By Chris Chang, posted Jul 17, 2011 at 6:00 PM, 5,112 views,

iPhone 4S Prototype Leaked? (updated)

Looks like an early engineering test unit of the upcoming iPhone 4S is leaked. Chinese tech site Evolife.cn has published a set of photos said to depict the upcoming iPhone 4S, a “modest upgrade” to the current iPhone 4. The images have been sourced from a Sina Weibo (China’s twitter-like microblogging service) account @13560086362君, which appears to be a production model running rare diagnostics software used to test iPhone’s various components. Perhaps the most interesting thing we are seeing here is the never-seen-before iPhone icon appearing on iTunes when the device is connected to the computer. Take a clearer look at the side frame!

UPDATE: It’s a very early iPhone 4 prototype. Why? Two things. It has both sensors not working, the Nike plus and Bluetooth. Next, the phone has “Soundwave” and “Rumble” on it, they are iPhone testing programs which have been used since the 3GS. This device is NOT iPhone 5 prototype (N94). It is authentic, and Apple is scrambling to find the leak now.

Ok, according to the Sina Weibo user, who first posted the images, there’s no difference between the iPhone 4 and this device. Here’s what he tweeted:

“It comes with a test mode GUI, and I tried to restore the phone using iTunes, but both iOS 4.3.4 and 5.0 beta release failed with error 3194. I tried to edit the hosts file, but it still doesn’t work.”

And regarding the hardware of the phone, here’s what he said:

“There should be no changes for the internal hardware. It’s not an A5 processor, the rear camera is still 5 megapixels.

More pics below.

When the phone is connected to the computer, iTunes recognize the device as iPhone, and it’s a 32GB model with iOS 4.0. And the mysterious iPhone icon shows up.

Comparing the icon to the iPhone 4 icon.

So, this device could be an iPhone 4S prototype, or just an iPhone 4 prototype. We’re working on getting more information, but for now at least one thing seems (relatively) clear: the next iPhone will have a new look.

Source: Sina Weibo via Evolife.cn