Chinese Case Maker Reveals Potential iPhone 5 Design

The iPhone 5 is coming. The latest rumors peg September 21 as its release date. But even though Apple has yet to announce the phone, there are already countless, as in, hundreds and hundreds, of cases available for the model. It was just a matter of time until one of those case makers filled in the blanks by inserting a logical prototype into one of their cases.

Now, the device shown here is likely not a real-life, completely working iPhone 5. Even if it is a real thing, it doesn’t matter since Apple already revealed most of iOS 6′s goodies. Case makers are given specific specifications, and from there, they design cases to properly fit the device. The hundreds of cases available tell a story of a taller iPhone like the one in the pictures here.

As Gizmodo points out, Shenzhen Coolzone Technology is responsible for this latest leak. The case maker is currently hawking 29 different iPhone 5 cases, each with the taller design and with the headphone jack located on the bottom of the device, next to what appears to be a spot for a smaller dock connector.

This isn’t the first time that an upcoming iDevice was revealed by case makers. It has happened to nearly every iPhone and iPod over the last few years. The sheer amount of cases with identical specifications seem to confirm the new, taller design. Last fall, when the iPhone 5 was supposed to hit, just a handful of cases spoke to a radical redesign. But this time around, Alibaba is filled with cases of the same form factor.

Assuming the prototype displayed here correctly foretells the next iPhone’s design, it’s a bit strange that it will look simply like a tall iPhone 4. Sure, the current design has a stately, almost classic design, but the style is over two years old now. And in the mobile world, two years is near-retirement age. Haters will no doubt point and laugh at the rehashed design, but Apple has its massive bank account for comfort.