Every year, Apple launches an upgraded version of the iPhone which piques the interest of fans. Whenever there is some information on a new model or even a prototype of an iPhone, it ends up creating a lot of buzz in the market. Mostly, a new series of iPhones are released once every year but there are possibilities of a new prototype coming up unexpectedly, almost like a surprise. Even if unconfirmed reports surface online, it ends up generating a lot of interest among those who keep an eye out for the next update or a newer version of the iPhone.
While the iPhone 12 Pro was launched last year, there was a rumor about a new prototype of the device being launched in the market. Now, with some images of the said device surfacing online, the excitement over this new prototype of the iPhone 12 Pro has grown exponentially.
The images offer one a glimpse into a prototype of the iPhone 12 Pro which boasts of a Pacific Blue finish. The device also features the SwitchBoard operating system by Apple. The images were shared on the micro-blogging site Twitter by a user named Giulio Zompetti (@1nsane_dev). Giulio’s Twitter bio describes him to be aniOS Security Student who is based in Milan, Lombardy.
Pacific Blue #prototype iPhone 12Pro,
running a factory operative system called SwitchBoard, which is a nonUI variant of our well known iOS 14.1.#AppleCollection #AppleInternal #iPhone12Pro pic.twitter.com/yvEL30jZQl— 🔥🌸 Giulio Zompetti (@1nsane_dev) January 13, 2021
The images released by Giulio depict a phone that is a shade darker than the iPhones which feature a Pacific Blue finish. Some users on social media commented that the darker shade could be a result of the prevalent lighting.
If one goes by Giulio’s tweet, the prototype iPhone has a non-user interface version of iOS called the SwitchBoard. The SwitchBoard is an internal operating system used by Apple to test different kinds of features on new iPhone models.
Some prominent utilities that one can observe in the leaked pictures are some newer utilities tentatively named Astro and Ness. One gets a glimpse of older and popular utilities like Console and USB Host.
While this is not the first instance of an iPhone prototype getting leaked, it is not very often that something of this kind happens. Apple is known to be very secretive when it comes to testing prototypes or test models.
A while back, in December, images of an Apple Watch prototype got leaked on the internet and created quite a bit of a stir. Apple was reportedly testing a pre-release software on this watch. The leaks that have happened in the recent past must have compelled Apple to come up with better ways to guard its products and test models.