A pair of reports on Saturday claim to reveal a bit more information about Apple's upcoming 4.7-inch "iPhone 6," with one comparing a widely circulated dummy of the larger handset against an iPhone 5s, while the other features 3D renderings purportedly from an Apple partner supplier.
Source: nowhereelse.fr
In a set of pictures obtained by French gadget site nowhereelse.fr., a supposed dummy mockup of Apple's forthcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 6 is pitted against a current-model iPhone 5s. A number of these supposed mockups have been making the rounds in China over the past weeks -- each bringing an increasingly high level of detail -- with the first pictured in late March.
Labeled as an "industrial model," the purported prototyping tool measures 138mm long, 67mm wide and 7mm thick. Previous speculation based on similar dummy models pegged a thickness of 6.1mm, which is the exact depth of Apple's iPod touch and 1.5mm slimmer the iPhone 5s. In a report last week, a different mockup was compared side-by-side to an iPod touch, illustrating the thinness of the latest dummy models.
As seen in the pictures above, the mockup sports curved edges, round speaker ports and a "softer" aesthetic more in line with the design style introduced by the original iPad mini. Like past renders and mockups, Saturday's version includes a round LED flash port, painted lines suggesting a segmented three-panel chassis design and protruding rear camera.
A separate report claims to show high-resolution 3D renderings of the 4.7-inch next-gen iPhone supposedly taken from Apple's supply chain. Posted to Chinese Apple forum Feng.com and subsequently spotted by GforGames, the images corroborate previous design detail rumors, including a side-positioned wake/sleep button, rounded volume controls, round LED flash, segmented rear panel and more.
With exact measurements shown onscreen matching those from the dummy model detailed above, it is likely that the schematic -- or one like it -- was used as a basis for the mockups floating around East Asia. This is not to say that the either are legitimate, but rather the two "leaked" bits of information are likely closely related.
Apple is widely expected to introduce two iPhone models in 2014, both of which are thought to boast larger screen sizes than prior models. Recent reports have claimed Apple's supply chain is ramping production of the smaller 4.7-inch version for a launch as soon as August, while a larger 5.5-inch "phablet" model is said to debut weeks or months later.