The alleged "budget iPhone" in plastic.
Don't get too excited about those photos of a low-cost, "budget" iPhone made out of plastic that are making the rounds. There is evidence that they are either wrong or fake, according to Apple Insider.
The giveaway is that the images of the plastic iPhone don't have any buttons on the outside — not even an on/off switch. Apple's iPhone 5 has four buttons on the outside of the casing (on/off, volume up, volume down, and vibrations on/off). AI says:
Most suspicious of Saturday's images is the absence of any physical control buttons or cutouts on the shell — even for a power switch — meaning the sample is either an early working prototype, or, more likely, has been fabricated out of whole cloth.
AI also notes that the source of the images — and a highly produced video — don't have a long track record in breaking Apple news:
Techdy recently opened up shop in April with an open-source game controller for the iPad mini, and as such has no track record in "leaking" Apple products. The company's founders include M.I.C. Gadget's Chris Chang, who has a decent history in reporting on Apple's Far East movements.
Here's a side-by-side of the alleged plastic iPhone with a real one:
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