Rumor: Parade of 'iPhone 6' mockups aren't final design, back panel will feature glass like 5s

While a glut of alleged "iPhone 6" mockups have suggested there will be lines cut out toward the top and bottom of the back panel on Apple's next handset, a new report claims those are just placeholders for small glass panels that will be included, in a design much like the iPhone 5s.

When Apple switched to an aluminum back panel with the iPhone 5, and kept that design for the current flagship iPhone 5s, the company needed to use glass at the top and bottom to serve as "windows" for the device's internal radios. A series of mockups out of the Far East claiming to show the design of Apple's anticipated "iPhone 6" have suggested that the company might simply have straight lines across the back, where those glass windows would be, made of an unknown material.

But a new report on Monday from Japanese newspaper Nikkei, first spotted by G for Games, claims that those lines only mark the places where the glass panels will eventually go in the final product. That would suggest that the back panel will look largely similar to the iPhone 5s.

The report could also explain why most mockups to date have strangely shown round camera flash parts. Apple switched to a pill-shaped dual-color "True Tone" flash starting with the iPhone 5s last year, a feature the company will likely continue to offer with this year's flagship model.'

One change to the design of the "iPhone 6" back panel, however, may be the Apple logo itself. Monday's report claimed that the logo will actually be cut out of the aluminum in Apple's next handset, which would be a change from the engraved logo on previous iPhones.

Finally, in a more questionable claim, the report said that the final design of the "iPhone 6" will sport curved glass. According to the newspaper, this would allow the display to blend more seamlessly into the curved sids of the handset.