Amazon's iPhone competitor purportedly revealed in photos with 6 cameras, 3D UI

A series of snapshots hit the web Tuesday showing what is alleged to be a prototype of Amazon's upcoming first-party smartphone, with a 4.7-inch display and 6 cameras that are said to power a unique three-dimensional user interface.

Though the handset is shrouded in what seems to be a cover designed to obscure its industrial design, it does appear to feature an iPhone-like layout with three buttons on the side and a headphone jack on the bottom. The shots were first published by BGR.

Most notable are the cameras placed in each corner of the handset's front face. The publication says that the low-resolution infrared cameras are used to drive a unique user interface that will allow users to manipulate onscreen objects, including icons and wallpaper, in three-dimensional space.

Amazon is said to be working with third-party developers to enable popular applications to take advantage of the 3D features prior to the phone's release.

The device also sports a removable tray on the side which looks much like the SIM tray in Apple's iPhone, though it is possible that the slot could be used for removable storage in the form of microSD cards. Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor will power the handset and drive its 1280-pixel-by-720-pixel display, with the operating system and applications gaining access to 2 gigabytes of RAM.

There is no word on when the handset will hit shelves, nor what it will cost when it does. Amazon is also reportedly working on a followup device with lower specifications and a "very competitive" retail price.