UPDATED: Article updated to reflect there are several different sources of photos. More photos added to article.
Several users on the Chinese social network Weibo have posted images of what they claim to be iPhone 4S prototypes. The images, however, offer scant evidence to back up his claims other than the curious software the iPhone is running.
The photos show a device that is identical to the current iPhone 4 in every way except one, it appears to be running Apple’s special diagnostic software used in factories to quality test iPhone hardware. When run, the software confirms that the iPhone’s various features are working properly (bluetooth, Wifi, the accelerometer, etc). The diagnostic software has been found on previous iPhones before and is not limited to use on prototype devices. The video below shows similar diagnostic software running on a first-gen iPhone:
The only other interesting detail from the photos is that an icon for the first-gen iPod touch displays when plugged into iTunes. iTunes also shows the iPhone to be running iOS 4.0, which shipped on the original iPhone 4.
Due to the complete lack of any evidence that it’s an iPhone 4S, we believe the device is likely just an old iPhone 4 running the diagnostic software.
