This Early iPhone Prototype Has a Swiveling iPod Click Wheel That Turns into a Numpad

When Apple unveiled its first iPhone back in 2007, it revolutionized the smartphone industry in a good way. However, what many people do not know is that before the Cupertino giant developed the final version of the first iPhone, it came up with iPhone prototypes based on the company’s most iconic product at the time, the iPod. The companyeven developed “fake” prototype productsto prevent the original design from leaking. So today, we have discovered one such iPhone prototype which has an iPod-click wheel that ingeniously turns into a Numpad. Check out the details below to know more about it!

iPhone Prototype with a Swiveling iPod Click Wheel?

Back in the 2000s, the iPod was Apple’s most iconic product (now dead!) and its only mobile device at the time. When Steve Jobs started working on the idea of a smartphone, he advised his engineers to develop the device by simply putting a phone inside an iPod. Hence, the iPhone 2G shared many similarities with the iPod Touch in terms of design and form factor.

Tony Fadell, who is the former chief of Apple’s iPod development, recently shared some of the most memorable products that he developed or worked on in his life withTechcrunch. Amongst other interesting and previously-unseen products, the iPod Phone prototype is one such device.

According to Fadell’s statement toTechcrunch,it was developed and sent by a third-party manufacturerwho thought they could help Apple bring the idea of an “iPod Phone” to fruition. You can check out the device in the header image of our story.

“The top and the bottom have a swivel, so you can have either the number pad or click wheel or camera. It was really cool that people were thinking about it. It wasn’t half bad! It doesn’t work for a lot of reasons, but it’s not bad thinking,”added Fadell.

This concept for a mobile device is similar to one of Nokia’s iconic mobile devices, the Nokia 5700 Xpress Music, which also had a swiveling bottom that users could physically rotate to access the camera, music buttons, and a number pad.

Fun fact: The said device launched on March 29, 2007, months before Apple’s iPhone launch. Although Fadell did not take the idea, it seems like Nokia did.

Furthermore, Fadell shared many more details about the development of the first iPhone and how Steve Jobs pushed the idea of an iPod-like smartphone. So, if you are eager to know more about Fadell’s retro, unseen product collections, we suggest youcheck out the entire, in-depth storyonTechcrunch. Also, let us know whether you would have liked to own an iPhone with a click wheel that turned into a number pad or not in the comments below.

Dwaipayan Sengupta

A geek at heart, you’ll find me fidgeting with an iOS device or sitting in front of the laptop, scouring the internet to find interesting technological innovations. In my free time, you’d find me playing Valorant or listening to Pink Floyd.

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