Server logs hint at new versions of iPhone and iPad running iOS 7

Employees at Trademob, a Berlin-based mobile app marketing platform, noticed something curious two days ago.

In a routine scan of their logs, they noticed what appeared to be evidence of someone testing a new iPhone and iPad using the new iOS 7.

No surprise that someone would be testing iOS 7. After all, it’s expected to be unveiled Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

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But Trademob Chief Executive Ravi Kamran said what caught the eye of folks at the company were identifiers for hardware they had not seen before. The known identifiers for current and past models of the iPhone and iPad can be seen here.

The last identifiers for the iPhone 5 were iPhone5,1 and iPhone5,2. The last identifier for the iPad was iPad3,6.

But on the logs for what Kamran said were the “world’s largest hotel booking app� and an app from one of the “world’s largest gaming companies,� his company spotted someone downloading the apps to devices with the identifiers iPhone6,2 and iPad4,2.

Kamran said he couldn’t disclose the name of the company’s partners whose apps were downloaded.

Still, that pattern seemed to indicate that someone was testing how apps downloaded onto current and old gadgets, as well as new ones in the works, Kamran said.

“We were like, ‘Whoa!� he said. “Maybe we’re getting a new iPhone sooner than we expected.�

In the case of the iPad, this would be the fifth version of the gadget. As for the iPhone, it’s unclear from the logs whether it would be the iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S. The identifier numbers don’t necessarily correspond to the version of the phone. For instance, the first iPhone 4 had an identifier of iPhone3,1.

Speculation has been that the company will likely launch a new iPhone this fall. The logs don’t give any indication of what new specs and features it might have.

Kamran also acknowledged that it is possible for someone who is very technically savvy to fake the identifier information. Though it would have meant a lot of trouble to fake a log that the company only noticed by chance.

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