White iPhone 4 Deleted: Apple Ousts Troubled Smartphone From System

Ah, the white iPhone; rarer than a unicorn's pelvis. The rare, pale smartphone is yet to see a commercial release – though Apple has promised it will drop sometime this spring – but according to a new store update it's looking like the handset has taken one step back, not closer to launch.

After the Apple Store went down briefly overnight, 9to5Mac dispatched their trusty retail insider to quest for changes. All they could find was that the white iPhone SKU has been deleted from the system.

Now, that could mean that Apple is preparing a different version with a new SKU, or it might mean that the company has given up on the white iPhone idea altogether and is simply holding off until the iPhone 5. Previous rumors we've heard have suggested that Apple will take a little longer than usual with its fifth-gen smartphone, and that the white variant of the existing model would be used to tide things over – and prolong the relevance of the Verizon CDMA iPhone 4 – until the new handset is ready.