Images of Unreleased iPhone 5s in Black and Slate Shared Online

Sunday January 17, 2021 9:47 am PST by Hartley Charlton

Twitter user @DongleBookPro has today shared images of a prototype iPhone 5s in an unreleased Black and Slate color.

iphone 5s black slate

The iPhone 5s was launched in September 2013. The device featured Touch ID, a 64-bit processor, and a True Tone LED flash for the first time. Other new features included a five-element lens with an f/2.2 aperture, a 15 percent larger camera sensor, Burst Mode, and Slo-Mo 720p video capture at 120 frames per second.

The iPhone 5s offered Gold and Space Gray color options for the first time, and was also available in Silver. The previous-generation iPhone 5 was available in White and Silver, and Black and Slate. This prototype iPhone 5s is extremely unusual as it uses the iPhone 5's Black and Slate color option.

While it is possible that Apple was considering offering the iPhone 5s in Black and Slate, before opting for Space Gray instead, DongleBookPro suggests that the color was likely used to help conceal the next-generation device during development.

In addition, it is also notable that the prototype iPhone 5s was manufactured in December 2012, a mere three months after the launch of the iPhone 5 and nine months before it would be announced. This offers some indication of how far ahead the iPhone's development cycle runs.

The iPhone 5's Black and Slate color option was ultimately dropped in favor of Space Gray on the iPhone 5s, which has generally been a mainstay of iPhone color options since. The only models since then to not be available in a Space Gray option were the iPhone 7, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 Pro.

Black and Slate was among the more short-lived Apple device colors, with the option only being available for the iPhone 5, first-generation iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod Touch. The finish also spurned "scuffgate," where some iPhone 5 users complained about the tendency of the Black and Slate finish to be easily chipped, scratched, and scuffed, which may have contributed to it being discontinued.

DongleBookPro regularly posts images of unreleased Apple devices and prototypes, such as a first-generation iPod touch prototype with a 2013 Mac Pro-style glossy black finish and a first-generation Mac mini with an iPod nano dock.

Tag: DongleBookPro

Popular Stories

RIP, MacBook Ultra

Monday October 19, 2026 9:37 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today sent out invites for an experience in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, and the "Pro and tell" tagline on the invitation likely means that the rumored MacBook models with touch-enabled OLED displays will stick with MacBook Pro branding instead of the once-rumored "MacBook Ultra" name. The long-rumored "iPhone Ultra" ended up being named iPhone Duo, so speculation that Apple...

• 160 comments

Here's What Apple's Apps Look Like on the iPhone Duo

Tuesday October 20, 2026 11:12 am PDT by Juli Clover

With just three days to go until the iPhone Duo is released, Apple is getting ready for the launch. Behind the scenes, the App Store now has screenshots of Apple's built-in apps running on the Duo. We've seen some apps in marketing materials, but images of the ones we haven't seen give us an idea of what it will be like using the iPhone Duo day to day. Many apps are shown in landscape...

• 116 comments

Apple Announcing New Products Next Week: 'Pro and Tell'

Monday October 19, 2026 9:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple's Greg Joswiak today hinted at new product announcements coming next week, sharing a social media post that says "Can't wait to pro and tell next week." Rumors suggest Apple is planning to debut the new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen display, an M6 entry-level MacBook Pro, an M6 iMac, an iPad mini with an OLED display. Can't wait to pro and tell next week....

• 128 comments

Top Rated Comments

Danindub

75 months ago

I’ve been telling folks for years... A lot of iPhone models or maybe all of them, are manufactured about a year before they are revealed. (Which makes sense)

I remember going to the Genius Bar for my 6S and was shown by the Genius that the manufacture date was from October 2014.

Yeah, no.

Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dannyyankou

75 months ago

I’m glad they went with space grey instead. That color looked so cool

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

thadoggfather

75 months ago

For the love of god, Apple make space grey slate again. Even if it has wear+tear consequences

And make space grey laptops the saturated black that the 13" polycarbonate MacBooks were, again.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dannyyankou

75 months ago

I’ve been telling folks for years... A lot of iPhone models or maybe all of them, are manufactured about a year before they are revealed. (Which makes sense)

I remember going to the Genius Bar for my 6S and was shown by the Genius that the manufacture date was from October 2014.

This is not true. A lot of prototypes are manufactured a year before they’re revealed, but iPhones for sale are manufactured around 2 months before they’re released at the earliest. This year that wasn’t the case, because of the pandemic they were shipping them out as soon as they were built.

I preordered my iPhone 12 Pro Max, and looking up the serial number shows it was manufactured in the first week of November.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JPack

75 months ago

I’ve been telling folks for years... A lot of iPhone models or maybe all of them, are manufactured about a year before they are revealed. (Which makes sense)

I remember going to the Genius Bar for my 6S and was shown by the Genius that the manufacture date was from October 2014.

That unfortunately doesn't make much sense. For one, TSMC wouldn't even have the chips available for Apple until early to middle of the launch year.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)