The iPhone 5 may have the same light leak problem that initially plagued other Apple devices.

Chiming in on the MacRumors forum, one user posted a photo of the new iPhone in relative darkness, showing a small flash of light coming from the top of the device behind the glass panel. Another posted a similar picture displaying the same light leak. Other users have since added to both discussions, reporting the same issue on their new iPhones.

Apple's Discussion Forums have also picked up a few complaints about the light leakage.

Some users say they received a replacement unit from Apple, but the new units suffered from the same glitch. The number of posts on this problem is small so far, so it's difficult to tell how widespread the issue may be.

Some buyers of last year's iPad 2 discovered light leaking from around the bezel directly into the display. Earlier in 2011, tests of the white iPhone 4 also found light leaking in when using the built-in camera. At that time, the problem was pinned on the way the white paint was interacting with the phone's glass technology.

c|net