A photograph containing one of Apple's fourth-generation iPhones has been lingering undetected on the web for nearly a week now thanks to having been overshadowed -- quite literally -- by the company's new iPad, AppleInsider has learned.
People with an impeccable track record in matters such as these say the iPhone in below photo, published by gadget blog Engadget in the hours leading up to Apple's iPad announcement last Wednesday, is a prototype of one of the handsets due to hit the market in roughly five months.
We spoke with Engadget to determine whether its unedited source imagery was of any superior quality, which it reportedly is not. Therefore, all we have to go off of is the fairly distorted shot you see here, which is bound to give way to some interesting analysis.
Cosmetically, the iPhone in the photo appears without its iconic aluminum bezel. Instead, the device is surrounded by a black plastic of aluminum material. Either that, or the handset is wrapped 80 percent of the way in a rubberized protective holder like the iPad prototype it rests on top of, though the quality of the image leaves this assertion to considerable debate.
The only other distinguishable difference between the existing iPhone and the one in the photo is what appears to be a whitish blotch immediately to the left of the earpiece grill. This could represent a circular transparency in the blackened portion of the face of the device that gives way to a camera lens, though it could also be nothing more than a reflection from some other source.
