Alleged Photos of Apple's New Dock Connector

French site Nowherelse.fr is continuing its string of parts leaks surrounding the next iPhone, sharing photos [Google translation] of what it has been told is the dock connector for the cable to be paired with the next-generation iPhone. The connector portion of the cable is shown next to the USB end of the cable, giving an idea of the size of the new connector.

The site notes that it can not confirm the validity of the images, but they do appear to show some features that could be consistent with what has been claimed about the new smaller dock connector. The connector shown in the images is considerably smaller that the existing dock connector, and the metal insertion piece appears to have 8 gold pins for making contact inside the corresponding port on the device. The insertion piece also appears as if it could be inserted into the iPhone in either orientation, as has been rumored.

Nowhereelse.fr had a poor track record of leaks leading up to the launch of the original iPad, but has been relatively quiet until earlier this month when it began sharing photos of next-generation iPhone parts. Those leaks are believed to be legitimate, as they are originating from Asian websites and are consistent with other leaks seen to date.

Update: Kyle Wiens of iFixit tells us the metal frame counts as a grounding pin, which means it's effectively a 9-pin connector. There has been some debate about it being an 8-pin vs 9-pin port, and this could reconcile those different claims.