Supposed iPhone SE (2017) leak shows off Ion-X glass rear shell

A newly leaked photo, depicting what could be the back of a next-gen iPhone SE, started making rounds online, offering some interesting, albeit unverified, tidbits of information regarding a supposed new “special edition” iPhone.

Originating from Chinese microblogging website and smartphone leak heaven Weibo, the photo shows four glass back panels, each with two vertically aligned cutouts (one for a camera lens, the other – for an LED flash module) placed on top of some paperwork.

If the leak is legitimate, it could mean that Apple has decided to ditch the aluminum design of the first gen iPhone SE in favor of a sleeker, high-gloss look. What's more interesting, however, is what the sheet of paper beneath the shells tells us – “Ion-X Glass”.

Ion-X glass is the material that the covers the display of the Apple Watch Sport, and it is comparable in durability to Corning's Gorilla Glass. Whether Ion-X glass will be protecting the front or back (or both) of the supposed iPhone SE (2017), remains a matter of conjecture at this point, but it is a possibility, if nothing else.

Further, shortly after the image surfaced online, @OnLeaks pointed out on Twitter that it may very well have been tampered with. According to him, the glass shells depicted in the photo are from a phone by Chinese manufacturer 360 Mobiles, with Apple's logo slapped on top.

After taking a closer look at the photo ourselves, we did notice that the Apple logo looks a bit off – it's not perfectly centered and its bottom half is somewhat distorted.