using those words would get posted but the invalid ones would lose their annoyance factor.
...Stop crying. Why does it matter?
Typing "first" doesn't bog down your computer, or make the site load slower. It doesn't magically lock your eyes onto the word - rendering you incapable of skipping over the poster's "comment", nor is it offensive. Why go through the trouble of comment filtering for a relative few readers' fragile sensibilities?
Like gonintendo said, people would just come up with something different. Number 1!!!111, Inb4all, Top Dawg, Post #00001, Zuerst, d'abord, primo, primero, etc...
who cares
PALM PRE
Fuck you with Pre™
☻☻☻☻☻
Why are you all talking about a phone's butt?
Does it matter?? Most people put it in a case to protect it. I already forgot what color my back is.
Probably the same colour as your face, arms, legs and chest. Probably not your arse.
I think this is not FAKE
I'd be all over a 32GB matte black iPhone. Even more so if the back was aluminum again.
Mine (first gen) looks like it has been to hell and back once or twice. No glossy plastic for me!
Aluminum blocks radio signals, so no, that's not going to happen.
If aluminum blocks radio signals then how to I have wifi in my MacBook Pro?
Are u serious? [/sarcasm]
It was just an afterthought. I use my phone 7-9 hours a day. I need something with some durability. Having to give up the first gen at some point will be difficult. Just sayin'.
@Dr. Spaceman:
See that plastic in the hinge of your MacBook Pro? That's where the bulk of the Wi-Fi antennas are.
Not to mention the little plastic panels on the sides of the Screen.
Seriously, look.
Could easily be aluminum.. they just have to copy the radio cover on the ipod touch.. you know a little bit of black plastic over the radio and aluminum over the rest..
It's a matte black, turtleneck mousepad!
Sweet!
Good idea.
It's not hard to mask off the front and coat the thing with some dulling spray. Not a half bad idea actually. Photoshop a few numbers and bamb, you got a fake photo.
Is the photo clear enough for someone to run the serial number through the Apple warranty database? If it's registered, it's obviously fake. On my phone so image ain't clear.
...Bamb?
Wait, THE Jon Nelson...?
"Matte - a new material carefully and intentionally innovated by Apple..."
And since you think its fake it hardly makes it newsworthy then does it?
Its real...thats what everyone said about the picture that popped up about the black 3g
you guys dismissed the first glossy iphone pics too, dunno, this might be real!
Also, according to Mac Rumors, the site that was first to leak the 3G case is the same one leaking this case.
Matte, the bane of fingerprints everywhere...
Reminds me the back of the Zune 120.
The phone is totally fake. Just look at the white print on the back. It's completely razor straight (computer generated). If it was actually on the phone it would curve with the surface of the phone. I do agree the matte black would be nice.
This could be an experimental run to see how matte one looks but never made it to the final production run.
Matte is the new glossy.
BTW, it's real.
Isn't there a way to verify just from those FCC numbers?
Nothing matches those numbers in an FCC search.
A simple Google search followed by an FCC ID search reveals no products matching ID numbers on the picture. So yeah, probably fake.
why would anyone want to verify something they can speculate about?
Most certainly fake.
Firstly, matte black is so 2004, think Motorola V3, and as someone else mentioned Apple has already dropped the Matt Black MacBook.
Secondly the type is far to big and prominent. Compare it to the current 3G iPhone where the type is very small and fine.
Lastly, I'm not sure about different international versions, but my Aus 3G only has model no, not the other numbers.
Matt Black is fine at first, but it quickly becomes greased in such a way that it can't be easily cleaned. Also matt finishes tend to be polished glossy where the are handled more or get more wear, so you end up with a patchy uneven finish.
Who is Matt Black and why is his MacBook so special?
maybe apple is getting in on its own cases
I think may be missing something here... not the matte black, but the text size: Look at the back of the current 3G iPhone. Notice how much room the text fills relative to the width of the phone. If (and its a big if), the font size are the same as the 3G, then you are looking at the iPhone nano.
I can't believe only one person noticed the lack of ports on the bottom. That alone is really making it look fake.
Also, if you lay your iphone down on a table at the same angle you can see that this puppy would have to be twice as thick as the current 3G, unless it's a shot of an iPhone laying on a mirror (but then where are the ports again?).
Unllikely to be real for those and all the reasons already mentioned.
Maybe this is the $99.99 iPhone.
I'm still waiting for the new 3rd generation iPhone.
I just wonder, is it possible to put speical camera flash around the camera lens? Is it going to be intefering with the picture or there is a smart way to do it? If do, then I guess a circular camera LED flash around the camera rim looks cool u know?
camera hole doesnt even match up
Maybe it's a CDMA iphone.
Actually, to me, it sorta looks like a case....
Bottom of the e on iPhone is flat. Fake.
I wouldlove to have a matte black. The shiny seems to always be dirty
My helmet is matte black and it looks awsome. Problem though is that it looks like crap even faster than the mirror backs of the first gen iPhone. When you get a scratch on it or you sort of polish it by using certain fabrics it has a tendency to leave sort of stain looking spots on it. I sure hope it doesnt happen on this because it looks really nice.
(Helmet is a Shoei XR1000 if you wonder about the quality)
There's no serial number on it. While that could've been photoshopped it makes you wonder how much else of the picture was also.
Real or fake? Not sure but let me tell you something, thats totally plastic.
THERE WILL BE NO NEW iPHONE! GET OVER IT!
If this is the real deal...then really Apple? Still no camera flash?
Does the iPhone 3G have the IMEI number printed on the back? That's clearly missing here, but I don't have the 3G so I can't check. If there's no IMEI, then perhaps it really is a CDMA variant. That would make me muy happy!
Otherwise if it isn't a CDMA version then I'm getting the Pre, and Apple can suck it!
Just answered my own question with a Google image search. It was a nice thought for the 30 seconds it lasted.
Guess I'm getting a Pre
:-P
remember a while back, when we found those red and pink phones? well, guess what. The EXACT SAME PERSON makes white and black housings in a matte color.
www.ecaseshop.com
I am i the only one to mention that if this is real it could be more than just a mat finish. Maybe even a thin rubber coating (1/16" or so) it would stop sliding and scratches.
Honestly I could care less what it looks like i just want a better camera and a real button to snap photos.
Not real - Anyone that has taken their 3G iPhone apart should know this.
Of course, I guess that's really not most of us. Errr, most of you.
I'm the dumb one that did JUST THAT, in hopes of intalling one of those 3rd party after market housings. That's EXACTLY what this is. An after market housing.
Either that, or the next version of the iPhone has EXACTLY THE SAME internal layout as the current version - right down to the tolerances and points of plastic ribbing. This looks identical (talking about the inside shot on the READ link) to the 3rd part housing I tried to install - I have it right here in front of me.
Only on Engadget would this be news. It not even in a different color, just a finish.
What we all need to know is how many iPhones thick is it? (That seems to be your standard unit of measurement for everything else.)
Probably a fake. No side rocker button on the left (the right side if you are looking at the back view, no ports either. As to the FCC ID, you would not see that even if it were real. When Apple released the iPhone 3G the submission date to the FCC shows 6/9/2008 and the date available is 6/9/2008 as well. The Ipod Touch 2G was submitted to the FCC on 9/8/2008 with a date available of 9/9/2008 (the actual release date). It will not appear in the ID search until right before it is released. You can go to the FCC site here http://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/ and then enter BCG as the grantee code and you will get all of Apple's submissions.
You can tell it's just a case, looking at the camera hole there is no camera there its just a shadow of the case that you can see.
Personally, I wouldn't care if Steve Jobs himself was posing with the leaked photo. I won't take any interest until I see a nice little "32GB" on the back.