That picture of the "Wallabies" https://twitter.com/kocienda/status/880451736049139712 suggests that the often-repeated claim about the hardware and software teams working in mutual igorance is overblown. The Wallabies really seem not so far from final hardware, especially compared to (IIRC) some other devkits for old mobile devices. It would have been quite clear that the release hardware would be substantially thicker and lighter (assuming those things are fairly heavy, as well as bulky) and if you imagine them so you get something pretty close to the original iPhone (aside from the metal-case flash and sizzle).