A few days ago, more rumors of a lower-end iPhone 4 to be sold along with the upcoming iPhone 5 emerged, perhaps to replace the aging iPhone 3GS. While not much is known about the future handset, parts of the casing have leaked that suggest that the iPhone 4S, as it’s known as, will indeed be very similar to the iPhone 4 despite a few minor changes.
As you can tell from the leaked pictures below, not the whole case has leaked, just the metal frame that supports all the iPhone’s components which also works as the antenna system. The most obvious change is the placement of the antenna breaks, which can now be found at the bottom of the casing. This change will help mitigate the so-called “death grip” or “antennagate”, an issue which prevented the handset, when held by an unknowing user, from receiving good cell reception when its antenna breaks were accidentally covered. Placing said breaks at the bottom will make it much more unlikely for users to inadvertence covering them.
There is more than just performance improvements, however. Perhaps the more interesting aspect of this leaked casing is the lack of its dedicated home button area, as shown in the picture below. This finding is in line with previous speculation suggesting that Apple could make changes to the layout of this section of the phone’s interface, altering the home button or perhaps eliminating it completely, making the device’s input fully multi-touch based, aside from the volume and mute controls along the side. Wouldn’t it be great to have an elaborate gesture pad below the touch-screen instead of just a button?
Despite these changes, the iPhone 4S, if it ever sees the light of day, clearly won’t sport any changes that will be clearly noticed by users. Once it’s assembled, it will look almost exactly like an iPhone 4, unless Apple does make changes to the home button area. Yet, the antenna improvements will certainly be well received by users who have been struggling to receive decent signal from their devices without having to think before holding them. Aside from these slight visual changes, the iPhone 4S is expected to have a higher-quality camera and a faster processor, likely a dual-A5.
Along with the iPhone 4S, Apple is rumored to be planning a fully redesigned model, known as the iPhone 5, with additional features such as a larger screen. Both of these devices are expected to be introduced at Apple’s media event which is rumored to be held next month.
(via Macrumors)
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