Next-gen iPhone parts differ from those employed by current models, says a repair shop

Feb 10, 2010 09:48 GMT  ·  By
From left to right, you have the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4G front panel
2 photos
   From left to right, you have the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4G front panel

A set of leaked pictures allegedly depicting the front part of Apple’s next-gen iPhone show a slightly taller handset, compared with existing iPhone models. Discussing the photos in question, iPhone repair site iResQ claims they depict the actual parts that would make up the fourth-generation iPhone expected to ship later this year.

“iPhone 4G Parts are Here…,” iResQ says, “and they have a couple of interesting features.” The repair shop goes to explain that, “The LCD appears to be factory glued to the digitizer which is more similar to the first generation iPhones than the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The digitizer can be separated from the LCD on the 3G and 3GS models, which should be interesting to all, but for the repair folks like us–this means that the 4G screen repair price will be higher since both parts will have to be replaced at once.”

A second observation made by iResQ is that, “The iPhone 4G front panel seems to be about 1/4″ longer than its predecessors,” most visible in the second picture down. “There is an interesting reflective, mirror-like surface directly above the speaker,” the third observation goes. “This is likely a spot for the proximity sensor,” iResQ forecasts, although it is highly improbable that Apple would leave that reflective surface uncovered like that on the shipping product.

“Since we don’t have an actual fourth-generation iPhone in our hands, we have no way to know for sure,” iResQ admits, but does point out that it was able to obtain this part as a sample from a “reputable source.” iResQ claims this source has been reputable so far, “and have provided genuine parts for us in the past.” Softpedia believes that, even so, its readers should always take this kind of news with a grain of salt.

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

From left to right, you have the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4G front panel
On the left, the iPhone 3GS front panel. On the right, the iPhone 4G front panel assembly
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