( CNN ) -- Even before Apple came out with its iPhone five years ago , it was experimenting with iPad-like tablets . NetworkWorld did some digging in court filings and unearthed some of the earliest known photos of an iPad prototype . BuzzFeed then fleshed out the discovery with color photos of the device next to an actual iPad . Called the 035 mockup , the glass-screened device was double the thickness of the first iPad , about an inch thick compared to .5 inches for the Apple tablet that hit stores in 2010 . ( The latest version of the iPad is even thinner , at .37 inches . ) The mockup is longer and wider than the iPad , closer in size to a MacBook then the current iPad . It has the iPad 's rounded corners and dark black frame around the screen . One feature that 's notably missing is the Home button . The back is a glossy white shell , similar to the classic iPods , with a nice big Apple logo in the middle . Google 's Nexus 7 tablet ships this week . The court documents are part of the ongoing patent fights between Apple and Samsung . As part of the case , Jonathan Ive , Apple 's senior vice president of industrial design , was deposed in December of last year . Ive was shown the mockup of the big tablet and said , `` I recognize this as one of the ... models that we made as part of the design process , as part of the exploration . '' He believes it was kicking around Apple as early as 2002 . Samsung is fighting Apple 's claims the the Galaxy Tab infringes on the iPad 's design . The latest interesting ruling in the case came on Thursday , when a UK court said Apple had to post a note on its UK site for six months and run a notice in British newspapers saying that Samsung did not copy the iPad design . Apple is appealing the ruling . The idea that Apple was playing with glass-screen tablets before the iPhone is not new . Steve Jobs first talked about the unusual evolution of the iOS product line at the AllThingsD conference in 2010 . `` I had this idea about having a glass display , a multitouch display you could type on with your fingers . I asked our people about it . And six months later , they came back with this amazing display . '' said Jobs . He realized the technology could be used to create a phone , and the rest is history . Of course , the iPad was actually Apple 's second try at a tablet computer . The short-lived Newton MessagePad line was released in 1993 . Samsung tablet 'not cool ' says UK judge .
Photos found of an Apple tablet mockup from the early 2000s . Early iPad prototype was an inch thick . The court documents were part of the ongoing patent fights between Apple and Samsung .