Use the user agent from $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],
and for simple detection you can use this script:
<?php
//Detect special conditions devices
$iPod = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],"iPod");
$iPhone = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],"iPhone");
$iPad = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],"iPad");
$Android = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],"Android");
$webOS = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],"webOS");
//do something with this information
if( $iPod || $iPhone ){
//browser reported as an iPhone/iPod touch -- do something here
}else if($iPad){
//browser reported as an iPad -- do something here
}else if($Android){
//browser reported as an Android device -- do something here
}else if($webOS){
//browser reported as a webOS device -- do something here
}
?>
51Degrees' PHP solution is able to do this. you can get the free Open Source API here https://github.com/51Degrees/Device-Detection. You can use the HardwareFamily Property to determine if it is an iPad/iPod/iPhone etc.
Due to the nature of Apple's User-Agents the initial result will return a generic device, however if you are interested in the specific device you can use a JavaScript client side override to determine to specific model.
To do this you can implement something similar to the following logic once you have determined it is an Apple Device, in this case for an iPhone.
// iPhone model checks.
function getiPhoneModel() {
// iPhone 6 Plus
if ((window.screen.height / window.screen.width == 736 / 414) &&
(window.devicePixelRatio == 3)) {
return "iPhone 6 Plus";
}
// iPhone 6
else if ((window.screen.height / window.screen.width == 667 / 375) &&
(window.devicePixelRatio == 2)) {
return "iPhone 6";
}
// iPhone 5/5C/5S or 6 in zoom mode
else if ((window.screen.height / window.screen.width == 1.775) &&
(window.devicePixelRatio == 2)) {
return "iPhone 5, 5C, 5S or 6 (display zoom)";
}
// iPhone 4/4S
else if ((window.screen.height / window.screen.width == 1.5) &&
(window.devicePixelRatio == 2)) {
return "iPhone 4 or 4S";
}
// iPhone 1/3G/3GS
else if ((window.screen.height / window.screen.width == 1.5) &&
(window.devicePixelRatio == 1)) {
return "iPhone 1, 3G or 3GS";
} else {
return "Not an iPhone";
};
}
Or for an iPad
function getiPadVersion() {
var pixelRatio = getPixelRatio();
var return_string = "Not an iPad";
if (pixelRatio == 1 ) {
return_string = "iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad Mini 1";
}
if (pixelRatio == 2) {
return_string = "iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air 1, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 2, iPad
Mini 3";
}
return return_string;
}