Every year around this time the tech press starts to dig up supposed leaked images of the next generation iPhone, and needless to say, the news spreads like wildfire. 9to5Mac somehow got hold of next gen iPhone images, as well as parts for the upcoming model.

The most recent release of the iPhone, the 4S, did not have a lot of changes from the previous iPhone 4, and it is quite difficult to spot the changes. People were unnecessarily displeased with Apple about the more evolutionary approach, so the next iPhone will hopefully have more drastic changes.

Looking at the leaked images, a few changes are quite apparent:

A) It looks like the secondary noise cancelling microphone has been moved to the backside, probably to improve sound recording while recording videos. The flash is also moved slightly further away from the lens, which will probably prevent light leaking onto the lens with certain cases (as happens on the iPhone 4 and 4S)

B) Apple is bringing back the metal back from the original iPhone. While the glass back on the iPhone 4 and 4S was elegant, and nice to touch, it was also incredibly fragile. Too many people have complained about the rear panels just turning to shards of glass if they drop the phone.

C) The headphone jack is now moved to the bottom, just like an iPod Touch. Every iPhone has had its headphone jack on the top, while the iPod range has started moving their jacks to the bottom. Also notice the seemingly enlarged speaker grills.

D) It looks like the metal rear might be joined to the steel rim around the sides: Hopefully Apple will make the rear panel part of the antenna rim assembly, which means that the next iPhone would be moving to a unibody type construction as used on the Macbooks. The top and bottom of the rear looks like glass, which is probably where additional antennas will be located.

E) The biggest change is the new smaller dock connector. After years of using the almost ubiquitous 30-pin adapter across the iPod, iPad and iPhone range, it looks like Apple is changing to a smaller adapter. However – it is not clear from the image what type of connection this might be. We are hoping Apple would also lean to the Micro-USB standard which cellphone manufacturers agreed to (including Apple!). Our biggest worry is what will happen to those millions of accessories still using the 30 pin adapter. Hopefully they will make a small cheap adaptor to convert the plug.

F) It is difficult to judge from the image angle, but it looks like the next iPhone might indeed be taller than the previous generation one. This goes hand in hand with the rumours of the iPhone getting a taller 16:9 type screen, without increasing the width of the display.

So what do you think – you reckon these images are real?

Image source: 9to5Mac