White iPhone Isn't Thicker, Says Consumer Reports, Bloggers Disagree

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Bloggers say the White iPhone is thicker than the Black iPhone. Apple VP Phil Schiller says no. Who to believe? Now Consumer Reports is getting into the act. They’ve written their own blog post, and they’re in agreement with Phil that the White iPhone is definitely not thicker.

Consumer Reports broke out the “high-quality calipers” and tested the thickness of both the Black iPhone and White iPhone, and found that they were both 9.3mm, as promised by Apple. The original blog reports about the thicker White iPhone said that one certain type of extremely tight case may have difficulty fitting on the white iPhone. Consumer Reports explained that they had a number of cases around from when they tested the iPhone 4 during “Antennagate” and they said that they all fit easily for them. So, case settled, right?

That still doesn’t explain the pictures, like the one we and others have posted, showing the White iPhone is clearly thicker. To prove this, tech blog Engadget laid the two iPhones next to each other, then put a cocktail straw on the white iPhone – and it very clearly hung over the Black one bit a tiny bit. Check out the picture below.

Looks like it’s thicker to us.  Apple’s ‘tech specs’ section for the iPhone 4 on Apple.com does make an important disclaimer:

Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process.

Considering that Jobs and Schiller explained that Apple had to make special changes in their materials in order to make the White iPhone, we assumed that they had gone with a thicker back plate that was more resistant to discoloring. But, the official line from Apple and Consumer Reports is that it isn’t thicker. The blogosphere is unconvinced.