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Thinner 3G iPhones planned for WWDC?

Latest report to putt around 3G iPhone rumors says a slightly thinner model and a new exterior are the only changes--other then the modem--planned for the next iPhone.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit

A tradition unlike any other: the 3G iPhone rumor on the Internet.

The fabled 3G iPhone could be slightly thinner, according to a new report. CNET Networks

Today's rumor, courtesy of Daily Tech, actually has a fair amount of detail. According to what it heard from a little birdie, Apple plans to stick with the 8GB and 16GB options for the 3G iPhone, as well as the pricing for those models, and announce the new phones at the Worldwide Developers' Conference in early June.

The new iPhones, however, would be about 2.5 millimeters thinner than their predecessors, and have a slightly different exterior finish that's less "plasticky," according to Daily Tech. I'm not sure if "plasticky" is a word, but you get the drift. No changes are planned to the operating system or user interface, the report says, though you'll, of course, be able to download the iPhone 2.0 software in late June.

Daily Tech also says Apple plans to always have a capacity gap between the iPod Touch and the iPhone. Right now, a 32GB iPod Touch is available, but the iPhone carries no more than 16GB of memory. The philosophy going forward is to maintain that discrepancy as Apple increases the capacity of the devices, probably for differentiation reasons as much as technical ones.

These 3G iPhone rumors are par for the course, really. With WWDC just a chip shot away, the gallery is ready for Apple to choose a club for the rest of 2008.