Steve Jobs at AllThingsD said that Apple actually built a prototype of iPad first and then later decided to shelf it to launch an iPhone first in 2007. We had multiple leaks of iPhone designs last year, thanks to the famous Apple Vs. Samsung patent battle! But one of the most astonishing leaks happened yesterday when a ex-Apple employee sent few photos of very early prototype of a device supposed to an iPhone to ArsTechinca. The device which roughly measures 8.6″ diagonally, measuring 5″x7″ and with a thickness of 2″ is a very early prototype of iPhone in almost the size of the now iPad.
The device sported all essential ports like USB ports, Ethernet and a serial port which people only dream to have on an iPad now. The ex-Apple employee confirmed that these ports were not actually intended for the final product but it made it easy for them to test the device for various functionalities. The employee confirmed that they were really impressed to see a full fledge version of OSX to be running on such a device.
The device might not looks like the now iPhone but it shows that Apple vision was well set from the early prototype itself. The device has a all touch interface and no physical keypad like the then famous devices. The device in the pics below seems to be running a Samsung processor, an ARM9 processor clocked approximately at 200-233MHz but the final device launched in 2007 had a ARM11 chip underclocked at 412Mhz but Apple did intend to go with Samsung itself even when it designed the early prototypes.
