Apple's rumored 4" iPhone update purportedly leaked again in new photo

A picture of a device said to be Apple's latest rendition of an iPhone with a 4-inch display hit the internet this weekend, this time placed next to an iPhone 5 for comparison.

The device in the photo bears an identical design to the iPhone 6 series, just in a shrunken form factor that barely eclipses the iPhone 5 in size. The shot was shared by a user at Dutch tech site OneMoreThing.nl.

This marks the second time in a week that images of purported preproduction units have been seen — last Thursday, a white version was shown off in a video from China.

The size of the display is perhaps the only universally-accepted rumor about the forthcoming device. Some have said it would share a design more akin to the outgoing iPhone 5c, while leaked images suggest it will instead be a smaller iPhone 6.

Technical specifications are also up for debate; the device could ship with either the A8 or A9 chip, anywhere from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes of RAM, and possibly Touch ID and Apple Pay.

There is even some question about the name. Some rumors say it will be marked as the "iPhone 6c," while others indicate that "iPhone 5se" will be chosen moniker.

Generally well-connected analyst Ming-CHi Kuo believes that the device will be somewhat of a cross between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6, keeping the former's style and adopting the latter's curved cover glass.

70 Comments

radarthekat 3903 comments · 12 Years

About 8 years ago

Possibly Touch ID? The 5S has Touch ID, why would a refresh not? The article author got too caught up in the comparison with the older 5 and forgot there's already a 4" model with Touch ID.

thewhitefalcon 4444 comments · 10 Years

radarthekat said:

Possibly Touch ID? The 5S has Touch ID, why would a refresh not? The article author got too caught up in the comparison with the older 5 and forgot there's already a 4" model with Touch ID.

Not to mention they'd need TouchID for Apple Pay.

I suspect it'll be a 6c, redesigned chassis, with a down clocked A9 (for battery reasons) and 2GB of RAM. 3D Touch is the only thing I'm unsure of.

mac_128 3452 comments · 12 Years

Or instead of one phone with two rumored completely conflicting set of specs and designs, how about two new 4" phones? One that's an upgrade of the 5S to add Pay at the low end, and one that's an upgrade of the 6S in the middle, so Apple doesn't leave money on the table from those customers who prefer a 4" phone but could otherwise afford a premium model.

boredumb 1418 comments · 14 Years

Hopefully, Apple will release it early enough for Samsung to copy in time for the holidays.../s

bobjohnson 154 comments · 10 Years

radarthekat said:

Possibly Touch ID? The 5S has Touch ID, why would a refresh not? The article author got too caught up in the comparison with the older 5 and forgot there's already a 4" model with Touch ID.

The iPhone 5c, which this would presumably be replacing, doesn't have Touch ID. Not like it's above Apple to use Touch ID/Apple Pay access as a push to buy the more expensive 6s...