This iPhone 8 'dummy model' is a total throwback to the first iPhone
Ladies and gentleman, we have entered the next stage of the iPhone 8 rumor cycle. Instead of concepts, diagrams and design leaks, there are now photos of an actual device. Well, almost.
Prolific leaker Benjamin Geskin has posted images of a purported "dummy" iPhone 8 which means it looks pretty much the same as the final device, but it's just an empty shell, with nothing inside.
The photos show the device from all angles, and it does adhere to most of the rumors we've heard about the next iPhone: Two uninterrupted panes of glass with a stainless steel frame in between. There's a vertically-oriented rear camera on the back, and the fingerprint sensor is nowhere to be seen, implying that it's located on the front, under the glass.
The glass on the front appears to be completely flat and flush with the steel frame; on the back, it's slightly curved, which makes the entire device highly reminiscent of the original iPhone.
We've heard the rumor before, and now looking at the (possible) embodiment of this device in the flesh, we're not sure what to think: It looks nice and yet underwhelming. But the devil might be in the details. For example, Geskin claims the stainless steel frame will be a polished black, meaning the entire device will look like a black monolith.
The finished phone, Geskin claims, will be sized same as the regular iPhone 7; it'll have a lightning connector, and the only thing that will detract from the polished-black-monolith look will be the camera bump on the back.
And what of the selfie camera, speaker grille and sensors on the front? Geskin has an answer to that, as well, in the form of yet another schematic. This one shows how Apple might place all of these on top of the phone's front side without reducing the screen size by much.
This all sounds and looks nice (except, perhaps, for that vertical rear dual camera), but if some of the recent rumors we've heard are true, then this is just one of possible new iPhones, not the new iPhone. A Bloomberg report last week claimed that Apple is testing several possible variants of the new iPhone, including one that has a fingerprint sensor on the back.
Topics iPhone
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
