As Apple races the calendar to manufacture enough iPhones for its next big product announcement (rumored to be in September), it’s getting tougher to keep the lid down on leaks. Today a pair of videos, alleged to be from inside Foxconn and showing the next iPhone’s rear casing, appeared on YouTube.
The first video, just 10-seconds-long, shows an assembly line with workers apparently polishing the cases. Not just noteworthy because it may reveal clues about Apple’s next new product, the video also provides a behind-the-scenes look inside one of Foxconn’s notoriously secretive factories.
In the video below, un-gloved workers hand-wipe the phone parts with a cloth. Some of them are wearing masks, while some are not.
The second video, below, is just nine seconds long and shows similar rear casings hanging on racks. In the background, workers can be seen wearing what appears to be ventilation masks.
While fake videos abound (especially as products get closer to launch), the casings in these videos match up with previous rumors that said Apple would reposition the cameras and flash LED vertically, as opposed to the horizontal orientation introduced with the iPhone 6’s design.
However, it’s important to note that its unclear if these shells are for standard iPhones or Apple’s plus-sized models. Also, there is no logo or other markings on the cases shown, so they may not be for iPhones at all. The more likely explanation, however, is that they simply haven’t yet gone through the iPhone’s laser engraving process.
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Also notably absent from the casings is the oft-rumored Touch ID sensor on the phone’s back. Speculation is abounding over whether Apple will put the phone’s fingerprint sensor on the phone’s rear so it can extend the display across the phone’s entire front. There are rumors that Apple has found a way to embed the fingerprint sensor into the display. Alternatively, the company may abandon Touch ID entirely and introduce new facial scanning via the iPhone’s front-facing camera.
Speaking of the iPhone’s front, if this leaker is to be believed, the video below may provide a look at what Apple’s new display will look like. This video, uploaded to the same YouTube account in June, quickly shows the iPhone’s front and rear.
But there is one curious thing to note in the above leak: This time, a Touch ID sensor appears on the handset’s backside, just below the Apple logo. Which is the real next iPhone, if any? With each passing day, we get closer to knowing more—including how much the next iPhone might cost.
