iPhone 5 concept gives us glimpse of transparent handset

It’s been a bumper few days for iPhone renders of late. And then some.

Last week we were wowed by some belief-beggaringly convincing ‘leaked photos’ of the much rumoured taller next-gen Apple smartphone. And although very beautiful they were, it was later revealed that they had sprung from the imagination of Dutch designer Martin uit Ulrecht.

But today, we’ve gone one better in the form of a concept design for the iPhone 5 featuring an entirely clear, transparent display.

Worked up by Dakota Adney and brought to wider attention by Cnet, the handset rocks what the renders' creator calls an ‘iClear retina display’ that retains current-gen Apple kits’ high pixel count but layers text and apps and whathaveyou on a translucent panel.

Cooler still, we think at least, is the way the handset projects a virtual keyboard onto surfaces for more efficient text entry.

So what are the odds of this kind of thing showing up on iPhone anytime soon? Well given Jonny Ive’s suspicion of anything gimmicky and tendency to favour function over fanciness, we’d say slim to none. But in the meantime, at least we’ve got Dakota’s amazing mock-up to enjoy.