It’s not an iPod Mini, it’s a possible rendition of the elusive iPhone. These drawings are from a patent filing from Apple on Aug. 7 for a radio-transparent communications device combined with a media player. That spells iPhone to us.
This is by no means the final iteration of the infamously absent phone, indeed we’re unlikely to know its final form until the day His Steveness decides to debut the device. In reality, this thing has become the Bigfoot of the gadget world: all signs point to it existing, but somehow there’s never physical proof. We’re calling these patent filings footprints (and copyrighting the expression).
In addition, Apple points out in the patent application that the control design isn’t locked down, giving them room to try less traditional (for Apple, anyway) input devices, like the new and sexy touch bezel (look for marketing to call this tech “Touchedge” or something) Apple filed in a different patent. Combine these two, and we’re getting a sense of exactly what the iPhone might be like, but we’ll have to wait until January the future to be sure.
Apple patent furthers evidence of cellphone work [Electonista, via Gizmodo]