Chinese Phone Maker Rips Off iPhone 5 Design, GooPhone I5 Breaks Cover

Could it be that a Chinese company has patented the iPhone 5 design before Apple had the chance? It appears so based on images and a video of Chinese phone maker GooPhone's GooPhone I5. Interestingly enough, the GooPhone I5 is an Android smartphone that has a similar design to the rumored iPhone 5.

The GooPhone I5 looks a lot like a large iPhone 4S. It features a 4-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720, small dock connector, and large external speaker grills. Other key specs include a 1.4GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.0 ICS with an iOS 6 theme, and an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera. The headphone jack on the GooPhone I5 resides on the bottom edge of the phone.

GooPhone claims it has patented the design of the GooPhone I5 in China. If this is true and if that patent holds up in court, it's possible GooPhone could block Apple from selling its iPhone 5 in China. It's also been suggested that GooPhone may be able to block iPhone 5 exports all together. The GooPhone I5   isn't expected to launch until after the iPhone 5 later this month, which could make things really interesting.