Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 08:15 pm

New photos claim to show Apple's prototype CDMA Verizon iPhone

By Josh Ong

Photos, possibly from a repair shop in Vietnam, have surfaced allegedly showing a prototype CDMA iPhone in Device Verification Test phase.

The photos, which were obtained by the blogger Richy Rich, may serve to further corroborate evidence of a CDMA iPhone, but should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt. The report comes just one day after rumors emerged that Apple is undergoing field testing of a CDMA iPhone 4 revision.

Richy Rich believes the live shots "originated from a repair shop in Vietnam" and depict a test operating similar to the "Inferno" operating system seen on photos and video of a prototype iPhone 4, also reportedly in the DVT stage, leaked by a Vietnamese forum in May.

In August, John Gruber of Daring Fireball reported that a CDMA-variant of the iPhone 4, internally known as model N92, had reached Engineering Verification Test status, "one step below DVT." One photo obtained by Richy Rich identifies the test unit as "N92DVT."



The post seconds an earlier report that the CDMA version of the iPhone will retain the micro-SIM slot on the side of the device, speculating that it will either have "global roaming capabilities" or function as a dual-band "one device for all unit."



Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have persisted for years, gaining traction earlier this month when major media outlets (1, 2) reported that the device was ready for production and could arrive early next year.