A recently discovered iPhone 4 prototype, purportedly leaked from Foxconn and available on the Chinese “grey market,” is packed with 64 gigabytes of storage capacity, and could be a sign of things to come in the fifth-generation iPhone. The prototype is marked with “XXGB” on its rear casing, as well as “XXXXX” as its model number, which both point to an Apple prototype.
An M.I.C. Gadget report says:
This suspicious 64GB model has started selling in Sin Tak, the greatest grey market in Hong Kong, and one of the sellers claimed that these are engineered models and available in small quantity. Interestingly, the back on the phone states iPhone XXGB! That reminds us the leaked prototype last year, the one Gizmodo bought it. It also states the Model no. as XXXXX, and the FCC ID as BCG-XXXXXX. On the screen, you can see is indeed a 64GB capacity and the model is 955-6049LL. And the phone is not locked!
M.I.C. Gadget later managed to get their hands on one of these devices, and are confident that it’s a genuine Apple prototype. Although it would seem too late for the company to introduce a 64GB iPhone 4 at this time, there’s a good possibility the iPhone 5 could be available with 64GB of storage when it launches. M.I.C.’s source for the prototype says the device was leaked from Foxconn’s factory in Shenzhen, China, and that he’s heard the next iPhone will bring 64GB of storage capacity to all users.
The discovery of this device, and its 64GB storage chip, could also spell changes to Apple’s iPod touch. To offer more storage capacity, the iPod touch has two storage chips inside, as opposed to just one like the iPhone. If Apple is now using a 64GB flash module, it would imply that its iPod touch could soon be available with 128GB of storage, and Cult of Mac suggests that this could mean the end is nigh for the iPod classic.
Personally, I can’t get enough storage on my iDevices, and in a bid to prolong the life of my Apple purchases, I always try to grab as much storage as I can from day one. A 64GB iPhone would certainly be a welcome introduction; with the opportunity to store more apps, more games, more music, and more movies. But will all of this storage be necessary if the rumored cloud-storage service from Apple materializes?
If Apple is soon to introduce a cloud-based storage service allowing users to stream their content to their iOS devices as reported, we can access every single one of our songs, TV shows and movies without taking up a single gigabyte of storage on our iOS device. The downside of that, of course, is if you don’t have data access, you don’t have access to your cloud and your content stored within it.
9 Comments on “Foxconn Leaks iPhone 4 with 64GB Storage, Sign of Things to Come in iPhone 5?”
Of course we still need plenty of storage, despite cloud services. When i’m sat on a train in Manchester, I really don’t want to be relying on my 3G connection to access a PDF I wrote the night before.
And, 64GB isn’t a HUGE amount anyway. Granted it’s a good amount for a 4 inch phone …
Sort of odd for Apple to say “Here’s a 64gb iphone 4.” possibly it’s just a prototype just to see how the 64GB chips fit in the full iPhone package. No point in actually selling a 64GB iPhone 4 because come June the iPhone 5 will be out – now the iPhone 5 will probably have a 64gb model and it would be nice if the basic iPhone 5 came with 32gb.
Cloud computing will certainly help with accessing your media, but on board capacity is still very important. You can’t access the cloud when you’re in an airplane, nor when you’re riding the subway. You might be in the middle of the boonies, without a single cell tower for miles. Besides, streaming a movie from the cloud over AT&T network doesn’t exactly make me delirious with anticipation…