Apple distributing 'iPhone 4S' prototypes to select developers

Recent rumors and leaks indicate that the iPhone 5 won't be significantly different from the iPhone 4, but it will have a faster processor, said to be the A5 currently shipping in the iPad 2. A new report indicates that some developers have been gifted with iPhone 4's with the A5 processor instead of the iPhone's currently shipping A4, so they can work on versions of their apps that take advantage of the improved processing power.

According to the report, these developers seem to be from gaming companies.

Just as with laptops and desktops, video games are among the apps that really give a computer a working over in terms of performance. The same applies to mobile apps.

The source says the device is basically an iPhone 4 with a faster processor, and says it has been dubbed the "iPhone 4S" in the office. That harkens back to the days of the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The device spends is put in a safe in the company’s offices at night, he added. Externally, it is identical to an iPhone 4.

As Apple has advertised WWDC 2011 as software-focused, it makes sense that it would want developers working with the latest processor ahead of that event. WWDC 2011 will focus on iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7.

To be clear, the iPhone 4S moniker is not official. This is also not an official iPhone 5; placing new internals in an iPhone 4 exterior (like Apple did when it went from 3G to 3GS) is not necessarily what is going to happen with the iPhone 5.

Although there's no indication that gaming companies have been the only ones gifted with an iPhone 4S, iOS 4 introduced GameCenter, and Apple has made clear it is taking gaming on iDevices very seriously.