Snippet: The Verge Gets an Original iPhone Prototype ☇

Tom Warren for The Verge:

To achieve that level of secrecy, Apple created special prototype development boards that contained nearly all of the iPhone’s parts, spread out across a large circuit board. The Verge has obtained exclusive access to the original iPhone M68 prototype board from 2006 / 2007, thanks to Red M Sixty, a source that asked to remain anonymous. It’s the first time this board has been pictured publicly, and it provides a rare historical look at an important part of computing history, showing how Apple developed the original iPhone.

At first glance, the red iPhone M68 prototype board looks like a motherboard you’d find inside a PC from more than 10 years ago. It’s roughly the same size, but the components are a little different. Apple developed this particular board, an engineering validation test (EVT) sample, for engineers working primarily on the software and radio portions of the original iPhone. These developers wouldn’t know the final form of the iPhone, and sometimes these boards were even supplied without the screen you’ll see attached in our exclusive photos. Apple only uses red printed circuit boards for its prototype iPhone hardware, favoring blue, green, and other colors for production units.

Although ancient history at this point, this is a fascinating look at an important part of the iPhone’s development.