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Photos of purported new iPhone motherboard surface on Web

Although the images posted to a WeiPhone user forum don't show the processor, a smaller SIM card slot appears -- perhaps the new nano-SIM?

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Steven Musil
WeiPhone
WeiPhone

Photos of what is purportedly the motherboard/logicboard for the next-generation iPhone have materialized on the WeiPhone user forum.

The photos appear to be front and rear shots of the board that holds the processor and other chips for the device. While the processor does not seem to appear in the images, a SIM card slot that seems to be smaller than the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S does, iDeviceGuys told 9to5Mac. This may be the first real-world appearance of nano-SIM, the new SIM card technology that Apple has been pushing as the standard.

The iPhone repair firm also noted that the battery connector has four pins instead of five on the previous generation iPhone, suggesting that the new model will get a higher-capacity battery.

The leaked photos, which apparently come from a forum user who posted legitimate images of an iPhone 4S motherboard on WeiPhone in 2011, join an avalanche of images of purportedly leaked images of the next-generation iPhone, including front panels and back shells.

But the big question remains about what processor will power the new iPhone. It's been long rumored that it will get Apple's A5 chip, but it seems we will have to wait until next month for the device's expected debut.