Many of the rumors about the iPhone 5 that we've heard up until now have claimed that the device will feature a design similar to the iPhone 4, but with a larger screen and bumped up specs. According to details gathered from sources speaking with This is my next, though, this year's new iPhone will actually feature a look that's quite a bit different from the iPhone 4 that may be resting in your pocket right now. The tipsters claim that one of the designs that's being considered looks more like an iPod touch than an iPhone 4, and that the body will be thinner than Apple's current handset while featuring a "teardrop" shape (similar to a Macbook Air) that starts out thicker at one end and gradually becomes thinner. The home button will allegedly be enlarged and feature a gesture area, which could be similar to the ones found in the first iOS 4.1 beta.
Moving on to the screen, This is my next is also reporting that the iPhone 5's display could be an edge-to-edge 3.7-inch affair with the same 960x640 resolution as the iPhone 4, which would still give the screen enough pixels per inch to qualify as a "retina display." Finally, the site has laid eyes on sketches of the iPhone 5 that show some sort of inductive charging capabilities and a "swipe area" that could be intended for NFC, but those two features haven't been confirmed by sources.
This rumor certainly comes as a surprise considering just about every other leak and bit of speculation we've found has claimed that the iPhone 5 will look a lot like the iPhone 4, but perhaps Apple is planning to shock us all with a radical redesign like the one described in this report. Of course, it's also possible that all of these changes are all found on some sort of prototype device that won't ever make it to market, so don't get too excited at the thought of owning a handset like the one in the mockup above just yet. It wouldn't hurt to discuss these rumored iPhone 5 features, though, so feel free to drop your opinions of the possible changes below. Do you like the idea of an iPod touch-like iPhone? Would you prefer a screen that's larger than 3.7 inches? Let us know!
Via This is my next
