Rumors say a Verizon-bound iPhone will be out in January, and that prototypes are out there in the wild. That's pretty much like Loch Ness monster stories, a story rumored to oblivion for years, but never came to fruition. That's unless a photo set from a blogger actually depicts the mythical CDMA iPhone.
A blogger, who identifies himself as Richy Rich, claims to have live shots of a CDMA iPhone prototype (pictured). The prototype is said be codenamed N92DVT (Device Verification Test), which is a step above the model the ever-scoopful John Gruber mentioned back in August.
The origin of this mysterious CDMA iPhone prototype is said to be "from a repair shop in Vietnam," which if you remember, is where leaks of new unibody MacBooks, camera-equipped iPod touches, and iPhone 4 shots came from earlier this year. In the photos, the device runs a test operating system, but the authenticity of the photos cannot be verified.
A GSM-CDMA iPhone?
The CDMA iPhone is not the only mythical creature in the room. According to a related BoyGenius report, Apple could launch a dual-mode iPhone model, which would work with both Verizon's and AT&T's network (not at the same time though). If true, this would actually solve the problem of Apple having to manufacture two different versions of the same device.
Adding to this speculation is Richy Rich's claim that the prototype pictured has a micro-SIM slot alongside the CDMA internals (though evidence of this is not shown in the photo set either).