In yesterday’s trial that saw Apple and Samsung come head to head in court, Apple designer Christopher Stringer was summoned to the stand as the first witness for Apple. Obviously, whoever wins this particular trial would more or less be able to deal quite a notable blow to the other, so kids gloves are off in this case, and you know that Apple are no longer keeping things close to their chest with so much at stake here. Christopher’s testimony touched on Apple’s highly secretive design process, where he showed off dozens of rejected iPhone and iPad designs (which some had previously leaked out already), where among them include prototypes in the flesh. Yes sir, we are talking about physical models here. It must be said that some of the newly revealed phones do seem to share plenty in common with Sony’s design aesthetic, such as the “Apple Proto 87” that settled for a flat, black metallic look while the rest of its major buttons and ports are located on the side.
According to Christopher, Apple developed “hundreds” of different models throughout the entire design process, and some were redesigned over and over again as the team worked on various elements to introduce the word perfection into the device. “Apple Proto 0874” is an iPad prototype that was interesting as it came with a thinner rail throughout the entire device which will curve around the back on the top and bottom, perhaps to improve one’s grip?