Has Apple Lost Another 4G iPhone? More Photos And Video
Mac Rumors has been provided with a link to a Vietnamese forum, Taoviet.vn, where more pictures of the new iPhone have been posted. According to a Mac Rumors' source, the device was purchased in the USA along with an iPad. The device is shown from a number of new angles and a teardown of the product is also shown.
A video of the device has been posted to YouTube (see below).
Little new information has been provided by these pictures, however the iPhone's casing shows that it's a 16GB model, whereas Gizmodo's featured XXXGB on the back.
The casing appears more polished on this version with no screws found near the dock connector, suggesting that this is a near finished product. However, in the photos and video, the phone appears to be running some kind of diagnostic firmware and doesn't look like it responds to presses on the home button. In the teardown images, what looks like a processor with Apple branding can also bee seen.
This new information is set against the sad backdrop of yet another suicide at Hon Hai Group in China where Apple's iPhones are manufactured. This is the sixth death at Hon Hai this year and follows Hon Hai's suspension of a member of its security team after a worker killed himself when an iPhone prototype was lost.
After Jason Chen, Gizmodo's editor, had his home raided by police and his computers and other items taken as part of an ongoing investigation, this Vietnamese poster is playing a risky game. It also brings into question whether or not the "found it in a bar" story from Gizmodo (and its mystery iPhone seller) is likely to hold up now that two iPhone 4G models have surfaced.
Either people are being extremely careless with these valuable prototypes and two have been "lost" by Apple employees in the US or a more serious crime has been committed. This might also explain the shock and awe of the raid on Jason Chen's house should the police have reason to believe that the Gizmodo iPhone was part of a wider theft.
Either way, our advice to the Vietnamese man in the video above - don't include your face in footage of you holding a potentially stolen product, it never ends well.
[ via Mac Rumors ]