Posted by Renee Schmidt

What’s really new about the new iPhone? Rumor has it the iPhone 5 will be thinner than the iPhone 4, but longer. Approximate measurements are 125mm by 58.5mm by 7.4mm—about 10mm more in height, less 2mm in thickness, with the same width.

The most striking feature, however, is a new rear casing – which some see as a major change – a flat metal panel, themed for the symmetrical artsy design of the iMAC. The back is almost totally made of aluminum alloy, though we’re unsure if it’s for functionality sake or for design.

9to5mac.com posted the above image last week. In it, we can see clearly some of the iPhone 5’s new features, including a smaller dock connector, a relocated earphone jack (moved down to the bottom corner) and a new space between the camera lens and the LED flash (perhaps relocating the second microphone for better video/audio capture). This design reflects a “unibody enclosure;” nothing new to Apple designs (recall the Apple 2008 unibody notebooks). And even the speaker grills are redesigned (and they look pretty edgy!). If you’re wondering what else to expect from the iPhone 5, the iPad 3 indicates functionality of the iPhone 5 but I’m curious to see will the iPhone 5 have NFC.

While we like seeing early release photos, Apple may have made a faux pas. Yahoo Finance reported that the new iPhone has been “copied from the internet,” with replicas presently selling in China and Asia at about only 70 dollars (albeit, we can be sure the quality is inferior).

So when with the iPhone 5 be released? The iPhone 5 rumor mill has been turning since before the release of the iPhone 4S.  Now sources say October… I can’t wait!

Image [via]