iPhone 5 Goes Back to Aluminum with Complete Redesign, China Source Says

An unverified rumor claims that Apple will revert to aluminum with the enclosure of the iPhone 5, in order to eliminate some of the problems that made iPhone 4 so controversial, such as the easy-to-break glass panels, the antenna, and perhaps other elements that make up the upcoming smartphone.

MacRumors picked up on a GadgetsDNA report citing the China-based Economic Daily News which, in its turn, is quoted and translated by Macotakara, a Japanese blog.

The original report talks of the upcoming iPhone 5, and what a Chinese source says it will pack in terms of form and function.

Basically, the next iPhone will drop some of the ballast that made its predecessor prone to heavy damage, including scratches, and cracks.

By replacing the back glass panel with an aluminum shell (like the mockup above would suggest), the vendor would not only eliminate a rather faulty piece of hardware, but would also drop the antenna design responsible for the PR nightmare Apple had to face last year.

The next iPhone would also be shipping in its white form, thanks to the elimination of the back glass panel.

Apple is known to have had trouble with the white coating on the iPhone 4, particularly around the back where the LED flash would leak light into the camera lens, resulting in washed out pictures.

It’s almost a certainty that iPhone 5 will ship in the June-July timeframe, with Apple refreshing its popular smartphone once every year since the original was introduced in 2007.

In the meanwhile, Apple is launching its second-generation iPad. Confirmed at a special event on March 2, in San Francisco, the iPad 2 packs a dual core A5 processor, and 9x better graphics.

The A5 chip is expected to make its way into the new iPhone 5 as well.