White iPhone spotted in 1993

Oh and speaking of Star Trek: TNG, here’s something you might not have noticed from Season 6 episode “The Chase” when it first aired in 1993. I want to stress that the following image is not photoshopped or altered in any way:

Through a modern lens it’s hard not to look back and see anything but a white iPhone 4/4S model in Data’s hand. The rounded corners, the size, the color, the metal edges, and the way he’s using the device all seem indicative of an iPhone.

I hope he has a good Data plan!

…sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Of course it wasn’t really an iPhone, and we only see a few shots of the device, always partially obscured by the hands of actor Brent Spiner. But if we’re willing to look at the episode with the benefit of hindsight it leads to some intriguing questions:

  • Could this count as “prior art” in the Apple vs. Samsung case?
  • Did Apple’s designers get inspiration from this episode, consciously or subconsciously?
  • Is cell phone service better in the mid 2300’s?

We could also ponder which alien races use which mobile operating systems (the Vulcans clearly run Android and the Klingons must run some frustrating shit like Symbian) but let’s not go there. I don’t want to start an intergalactic flame war.

UPDATE: It also appears they have iPads. Here’s Picard with one, with a speech bubble for illustrative purposes.

UPDATE 2: Looks like RoboCop had iPhones before Star Trek.