Either Apple is trying a new guerilla marketing tactic, or it's been taking lessons from British civil servants in how to lose secret stuff in embarrassingly public places.
Tech blog Gizmodo says it has the next-gen iPhone, which isn't due to be unveiled until June. It also claims that the device was "found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It's the real thing..."
Accompanied by plenty of photos and videos, the site says that the new model has a front-facing camera and an improved back camera with a flash, an iPad-style micro-SIM, a higher resolution display, and a squarer design with a bigger battery.
The device acts like an iPhone when connected to iTunes, although it appears to have been remotely disabled by Apple to stop it from booting up.
When Gizmodo took the device apart, they found components labeled 'Apple' that fit snugly inside: "It was evident that it was not just a 3G or a 3GS transplanted into another body".