We just posted images that allegedly show the ‘iPhone 4S’ body, an entry-level iPhone that Apple is rumored to release alongside the iPhone 5. Now, MacPost (via MacRumors) has published images of what they describe as the “iPhone 5 EVT prototype (N64) back cover”.

The report notes that we found references to the “N94″ in the iOS 5.0 SDK earlier this year, which we suspect could be an A5-powered next-gen iPhone (whether it’s the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 is still unclear). While it’s obvious  this is an “early development prototype” thanks to the “’07-June-2011″ markings, we can’t help but notice it bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 4 variant that BGR reported was being tested for T-Mobile.

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Right now, some reports peg the iPhone 3GS as the second-most popular phone in the U.S. It seems that for lots of customers, price trumps the many shortcomings it has compared to the iPhone 4. But what’s going to happen when the iPhone 4 — a genuinely solid phone with no screaming deficiencies — becomes the old and lower-priced model? Then it and the iPhone 5 will team up to own the market.

As we head into the back-to-school season and gear up for Fall and the holidays, there is a perfect storm of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) action coming together. And there’s so much there, all at once, that it might even be enough to drown out the flood of Android smartphones — for a while, at least.

Back in February of this year, Apple started shaking up its iPhone rollout pattern when it started offering the iPhone 4 on Verizon. Not only did another a major service carrier snag the popular iPhone 4 right in the middle of the first year of its expected lifecycle, but that move also put Apple in an awkward position: Even if the company was technically ready to release an updated iPhone 4, say an iPhone 4S this summer, from a customer relations standpoint, that was a nightmare waiting to happen.

Rational or not, plenty of iPhone 4 customers on Verizon would have thrown hissy fits about buying a new phone with a two-year contract only to watch their friends and family walk around a few months later with something even better.

So June and July slid by this summer, and no one got an iPhone 4S, nor did we get an iPhone 5.

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The resignation of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs has opened the door for rival Samsung Electronics at a crucial time in the battle for smartphone supremacy in salesrooms and courtrooms around the world.

Jobs passed the reins to his right-hand man Tim Cook on Wednesday, saying he could no longer fulfill his duties, raising fears the health of the Silicon Valley icon had worsened.

While Apple and analysts highlighted Cook’s experience, as well as Jobs’ new role as chairman and the company’s extensive management bench, his departure will cause ripples across the Pacific at South Korea’s Samsung.

More than any other firm, Samsung’s fortunes are tied to Apple, both as a competitor and supplier of components.

The companies are fierce rivals, with Samsung’s Galaxy range of smartphones and tablet computers running on Google’s Android operating system seen as the main competitor to Apple’s game-changing iPhones and iPads.

“Even before Steve Jobs’ (resignation), Samsung was getting more and more optimistic that they can actually take on Apple in the smartphone arena,” said Mark Newman, a former director of strategy at Samsung, where he worked for six years.

“The game is really now Samsung’s to lose … They are picking up market share because of the change in dynamics in the smartphone industry,” added Newman, now a senior analyst for global memory and consumer electronics at Sanford C. Bernstein.

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