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Report: New thinner iPhone will have longer 4 inch screen, metallic backside and small round dock connector

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Earlier this year, leading up to the new iPad launch, iLounge editor Jeremy Horwitz claimed to have held the new device, and then he reported a few of the features that would ultimately launch with the third-gen iPad in March (and some that would not). Today, Horwitz claimed to have new details on the next-generation iPhone. He reported the device would sport a longer 4-inch screen, metallic backside, and smaller and rounded dock connector.

The majority of Horwitz’s specs mirror our report from March 2011 about the iPhone 5 prototypes spotted with metal backs, larger displays, and the overall iPhone 4 design.

The first of his claims: As rumored, the new iPhone will be “longer and thinner” than iPhone 4 and 4S, and it will sport the following changes to its physical design:

…the new iPhone will indeed be longer and thinner than the iPhone 4 and 4S. Approximate measurements are 125mm by 58.5mm by 7.4mm—a 10mm jump in height, nearly 2mm reduction in thickness, and virtually identical width. According to our source, Apple will make one major change to the rear casing, adding a metal panel to the central back of the new iPhone. This panel will be flat, not curved, and metal, not ceramic. Our artist’s rendition provides a rough idea of what this change will look like; it echoes the current-generation iMac design, to be sure.

As for its display and glass, iLounge claimed Apple will only partially use Gorilla Glass 2 this time around and is extending the display from 3.5-inches to 4-inches diagonally. The report speculated Apple “will change the new iPhone’s aspect ratio for the first time since the original iPhone was introduced in 2007, adding additional pixels to the top and bottom of the screen.”

Horwitz is also expecting a new, smaller dock connector to be introduced with the device—as shown in the mock up above. Describing the new universal dock connector as slightly larger than the existing speaker and microphone openings on iPhone 4S and pill-shaped, it will apparently include fewer pins (16?) than the existing 30-pin dock connector, which will also be introduced across all iOS devices including the next-generation iPod touch.

iLounge often, but not always, fielded correct Apple information and has multiple sources inside the case-making industry due to its CES iLounge affiliations.

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.