Lost iPhone 5 to Have Inspired Teardrop iPhone Cases?

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Today we’re going to present you a different lost iPhone 5 story, which apparently doesn’t have to do anything with the one based in San Francisco, so go get your chunk of salt as there’s no way to confirm what we’re about to share with you.

Apparently an iPhone 5 prototype has been lost by Foxconn, or better said smuggled out of the company by an employee who sold it to a case manufacturer for the one time fee of $3,100.

The model is said to be a “test model with a finalized iPhone 5 chassis featuring the tear-drop design,” MIC Gadget reports. The unit has been concealed in a case to make it look like a current iPhone 4, although that’s clearly a physical improbability considering the video we’re about to show you later on.

The lost iPhone 5 was apparently sporting iPhone 4 components, including the A4 chip, which is a very interesting detail since we expect the device to sport a set of new specs and features. Moreover, the person who got the prototype wiped the software in order to make sure Apple can’t trace it.

According to MIC Gadget there are plenty of iPhone 5 cases floating around in China. And there are various types of cases coming from different manufacturers which are believed to have access to the lost prototype:

As we can see from the photos here and in our previous reports, the cases range from silicone soft covers to hard plastic and dual material cases. The simplest ones are of a single color while more elaborate ones have designs molded into or printed on them. Some of these cases can already be found on Taobao and Alibaba.

A few of the fancier ones include the silicone cases molded into the shape of a cute, one-toothed devil with horns; semi-transparent polycarbonate cases with a color gradient and 3D raindrop pattern; and hard transparent cases with plastic jewellery glued on, arranged in the form of cartoon characters and other intricate patterns. These fancy designs look similar to the iPhone 4 cases in the market.

As far as we know, producing a mold for silicone cases costs tens of thousands of RMB and a mold for hard plastic cases costs even more.

We’ve seen plenty of such designs in previous leaks and the video below sums up the main design differences between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5. In just a few days, once Apple announces the new iPhone, we’ll be able to determine whether this story was based on a true account of events.

After seeing the video again though, I’m really curious how a bigger, slimmer iPhone 5 was disguised as an iPhone 4? Any guesses?