With rumor mills abuzz about the speculated launch of Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone this summer, an Engadget report – accompanied by the leaked pictures of what supposedly is the iPhone 4G/HD – says that the yet-unreleased handset was found on the floor of a San Jose bar inside of an iPhone 3G case!

Engadget’s explanation of the new Apple iPhone reads thus: “Right now we don't have a ton of info on the device in question, but we can tell you that it apparently has a front facing camera, 80GB of storage, and isn't booting at this point.”

The report further added: “It's not clear if this is definitely a production model, or just a prototype that found its way into the world, but it's certainly a compelling design, no matter how you look at it.”

On one hand, the Engadget report and leaked pictures of the iPhone 4G/HD corroborate the earlier release of ‘spy’ photos of the handset in a Twitpic posted in February – both the strikingly similar pictures of the supposed next-generation iPhone show off the handset’s aluminum unibody casing. Incidentally, the earlier pictures had been rebuffed as a counterfeit Japanese iPhone.

However, on the other hand, the somewhat weird appearance of the forthcoming iPhone in a bar raises doubts about the authenticity of the ‘prototype’ pictures – more so because Apple is well-known for guarding the secrecy of its un-launched products rather fiercely!