New Video Gives Us Another Look At iPhone 5 Back Plate
Posted by Michael Nace on Thursday Jun 7, 2012 Under Apple Rumors
A new video on YouTube puts the purported metal iPhone 5 back plate into better focus. Does seeing it in motion make it more appealing — and more believable — to you?
Just when the photos published by 9to5Mac last week began to seem less than believable, a new video has emerged from ETrade Supply that purports to show the iPhone 5 back plate. If pictures say a thousand words, then videos show a thousand pictures.
The gentleman on the video gives us a thorough, up-close look at the back plate, and it would appear that the part he is holding is identical to that of the back plate seen in the original 9to5Mac article. It features the same small cut-out for the dock connector, the repositioning of the headphone jack to the bottom, changes to the sides, the long profile, and the slightly mismatched look of the metal piece against glass or plastic framing on the back.
What I find particularly interesting about the video is that it puts the “mismatched” colors of the metal piece and glass pieces into better view, and seeing it in real life, it is much more appealing. Apple tends to for a streamlined, unified, unibody look for its products, so I found the glass-of-metal lines of the iPhone 5 back increasingly jarring, leading me farther and farther away from thinking these parts might be real. But seeing it on display in this video makes the design look more workable — and more Apple.
Another interesting revelation is the rendering of the Apple and iPhone logos, which appear to be in a polished metal that is contrasted from the more matte metal finish of the rest of the plate. When people have talked about LiquidMetal being used on the back of the iPhone 5, many have spoken about a holographic image being etched into the metal itself. It doesn’t appear that we are seeing that feature on these parts, however, I wonder if the polished-against-matte metal finish we are seeing here the result of using LiquidMetal?
In any case, one also has to wonder how, if this is the iPhone 5, how the parts are getting out into the open, especially after Tim Cook recently told us that Cupertino is doubling down on security. Are we all caught up in some kind of incredibly cynical ruse?
I have to say, seeing the parts in this video make it look incredibly plausible. If it’s a fake, it’s faking me out big time.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 7th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
It would be one of my happiest day in my whole life, if they introduce it like this monday!
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June 7th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
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June 7th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Kind of wish the reviewer had gotten a white version in addition to the black one. That would’ve been a real treat.
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June 7th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
This has to be real, or someone extremely extremely sad has made this so it concurs with the rest of the leaks. On the other hand, the design looks fantastic and the screen isn’t even on yet. I don’t see how people can be negative about it! Iphone 5 coming WWDC? I think so.
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June 7th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Another point, there is no way this would leak 4 months before release, a few days is possible.
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
TBH I think it looks pretty sick and this video shows it at some better angles then the photos did. I hope it’s released at WWDC…iPhone 5 Truthers unite!
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
@Jim : I agree with you one this thing . If this is indeed the next I phone then they can’t hold the launch anal for the next few months . They would launch in next few weeks . Properly at the wwdc and start the supply by next month first week or so . I remember similar leaks off the parts of the new iPad just happened a couple off days before the launch . I.hope this baby is coming up next week *fingers Crosses*
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
@vj , well said. Also, I don’t know if its just me but I cant access the Etrade supply website, coincidence much?.
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Now I’m confused…the SIM card slot is smaller at the new iPhone case. Nano SIM or what ?
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
I just don’t know what to think anymore, one day a story is released which makes me think a later in the year release then the next day I think June.
It does seem a bit odd that so many different sites have what looks like the same parts but it could all be a ruse.
I will need to upgrade my IP3G when the new phone comes out and I’m not a fan of the IP4 form factor, this one just looks like the same phone that has been put on a rack and stretched.
It seems like so many other Apple software and hardware products are going to be shown I can’t quite see where there will be time for a boom one more thing at WWDC.
The Samsung S3 is selling bucket loads here in the UK so come on Apple act fast or lose it.
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I don’t like it if that’s really I would be really disappointed and why would apple make another iPhone that looks almost like the iPhone 4 and 4s? That’d be dumb all they show is the moved buttons around
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June 7th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Not sure I believe it. I think Apple might have planted a passed over design. One thing I noticed is that it appears from the video that it is the same width as the iPhone 4S. All the rumors seem to indicate the iPhone 5 will be thinner. As well, even though it is a little longer it is extremely similar to the 4S design. We’ve all heard many times that Steve Jobs worked hard on the new iPhones design. I doubt that means he extended it a little and replaced some of the glass with some metal. IDK it just seems this is the type of leak Apple would make just to throw everyone off the scent.
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June 7th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
It’s not bad, but the design is certainly far from revolutionary. I tend to think this part was made by or for Apple, but am not convinced it is the final design. Just doesn’t look polished or new or cohesive enough.
It may be part of Apple’s “doubling down” on secrecy by providing supposedly legit parts to certain partners to see where the leaks are. It also creates (more) buzz for their products. I hope it looks more like this rendering previously posted by Michael:
http://cdn.iphone5newsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Picture-4.png
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June 7th, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Doesn’t really matter what the back looks like ’cause I’m going to slap a snap case on it anyway. Speaking of cases, why aren’t we seeing any leaked cases for the 5 like the last release? Some website placeholders or price lists at least.
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June 7th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Now I don’t know how reliable this is but cultofmac.com has an article up with a purported photo of an iPad mini with the smaller doc connector. Could be photoshopped, could be a Chinese mockup or it could be the real deal. I’ll leave it here for yinz (my pittsburghese coming out) to decide:
http://www.cultofmac.com/172035/leaked-photos-show-ipad-nano-with-new-dock-connector-and-stereo-speakers-rumor/
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June 7th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Let’s be honest, Apple intentionally leaks products and information pertaining to their products.
It is pure marketing genius. You clamp down on security until it is working perfectly then you create the leak. The word spreads like wildfire then bang…..you have an “Oh, there is just one more thing moment”.
I don’t believe this is the design for the iPhone 5/6 because I just don’t, call it gut intuition. They are getting you to watch their right hand wave the card around as they slip the real phone right under our noses.
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June 7th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
I will literally have to change my drawers if they drop a new iPhone at WWDC. If it is the one in this video I will love it, and if it is a new design that’s even better, I’ll need to breathe into a brown paper bag for 6 weeks before I can regain composure.
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June 7th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
And actually, we talking a bout leaking parts… I wonder if apple made really small various changes to batches of fake parts, then distributed them to a bunch of folks… then, when the pictures show up, they look for unknown identifying marks and they know who leaked it… You guys remember the unusual font on the white version of the new iPhone that popped up a couple weeks ago? I wonder if this is an example…
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June 7th, 2012 at 6:35 pm
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June 7th, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Wouldn’t apple have pulled this if it was really the new iPhone?
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June 7th, 2012 at 7:27 pm
Watching this…I am disappointed. the back just doesn’t flow… its not smooth and simple anymore, it adds a different, more complex, feel to the look
i hope its just another fake prototype
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June 7th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
@SpasticPat. Thanks for the nano link, now go “red up” your room and clean up those gumbands
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June 7th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
I love it and it is clear its launch is imminent.
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June 7th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Okay after this I’m expecting June, so stoked I can’t wait!!!
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June 7th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Don’t know if anyone saw today but Google debuted their 3D maps app. And what platform would you expect the creator of Android to show it on? Android of course. But what platform did they show it on? An iPad! And the most hilarious part? It kept crashing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rqokQsDmUIQ
This article:
http://www.cultofmac.com/171876/why-todays-google-maps-event-proves-google-is-scared-witless-of-ios-6s-maps-opinion/
is (a little biased towards Apple) hilarious and totally rips on Google.
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June 7th, 2012 at 11:55 pm
Why do we call it Silly Season again?
Pat, I’m with you… IPhone5June Truthers untie! err… unite!
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June 8th, 2012 at 1:04 am
I agree with some of you on here. This is pure marketing genius. Probably planted by apple. They know what’s at stake here with this new phone. I would probably get my house that this is in no way shape or form, apples final design.
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June 8th, 2012 at 1:27 am
A stretched version of the 4s (4ss anyone?) doesn’t strike me as anything worth getting excited about. If it goes 4G (iPhone 4G?) then it won’t be coming to Australia, because it won’t be able to run on 4G networks here:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/tablets/apple-fined-25m-by-accc-for-false-advertising/story-fn6vigfp-1226389051744
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June 8th, 2012 at 4:30 am
Something is telling me they may introduce the new phone on Monday … but something else is telling me that this isn’t it. First of all, it’s going to look awkward like that (too long and Apple must know this). I feel like after two years of working on it, Apple wouldn’t release a near identical product that would match the 4/4S … this would be very confusing and a terrible marketing strategy. One thing is most definitely for certain, there will be a newly designed iPhone at the end of the conference on Monday or a newly designed iPhone in a couple months. I can almost guarantee it won’t look anything like that. I apologize to anyone who likes the design, everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, I just feel like this would lack enthusiasm from Apple. Where’s the passion? Where’s the dedication? iOS 6 and Siri along with iCloud (probably) will take center stage … maybe along with the iPhone batting clean up on Monday, I hope.
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June 8th, 2012 at 8:00 am
dont like it. Seems like they just slapped a metal back on it.
This can’t be the design, they had 2y+ for a new design. It doesn’t even take 2weeks to come up with something like this.
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June 8th, 2012 at 8:07 am
So Michael, did you ever reach your contact in the case industry? He chimed in big time last year…. Where is he on this…. For the record, I still don’t think this is the phone… But who knows.
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June 8th, 2012 at 9:35 am
@SpasticPat…..That video of Google debuting their map app on a iPad was freaking hilarious! thanks for the laughs!
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June 8th, 2012 at 9:36 am
As for those that don’t like the look since it doesn’t look “sleek”, remember the early iMacs?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IMac_Bondi_Blue.jpg
They were kind of campy, and maybe that’s what they’ll go for in the next iPhone. I mean, really, who among us is going to go into an Apple store in three weeks and say, “I’d get the iPhone 5, but that metal on the back is just ghastly. Do you have the Samsung phone here? Lovee, let’s go.” (it helps to say it with a Thurston Howell voice).
#Daveydog, I think you’re right, but if it is, I kind of like the two tone look, but it should serve a purpose. Metal back for no other reason of style adds weight, provides two more breaking points (at the plastic or glass to metal interface), makes it harder to assemble, and like I said earlier, just doesn’t make sense from an aesthetic point of view.
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June 8th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Oops… I forgot…
June iPhone Truthers unite!
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June 8th, 2012 at 10:57 am
What if, bear with me here folks. But what if they announce the Iphone 5 at the WWDC but not releace the phone untill September/October time frame. What if they just give us a little preview like you would release a movie trailer for an upcoming movie? Any thoughts, or am I just overly optamistic?!
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June 8th, 2012 at 10:58 am
I still REALLY hope that this is NOT the design for the new iPhone. I’m also 99% certain that it’s not be made with LiquidMetal. Inside the back there are machining paths that would not be there if it had been moulded with LiquidMetal, it has been cut out of a block.
My personal thoughts are that it could be an old, prototype back that may have been used to test some of the components (bigger screen etc) while still using some of the iPhone 4′s internals.
Apple may well have leaked it to get they hype up before WWDC, so they can pull out a “one more thing” moment and show the new iPhone, which looks completely different to this part. That’s at least what I’m hoping for as I would be hugely disappointed if that’s all Apple can come up with after 2 years. To me, that’s the iPhone 4S II, it doesn’t deserve a new generation iPhone moniker.
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June 8th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
@Ryan,
The issue with doing that is that it lets Apple’s competitors trump them. I know that Google/Samsung/competitor x have exceeded Apple’s iPhone 4S in terms of hardware, but the “here it is, and you can have it in 2 weeks” whets the appetite of the users, and the competition can best be seen as “me too” which is a weak place for a competitor to be.
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June 8th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
@ Jeff,
I agree with that however Apple has done an excellent job at pattenting nearly every idea they have had, and would 3 months be enought to copy and release hardware? I think a review “like a movie trailer” would get people drooling and convince them to wait another 3 months, and would snag all the ther people who are on the brink of insanity waiting for the Iphone 5 knowing what and when its coming?
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June 8th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
@Ryan,
Three months would be aggressive, but four could be done. (I don’t know how long phone development is. Derivative airplanes, 6 years; semiconductors, 18 months, but phones, not so much). This phone is a derivative of the current iPhone, so is the Google/Microsoft.Whatever phone. The software seems to be a longer lead time between major versions than the hardware.
Conversely, what would that do to iPhone4 sales to have 3 months between announcement and release? Apple is the sole supplier of iPhones, so they need to keep that in consideration.
Well, the brink of insanity is kind of self-imposed, and the enthusiasm will die down, with the introduction of other phones during that three months. In dealing with the competitors, where there is fierce competition, whoever announces first sets the marker, and the competition can pick up that marker and do something better. However, us fanbois are a bit immune to that, but most people look at an iPhone as, well, a neat phone.
Another thing (a reason why I’d love them to do what you’re hoping/proposing)
As a former IT business owner, I loved how Microsoft did it with their Windows Phone releases, letting us know what would/wouldn’t be there, and Apple was a bit, well, surprising. There is nothing quite like the customer asking how to set up Exchange on their iPhone, and I’m telling them how to do it in my car on the way there, but not knowing beforehand made it a bit interesting.
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June 8th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
They aren’t going to preview guys … it’s either it will be there Monday or it won’t be. Like Jeff said, previewing is inviting the competition catch Apple with its pants down. And trust me, Apple is in not position to have its trousers around its ankles and trip over them. They need to get some new, innovated ideas out there, and I feel we will see that with the software. Lets hope the hardware go hand and hand with it or follows suit in a few months down the road. I’m still optimistic for June despite the lack of any solid evidence, besides this video and the photos over at 9to5mac. But, let’s hope, and wait. Just two more days now.
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June 8th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Do we “know for a fact” (ha!) that they can’t/aren’t going closer to the edge with the screen? If that render had edge to edge, I’d be more excited…
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June 9th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
So my mother tells me my cousin went into the apple store and asked them when the phone is coming out and they told her sept. 5? Hmms now why would they tell her when the phone is comin out when it hasn’t even been reveiled yet??
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June 10th, 2012 at 3:07 am
I think we all are hoping and waiting for a revolutionary new iPhone to be revealed, either tomorrow or around Sept/Oct.
If the model shown in the video is the best that Apple boffins can create in a very long development timeline, then I’m going to be impressed. I agree with others that something like this would only be worthy of a 4SS / 4S+ moniker and not a new name entirely.
As I’ve said before, I think most people are fed up with Apple’s shock and awe tactics when it comes to releasing new products and all the secrecy, but they need to be careful that these new surprise releases are actually what customers want – otherwise, this might really backfire on them especially after such a long wait, people want to be wowed and if they are not, then Apple will lose a lot of customers.
Personally, if the device looks like the model in the video, I will pass and stay with my 4S….
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June 10th, 2012 at 3:08 am
** Meant to say “If the model shown in the video is the best that Apple boffins can create in a very long development timeline, then I’m NOT going to be impressed”
Michael – where’s the edit button gone??
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June 10th, 2012 at 8:59 am
@Moo. I couldn’t agree more about the design.
I still think Apple isn’t going to get in a high end feature war with Samsung. Increasing the value of the iPhone won’t be with snazzy new features; they could have done that last year. They will drive demand by expanding Apple product lines, (iCloud), that incorporates the iPhone as is. We’ll all get a new iPhone but not because of any stand-alone features, but because it will support something else in the iApple world. Apple’s not selling iPhones to compete with other smart phones as clearly evidenced by the delayed and less than spectacular 4S.
Hope I’m wrong.
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June 16th, 2012 at 12:55 am
I you listen to the video, the new cover sounds way too plasticy to be metal – too light to have the iPhone 4/4s feel, and would be dismissed as a phone that does not seem like a quality build.
Clearly a mockup of what the video engineer thinks the new iPhone will look like, and not the new iPhone.
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