Early iPhone prototypes from 2006 show a “Sony-inspired” design (left) compared to an iPod mini-like design (right). The Verge Apple’s iPhone 4/4S design was influenced by principles extolled by a  Sony  designer, according to court documents filed in the ongoing Apple v. Samsung lawsuit in California. The unredacted filings, made in preparation of a jury trial scheduled to begin on Monday, July 30, reveal some of the inner workings of Apple’s otherwise secretive design process. According to internal Apple communications, then-executive Tony Fadell circulated an article among those involved in the iPhone project which outlined various qualities that a mobile device should have according to a Sony industrial designer. The Sony designer described “portable electronic devices that lacked buttons and other ‘excessive ornamentation,’ fit in the hand, were ‘square with a screen’ and had ‘corners [which] have been rounded out.’” An Apple industrial designer then mocked up CAD drawings using these precepts. The CAD drawings bear a striking resemblance to what is now the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

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Early iPhone prototypes drew inspiration from Sony, iPod mini