First, it was the iPhone 4G/Apple Tablet supposedly new simcard tray that was leaked. Now, China Ontrade has done it again. With another spare part supposedly coming from the 4th Gen iPhone model…

China Ontrade has published photos of a midboard they claim is from the next generation iPhone. They indicate the part will be available for purchase from November 1st.

Gizmodo notes that the company has been accurate(?) in the past about parts for future iPhone models; however, it is very strange that the part would leak 8 months before the expected release.

iWorld begged to differ. China Ontrade was completely off the mark last year with the iPhone 3G leak, as you can see from here!

Please take into account that China, of all places in the world, has a propensity for ‘me too products’, also known loosely as ‘imitations & counterfeits’. The above supposedly parts for a new iPhone model could most likely be a similar looking part for one of its  iPhone knockoffs. Furthermore, why the hassle to release a spare part for an unreleased model – what good would the spare part do for you, a paperweight? – when the new model would only be officially released next year? The only assumption is that China Ontrade is trying to garner traffic for such a media stunt!

Apple’s products are built just-in-time to avoid stock congestion or last minute changes. They don’t have parts ready eight months before release.

Could this possibly suggest an early release for a new iPhone model?

That seems crazy, and very unlikely. After all, we know that Phil Schiller said that the Apple holiday lineup was set. Some people argue that this means that the holiday lineup is set, but it hasn’t been fully announced yet. However, for now we can only speculate about the true meaning of his words, and the fact that Apple called us to tell us an exact quote to publish.