As the entire world seems to be waiting, somewhat impatiently, for Apple to officially launch the iPhone 5 new images have showed up on the GizChina,com web site of a certain phone design. Nope, it"s not the actual iPhone 5 but the article claims that it is a design for a Chinese-made clone of Apple"s next version of the smartphone. It adds that the product is being made from a factory based in Shenzhen, China which is where the real iPhone is also being made.
Sometimes Chinese knock off products are created even before the real electronic devices are released thanks in part to workers at the real plants who sneak out blueprints or prototypes to the knock off factories. The design of this clone is supposed to be 7 mm thick. That would track with some Internet reports that the iPhone 5 will have a thinner case than the current iPhone 4.
Of course all of this could just be a huge hoax but it does show that there is a ton of interest in Apple"s next major product release. The iPhone 5, as we have reported before, missed its usual release date window of June or July in part because of supply part issues caused by the March Japanese earthquake. Depending on what Internet rumor you believe the next version of the iPhone will be released here in the US in September or October. In the meantime we are certain of one thing; more Internet rumors will continue to pop up.