Two versions of the Apple iPhone being tested says report, both with 3.999 inch screen

According to 9to5Mac, at Apple HQ, testing is taking place on a couple of prototype handsets, one of which will probably become the next Apple iPhone 5. The prototypes are disguised by being put in thick black shells which are designed to hide the true identity of the phone inside. Two of the models being tested have larger screens than the current 3.5 inches that used to be considered generously sized when the first Apple iPhone was launched in 2007. Since then, we have seen the envelope widen from the 4.3 inches that seemed so large on the HTC HD2 to the 5.3 inches on the Samsung GALAXY Note. The two Apple iPhone prototypes with the larger screen are internally called the iPhone 5,1 and the iPhone 5,2.

Both the iPhone 5,1 and the iPhone 5,2 are in the PreEVT stage of testing and go by the code names N41AP  and N42AP respectively. The pair both sport a 3.999 inch screen, measured diagonally. Besides increasing the size of the display, Apple is also adding pixels to the screen as the new models have a resolution of 640 x 1136. That's an extra 176 pixels added down. The width of the screen will remain 1.9632 but will now be 3.484 inches tall and the aspect ratio will be close to 16:9.

There is also speculation that Apple will be working to maximize the extra real estate on iOS 6 by adding a fifth row of icons (not including the stationary icons, of course) and this is where the extra pixels come in to keep the screen a Retina display. Both of these models are said to have a home button and a smaller dock connector. The new dock connector is said to be a smaller version of the current 30-pin one and is said to be in between a micro USB connector and a mini one.

Considering that the last two Apple iPhone models ended up on the floor of a bar, we would imagine that the Cupertino based firm has tightened up security in terms of who can test a unit off-campus and who gets to take a prototype home.

source: 9to5Mac via Forbes