If the designers of protective cases for Apple products are to be trusted, and history tells us they may just be, the iPhone could be up for a redesign, shrinking it down to what bloggers are calling the "iPhone nano". While Apple keeps tight-lipped about products it's developing, the third-party manufacturers working on accessories don't always adhere to such secretive measures. The design of the latest iPod nano was leaked in the form of a Chinese manufacturer's protective case in August, the month before the model's official unveiling.

Once again, a Chinese company has posted a design spec for a new case, this time fitting an iPhone shorter and squatter than what we're used to. Rumors surrounding the case images speculate that the redesigned iPhone with a smaller screen will take a step back from the latest 3G model and return to the original iPhone's EDGE data. The rumors are that this cost-cutting measure is part of a strategy to introduce the hardware to consumers who don't spend hundreds of dollars on new phones, through retailers like Walmart. That said, this is all still guesswork, and you shouldn't put too much faith in the iPhone nano until Apple's the company saying something about it.

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