14 DAY TRIAL // The newly-opened Foxconn factory in Brazil is already leaking information pertaining to Apple’s upcoming iPhones, specifically the rumored, low-end handset dubbed by the media as iPhone 4S.
After getting a man inside Foxconn Brazil, the country’s version of Gizmodo reported on the discovery of a new iPhone with the ID number ‘N90A’. The designation should indicate a new model, yet it looked identical to the iPhone 4.
The SKUs, labeled as ‘disqualified’ on their quality control form, do not meet Apple’s manufacturing standards, according to the blog.
Screenshots accompanying their report show a clearly malfunctioning handset, albeit with its guts out. The form said “lenses stained”, but there is also an image that shows some screen malfunctioning.
Whatever was wrong with this device, it is believed that N90A is not an iPhone 4S, but merely a cheaper version of the iPhone 4. In other words, there will be little to no enhancements in this handset, except maybe for a better antenna.
A cheaper iPhone would hardly deserve the A5 chip. Had it packed the respective silicon, Apple’s ‘cheaper’ iPhone 4 would also deserve a better camera, perhaps more RAM and storage, and would therefore deserve the 4S moniker.
However, it is being speculated that N90A, should it sell for cheap, would pack just 8GB of storage (as opposed to the 16GB or 32GB configurations available with the current iPhone 4).
Although everyone’s gut says ‘iPhone 5 coming this week’, it is beginning to look more and more as if Apple will not be launching a major iPhone revision this year.
Most leaks so far have shown iPhone units that look almost identical to the current-generation devices.
Only the so-called iPhone 5 cases showcased by various Chinese manufacturers seem to indicate there will be a completely redesigned handset that should look like this physical mockup created by a bunch of savvy Germans.