The iPhone 5 may already be in the hands of developers. A high profile game developer claims to have possession of a prototype ‘iPhone 4S’ that looks cosmetically the same as an iPhone 4 but with an A5 chip on board. The very same chip that gives the iPad 2 its 9X graphics performance.

It’s no surprise that Apple would put the next iPhone on par with iPad 2 and they would certainly want elite game developers to get their hands on it for testing purposes before everyone else. The anonymous tipster told 9to5Mac that he uses the ‘iPhone 4S,’ as he deems it, during the day for game development and locks it away in the company safe overnight, lest there be another “iPhone left in a bar” incident. The moniker iPhone 4S would certainly be fitting if Apple doesn’t change the hardware design. It fits with the 3 to 3GS naming scheme when the case design remained the same.

My question is, why would a third party developer that has apparently gained Apple’s trust with a prototype phone be blabbing his mouth to 9to5Mac? We’ll chalk this up as a big, yet plausible rumor.

[via 9to5Mac]

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