Another Bigfoot sighting.

Maybe, but not the “entire case” unless sections of it could be turned off by the user.  We all hold our phones differently with skin contact on different places. Hands come a number of sizes, fingers may be longer, shorter, or missing.

Anyway, our local TV news pretty much reported this new phone as fact.

If the case was touch sensitive, it would put a cramp in the case makers. Hard to make something that covers up sensors. If just the buttons became touch sensitive, that would make more sense, and certainty not make for a news worthy change.

Makers of cases actually cause Apple to lose money.  Every protected iPhone is one less potentially broken iPhone that must be replaced, so it is in Apple’s best interest to keep cases off the phones.  What better way to do that than to make the phone require to be touched in places a case would normally go.  Apple makes money from the sale of cases in their stores, so the potential profit from replacement phones from making an iPhone not capable of having a case would have to exceed that of selling the cases retail.  Anybody care to share any actuary data on that?

akers of cases actually cause Apple to lose money.  Every protected iPhone is one less potentially broken iPhone that must be replaced

That’s just dumb.  Apple loses money when people don’t break their MacBooks every month too.  But Apple gains more customers by providing products that last longer so customers want them.  If I can’t put a case on a new iPhone, I’d get the 3GS model instead. (I have the 3G now, and am waiting until June for my next upgrade.)