Seven Bizarre iPhone Concepts That Apple Almost Made For Real [Gallery]

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Screen Shot 2012-09-07 at 9.42.37 AM
Apple almost made this iPhone. Really.

Over the past few years we’ve seen hundreds of fake iPhone mockups, some have been bizarre, while others looked so good we wished they were real. What’s been most surprising is that some of the weirdest looking concepts are actually fairly similar to prototypes Apple was working on in their labs.

Thanks to the evidence in the Apple vs Samsung trial, we got to see the different iPhone prototypes Apple was working on, so we’ve gone back and found 7 artists mockups that look a lot like prototypes Apple was working on. 

T3’s iPhone Nano

In 2011, T3 magazine created a concept for the the iPhone Nano. It had a lot of brushed aluminum bezel at the top and bottom of the screen, with a display that was narrower than the iPhone 4’s. The volume buttons on their mockup were ugly, but everything else looked a lot like Apple Prototype 0956.

Looks like:

 

 

 

 

Mighty Mouse iPhone 5 Concept

Ciccarese Design has made a number of Apple concepts, but one of their most famous one was an iPhone 5 that looked like Apple’s Mighty Mouse. A lot of people scoffed at the curved white back of the device and said it wasn’t something Apple would consider, but one of the prototypes revealed in the trial had a similar white, curved shell. Round down the corners and the Apple prototype would have looked very similar to Ciccarese’s.

Looks like:

 

iPhone 0805

In 2008, Apple fan, Isamu Sanada felt that the original iPhone was already near perfection, it just needed some rounded edges and more metallic base. He came up with this iPhone 0805 concept that is nearly identical to an iPhone prototype Apple revealed during the trial.

Looks Like:

 iPhone 5G Concept

I’m not sure what 5G is yet, but Antonie Brieux was busy dreaming up what the iPhone 5G would look like in 2011 while everyone else was just wanting some 4G. Brieux’s all-black iPhone concept looks like it could have been used in the marketing materials for an identical Apple prototype that had the same rounded edges and all black frame.

Looks like:

 

 iPhone-Chromatic Concept

In 2009 a rumor floated around that Apple was working on bringing iPod Nano-like color options to the iPhone as well as a uni-body frame. Neither rumors came true, but their may have been some truth to them, as we saw that Apple Prototype 0897 came in multiple colors, which was pretty similar to the concept renders created by iPhoneBuzz.

Looks like:

ADR Studio iPhone Concept

When ADR Studio came out with their new iPhone concept pretty much everyone thought it was bizarre. It had an “aluminum forged unibody” but the contour had an odd block going straight down the middle rather than the smooth contour all Apple devices enjoyed. There wasn’t an Apple prototype that looked exactly like ADR’s concept, but Apple did play around with the idea of a rear shell with an indentation similar to ADR’s.

Looks like:

iPhone Pro Concept

Antonio De Rosa dreamed up a lot of crazy features for his iPhone Pro concept – like two paddles that come out of the side – and most will probably never be included on future iPhones, but one thing he did get right is the two-toned backing of the iPhone 5.

Looks like:

 

 

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