3G iPhone smaller than expected?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 06 June 2008 11:13

Your IT - Mobility

A Chinese directory of iPhone accessory makers claims that Griffin’s 3G iPhone case, made without knowing the true 3G iPhone dimensions, will end up being slightly larger than necessary. Has Griffin jumped the gun, or did 3G iPhone sizes change at the last minute?

Given that 3G iPhones are already meant to be in warehouses and potentially even stores across the US, just waiting for Steve Jobs to officially announce them at the June 9 WWDC, accessory makers worldwide are impatiently waiting for news of the 3G iPhone true dimensions to become public.

But according to iDealsChina, a directory of Chinese iPhone accessory makers, Griffin has already jumped the gun and has produced “Flexigrip iPhone 3G” silicone cases that are said, by yet another one of these “anonymous sources”, to be a tiny bit too big.

iDealsChina says the 3G iPhone is actually a bit thinner and shorter than 3G iPhone cases “circulating in China”, and has issued an image, which we’ve reproduced in this article, to argue their case.

iDealsChina believes Griffin as made a big “boo-boo”, and has wasted “considerable time and money” to produce “tens of thousands of cases” that simply won’t fit the new 3G iPhone properly.

Worse still, iDealsChina claims that four other companies are also in the same position, having relied on earlier 3G iPhone dimensions which are claimed to be wrong.

iDealsChina promises to buy a 3G iPhone immediately upon release to check against the many 3G iPhone cases on the market now, and yet to come, and warns buyers to seek a “refund or replacement” if the 3G iPhone case they purchase “doesn’t fit properly”.

If the existing cases are indeed the wrong size, they’ll either be scrapped, or dumped onto the market at cheap prices, so the smartest course of action would be to try the case on your shiny new 3G iPhone in store before you buy it, and if the retailer won’t allow you to do that, politely tell them to get stuffed, and then find a retailer that will!

Please read on to page 2 for more information, and for iDealChina’s picture.