Rumour: ‘iPhone 5’ Manufacturing Phase Started, With Partial Rear Glass Design

According to Macotakara, their sources note the next generation iPhone has started its manufacturing phase according to their Chinese sources, with some alleged ‘iPhone 5’ cases already being leaked to Alibaba.com, a worldwide source to access goods made in China. A quick search of ‘iPhone 5’ reveals a plethora of silicone cases and other parts using that name, but as to their authenticity that’s another story.

This same source also noted the previous leaked design to 9to5Mac was a prototype and the next iPhone back panel will have that same ‘naked aluminum surface’ covered by partial glass. There is one new change to this latest prototype. A small dot/hole in between the rear camera and LED flash (seen in numerous leaks), is set to disappear or be invisible, notes the source, as seen in the picture below:

Whereas the prototype below here has that ‘dot’, speculated to be a new position for the second mic. The existing second mic on the current iPhone 4S is located on the top of the phone, beside the headphone jack.

It was just noted yesterday apparent leaked pictures of the next generation iPhone on Kitguru were told to be removed, after the website received a takedown notice from ‘external pressures’ (read between the lines). The images they posted resembled the prototype noted above as it had the small dot between the rear camera and LED flash.

The new iPhone is widely rumoured to launch again in the fall (also formerly noted by Macotakara), this time with a new smaller charging port and LTE capabilities. Start placing your bets on what the final iPhone design will entail, based on the alleged ‘leaks’ we’ve seen so far.