Early concepts of Apple’s market-leading iProducts revealed as a result of a sprawling legal battle with arch-rival Samsung show wacky ideas -- including octagonal shapes, handles and kickstands.
Images revealed by tech news site The Verge, show Apple was intent on pursuing a kickstand for its tablet, with multiple iPad prototypes working through how such a stand would work.
Other renderings show a version of the iPad that never was, with molded grips integrated into the frame to make it easier to hold.
“Many of the iPad prototypes also feature ‘iPod’ on the back, perhaps giving insight into Apple's early naming considerations,” the site noted.
Gallery: iPhone and iPad prototypes
Microsoft’s forthcoming Surface tablet -- which many have labeled the company’s answer to the iPad -- comes with an integrated kickstand of its own, one of the things CEO Steve Balmer said differentiates it from other products on the market.
Meanwhile, sleuths at Buzzfeed uncovered an alternate version of the iPhone with squared off edges -- an early version of the game-changing smartphone that carried the prototype name N90.
The device is clearly similar to Apple's glass-and-metal design, but different enough to catch the eye.
For more pictures of the coolest iPhone prototype that never shipped, see BuzzFeed.
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