MICGadget reports that the early iPhone 5 cases are "now everywhere" in China. The site has posted another gallery of these case designs, which show a mute switch on the opposite side of the device.
The design is also said to be slightly larger than the existing iPhone 4 and has a slight tapering from top to bottom in thickness. This particular design was originally reported by ThisIsMyNext back in April. At the time, we had expressed doubts about it due to our own tipster about the validity of the design. But now, with the influx of these case designs, we have to reconsider.
It's clear that some Chinese case manufacturers are confident enough in these designs that they are starting to mass produce these cases. As we've said before, there is a massive financial incentive for companies to have case designs for new Apple products ready on launch day. In fact, three people were sentenced to prison in China for leaking details of the iPad 2 case design prior to its launch.
As frequent as these case leaks are, it's notable that they have been remarkably accurate in the past. The iPad 2 cases, of course, were quite accurate. iPhone 3G cases were real, as were 6th Generation iPod Nanos, and 5th Generation iPod Nanos. Not all case leaks turn into actual products, however. The iPhone Nano never came to be, and the iPod Touch with Camera cases were legitimate but the product was canceled/delayed.
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 5 in September of this year.
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
A U.S. appeals court has upheld a temporary restraining order that prevents OpenAI and Jony Ive's new hardware venture from using the name "io" for products similar to those planned by AI audio startup iyO, Bloomberg Law reports.
iyO sued OpenAI earlier this year after the latter announced its partnership with Ive's new firm, arguing that OpenAI's planned "io" branding was too close to its...
Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Thursday December 4, 2025 9:30 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a statement shared with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple confirmed that its software design chief Alan Dye will be leaving. Apple said Dye will be succeeded by Stephen Lemay, who has been a software designer at the company since 1999.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Dye will lead a new creative studio within the company's AR/VR division Reality Labs.
On his blog Daring Fireball,...
Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
There is uncertainty about Apple's head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding Tim Cook as CEO, The Information reports. Some former Apple executives apparently hope that a new "dark-horse" candidate will emerge.
Ternus is considered to be the most likely candidate to succeed Cook as CEO. The report notes that he is more likely to become CEO than software head chief Craig Federighi, ...
Tuesday December 2, 2025 11:09 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple is encouraging iPhone users who are still running iOS 18 to upgrade to iOS 26 by making the iOS 26 software upgrade option more prominent.
Since iOS 26 launched in September, it has been displayed as an optional upgrade at the bottom of the Software Update interface in the Settings app. iOS 18 has been the default operating system option, and users running iOS 18 have seen iOS 18...
This'll go great with my new Appel iPohne 5 that I got in Apple's Kunming (http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/are-you-listening-steve-jobs/) Store.
business? what business do you do which requires a mobile phone? unless you have a low-grade job which requires on-call immediate start working conditions to keep a paycheck, you don't.
Wow. Good to see you have your finger on the pulse of the contemporary business world. You're right. Nobody needs these new-fangled "tella-fonz" if they have a good job. Only janitors and fire fighters need phones.
lol. yeah man... people the 90s/80s and before were all lonely losers who didn't have any friends.
business? what business do you do which requires a mobile phone? unless you have a low-grade job which requires on-call immediate start working conditions to keep a paycheck, you don't.
As a marketer for UMG, and on contract for Polydor, and AVEX. NO executive will text message you anything, and anywhere you go, one of the first things which are said is "put your phone on silent or get out".
It seems to me, all these "social things" for "friends" don't actually go anywhere and sit on FB and text message each other what they ate for lunch
really? janitors and fire fighters? both are generally set-hours and you seriously think a fire-fighter uses a mobile phone to be alerted about fires to attack or the other things they do?
on-call work is like F&B attendants/kitchen hands who work crap hours (albeit good pay). Factory workers, construction workers or self-employed low qualified electricians etc who work out of their car doing dodgy work for low-income households. :rolleyes:
edit: the only industry in the world which has an upperhand on the mobile phone world, of taking something consumers didn't need and turning into a false necessity is the bottled water market. even the cosmetics and beauty markets are below the mobile phones and water markets. although they deserve it, because they gain by hurting people
At first I thought you were out of touch with reality, but now I see that you are trying to evoke an emotional response from people and do not actually believe the things you are posting.
then again. doesnt effect me. i think mobile phones are junk, and the majority of people dont actually need one. but they have developed some sort of disease where they think they cant function without one.
And then there's the rest of us, with friends, business to conduct, etc.