Apple’s New iPhone Leaked…And It’s Ugly

UPDATE: Turns out that this was in fact an Apple iPhone prototype. Is it the EXACT version that we are going to see in June? Probably. You can bet the cameras, microphones, and general design will be the same. I was wondering if I should hold out and get a new iPhone instead of the iPad, but it looks like I’ll be getting an iPad. The iChat features probably won’t work over 3G anyway.

Here’s the letter Apple has sent to Gizmodo:

I’m not sure how you can enjoy Apple design in the past and think that this new supposed iPhone looks good but here it is:

Gizmodo posted the pics of the phone which was apparently this was left at some bar somewhere and it managed to get photographed and leaked all over the internet. What makes me believe that this is actually an iPhone and not some Japanese market knock off is mainly because it has a 30-pin connector at the bottom. Most iPhone rip offs have a USB type plug (like the Razr). Plus the design looks like a typical direction Apple would go.

It apparently has a front facing camera, and the sim card slot is now on the side, which when popped shows that they are using MicroSim. Overall it’s not bad but the two circular volume buttons just drive me crazy. And the segmented lining of the phone looks like it took 95,000 parts to create, which goes against the sleekness of Apple’s unibody-style of design that makes the 3G and 3GS look so good.

I’m surprised that it has been leaked this early over someone’s careless misplacement. I’m sure whoever left it in a bar is probably fired by now. There’s also a part of me that thinks that this could just be some sort of decoy. I mean the design is very unlike Apple, in my opinion. Could it be that they’ve planted this device somewhere to get it all over the interwebs so that when the actual iPhone 4 comes out, it will be to everyone’s surprise?