Apple iPhone 5 sent to carriers for testing with production starting soon

According to Charles Arthur, tech editor at U.K. newspaper The Guardian, his sources at mobile carriers tell him that sealed black boxes containing the Apple iPhone 5 have been sent to the mobile operators for the final testing before the phone goes into mass production. Arthur says that the black boxes containing the next-gen model are rarely opened and when they are, it is done by senior staff members only.

The final round of testing deals only with the handset's compatibility to a network and doesn't require a large number of employees to look at the phone. Why a black box? Most likely to make sure that the carrier doesn't mix up the box with its inventory of Apple iPhone 4 units. You can imagine what would happen if a carrier accidentally sold an iPhone 5 prototype to a customer.

While no one knows for certain that these black boxes contain the new Apple iPhone, what else would be in a special sealed box coming from Apple that can't be opened except by certain people?

source: TheGuardian via RedmondPie