Top secret iPad, iPhone prototypes revealed in court documents
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.