Two iPhone 5 Prototypes Story Doesn’t Wash With Previous Rumors

The rumor mill is spinning a lot of yarn about the iPhone 5 release date. But the threads of all these stories are beginning to contradict one another.
Spirited conversation and debate has persisted here on the Blog about the iPhone 5 release date, and if we have any reasonable shot at seeing June’s WWDC as a possible announcement venue. Yesterday, we broke down some of the more prominent pieces of evidence for supporting and exploding the June iPhone 5 release theory. Since it is all conjecture, there was — and will not be — any conclusions drawn until the WWDC comes and goes with or without an iPhone 5 announcement.
The debate took a new turn today, however, with a new report from 9to5Mac, claiming that Cupertino has two iPhone 5 prototypes floating about their campus. This is their claim: “Apple is testing multiple next-generation iPhones, and we have independently heard that at least one of these devices sports a brand new display . . . Both of these phones sport a new, larger display that is 3.95 inches diagonally.”
I am not particularly concerned about the display size detail of this claim — I think we all sense that the new iPhone will sport a bigger screen — but more on the 3.95-inch claim later. What I find more interesting is that, based on some of the earlier claims about where the iPhone 5 production schedule currently stands, the notion that Cupertino is still playing around with multiple prototypes would seem to contradict a couple earlier rumors that were highly cited in the tech media.

You’ll recall that, back in November, a story line developed in the tech media, claiming that the iPhone 5 prototype had been confirmed in the summer, but that Steve Jobs himself had scrapped mass production of the device at the last minute. Business Insider claimed via a source that the main reason for Jobs’ last-minute decision was that he feared the 4-inch screen would in the end be a bad design decision for the iPhone franchise. However, other rumors claimed that the device was nixed due to a hardware problem, such as with the new processor and/or overheating.
Regardless, the crux of this story line is a singular iPhone 5 prototype existed last summer. Thus — why would Apple be playing with two new prototypes this time around? Was last year’s iPhone prototype completely scrapped? Did Cupertino go back to the drawing board — and still hasn’t settled on a single prototype?
In my opinion: unlikely.
If you were a fan of the WSJ‘s seemingly veracious article from last week about how iPhone 5 displays would be going into mass production in earnest, then you cannot be happy about 9to5Mac‘s new claim. They don’t necessarily wash. Even if both iPhone 5 prototypes feature the same-sized screen, it would be hard to believe that Apple would set mass production orders for the iPhone 5′s display before they’ve even settled on a single prototype. In essence, WSJ claims that the iPhone 5 is much farther along in production than 9to5Mac is.
Who do you trust more — WSJ or 9to5Mac?
Getting back to 9to5Mac‘s claim that the prototypes are sporting a 3.95-inch screen, there was something else on their website today that called that number into question for me. They also reported on some leaked iPod pr0n from MacRumors, claiming to have uncovered a 4.1-inch iPod front panel: “Adding a bit of fuel to the 16:9 fire, MacRumors and BadGizmo Repair have posted the front panel for the next iPod touch this morning, along with the camera sensor for the next iPhone. Interestingly, according to MacRumors’ leak, the front panel for the iPod measures 4.1-inches diagonally…”
9to5Mac likes the corroboration between their 3.95-inch claim and MacRumors‘ 4.1-inch iPod claim. But in addition the fact that a 4.1-inch iPod front plate won’t fit onto a 3.95-inch iPhone 5, why would iPod front plates be out there on the black market now if Apple is still prototyping the iPhone 5? The only plausible explanation is that the new iPod and iPhone 5 will be completely different devices. Is that possible?
Last year at this time, all of the rumors began to become really flaky and unsupportable — even if you almost completely suspended disbelief. I believe we’re beginning to see a similar trend in the rumor mill developing.