Did Another iPhone Prototype Go Missing?

May 12, 2010— -- Deja vu, anyone?

Just a few weeks after the tech blog Gizmodo made headlines with an exclusive story about a leaked prototype of a next-generation Apple iPhone, a Vietnamese tech blog has published pictures of what it says are another leaked iPhone 4G prototype.

The newest photographs and video of the new Apple iPhone surfaced on the Vietnamese forum Taoviet.vn and quickly spread across American tech blogs today.

"The kids at Taoviet have really outdone themselves. From the looks of these images, the Vietnamese site has nabbed an honest to goodness 4th generation iPhone," said the tech blog Engadget.

Taovet did not say where the allegedly-leaked phone came from, but the tech blog MacRumors said the person who sent them the link to the Vietnamese post told them a businessman had purchased it in the U.S., along with an iPad. According to the translation of a commenter on Engadget, it was purchased for $4,000.

The latest "leaked" phone resembles the phone depicted in photos on Gizmodo's site. Similar to the phone described by Gizmodo, the sleek, black device has sharper edges than previous versions. In the pictures showing the phone's innards, MacRumors spotted what appears to be an Apple-branded processor.

But MacRumors noticed that the latest found phone is identified as a 16GB model, while the Gizmodo version only said "XXGB" on the back. The phone allegedly found by the Vietnamese site also does not have screws on the bottom, MacRumors said.

The new photos have set tongues wagging once again, with bloggers wondering how notoriously-secretive Apple managed apparently to lose two iPhones in a matter of weeks. Whether the phone is indeed a leaked Apple prototype is unknown. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In mid-April, Gizmodo published the first story about a leaked prototype of the next generation of Apple's iPhone -- scheduled for release this summer.