Sunday 24 August 2014

Absolutely everything we think we know about the iPhone 6. Tempted?

The iPhone 6 remains (somewhat) shrouded in mystery - but that hasn't stopped the rumour mill from enthusiastically grinding away, and some whispers do have a ring of truth about them.
So then, what are the web's commentators saying about the iPhone 6? Well…

 Makeover time

It's almost guaranteed that the iPhone 6's appearance will be different enough from the iPhone 5s to earn it its all-new number.
Traditionally, ‘s’ devices have kept the same design as their predecessors, with major differences appearing on the insides, and Apple will get a lot of flak if the iPhone 6 turns out to be a 5s with faster innards.


Thankfully, that doesn't look likely. The iPhone 6 body has leaked countless times over the past year in various forms, and now actual (and apparently genuine) production cases have made their way into the hands of online tech aficionados.
The video above, courtesy of YouTube user iCrackUriDevice, shows off one of these rear cases, and it clearly shows off Apple's new design in all its glory.
It's immediately obvious that the iPhone 6 will likely arrive with a bigger screen. The case is larger than the iPhone 5s, and its thinner, with a much rounder design.
One big change is the relocation of the power button from the top to the right hand side, where it will be easily accessible with your thumb, Samsung Galaxy-style.
Looking at the rear, the pill-shaped flash cutout has been replaced by a circular one, suggesting that Apple has either ditched its dual two-tone LED flash, or it's managed to cram both LEDs into a circular space.
The volume buttons however, have appeared to do the reverse. They are now a thinner pill shape, falling in line with the iPod Touch, as opposed to the circular buttons currently found on the iPhone 5s.
Looking at the internals of the case, we can see a slight recess over the Apple logo cutout. This, combined with the fact that previous Apple logos weren't left as cutouts, suggests that the logo will light up, like the ones found on its MacBook brothers.
This is supported by previous photos leaked by uSwitch (with the aid of famed Apple leaker Sonny Dickson), which show off the rear housing of an iPhone 6, with a plastic panel that's thin enough to let line shine through it.
Apart from attracting moths, the logo could be used as a blinking notification light - a handy function if the device is face down.
Back in June, GSM Arena snaffled a picture of the phone alongside its likely main rival, the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The image shows off the expected larger screen, along with a clearly visible power switch on the right edge.
Another iPhone 6 dummy leak courtesy of G for Games also emerged, this time apparently of a non-working dummy model.
The first image above shows it next to an iPhone 5s and HTC One (M8). As you can see, it's not far off the size of the latter.

A trio of iPhone 6 dummy units in gold, black and grey leaked online in July,
The photo matches up with all previous iPhone 6 leaks, although the exact size is hard to determine without a regular iPhone 5s for scale.
iPhone vendor Feld and Volk has released more photos of the iPhone 6 case. A close-up of the volume buttons show that they're recessed, which could reduce the chances of accidentally adjusting the volume while it's in your pocket.

Android-matching screens

The iPhone 6 will almost certainly have a larger screen than the 4in display of the iPhone 5s, and it could very well arrive in two models - one with 4.7in screen, and another 5.5in version.

April saw an iPhone 6 manufacturing mould leak, pointing to at least one larger iPhone in the works. French site Nowhereelse.fr scaled up the image using the iPhone 4s for comparison, and it suggests that we could be looking at  a 4.7in screen size, which fits in with all of the previous rumours we'd seen up to that point.
In June, Italian site Macitynet posted images of an iPhone 6 dummy unit alongside the iPhone 5s and a Samsung Galaxy S5. The pictures support rumours of a taller, wider iPhone 6, with rounded edges and an all-black anodised aluminium finish. Also notable is the protruding camera array, similar to the design of the current iPod Touch.
And as for the 5.5in phablet version - A fellow called Jimmy Lin (who leaked the iPhone 5c before its launch last year) went on to repeat himself by leaking the iPhone 6 in June.
Lin shared pictures of an allegedly genuine iPhone 6 on Chinese site Weibo, after previously leaking images of the smaller 4.7in model, which he stated was a beta unit for testing purposes.
His latest picture showed off the larger size of the 5.5in iPhone 6 against what appears to be an iPhone 5s being repaired.
It's hard to tell whether or not the unit is genuine, but given Lin's past leaks, we could be looking at the real deal.
More leaked shots from Feld & Volk show off a close-up of the iPhone 6's rear Apple logo, which is apparently made from an extremely scratch-resistant material, which could be liquid metal, though there's no way to confirm this at this stage.
The iPhone 6's insides have come under the microscope once again, with a number of leaked photos of the phone's components appearing on French site Nowhereelse.fr. The shots lend credence to similar component pics leaked by Feld & Volk; the most interesting image shows off a separate metal logo piece that appears to be identical to the one seen in the earlier leak. Other leaked components include the reverse of the Home button, the headphone jack and Lightning port and the cover of the SIM card port.
Apple could be set to end USB aggravation with a Lightning cable that sports a reversible USB connector.Nowhereelse.fr have shown off snaps of the accessory, which sports a USB connector in the centre of its metal housing – meaning that you can plug it in either way up. Adding fuel to the fire, Apple filed a patent in 2013 for a reversible USB connector. The connector differs from the similarly reversible USB Type-C connector announced last week; the rumoured Apple connector should fit into current Type-A receptacles.

Bloomberg's source also added fuel to the dual iPhone rumour flames once again. The source stated that Apple will release a 4.7in and 5.5in iPhone in September, both of which will feature rounder and thinner designs, which matches up with all the leaked pictures we'd seen to date.
The screens will also apparently taper off towards the edges, thanks to some curved glass magic, which should make the new iPhones feel even thinner.
The rumour came straight after leaked model photos of the iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, which indicate that all three devices will sport Touch ID Home buttons. No surprises there.

Super Sapphire

There are also rumours that the iPhone 6 will feature a super-hard sapphire glass display, which will be produced by GT Advanced Technologies - the company which already produces the camera lens and Touch ID home button sapphire glass sections for the iPhone 5s.

Nothing short of a diamond can scratch pure sapphire, so this is promising news for scratch-phobic gadgeteers.
More recently, YouTuber Marques Brownlee scratch-tested a reportedly genuine iPhone 6 screen, and although it was still marked by sandpaper, it held up noticeably better than the iPhone 5s' display.

This could be due to the fact that the iPhone 6's screen is a sapphire display hybrid, as opposed to a pure sapphire screen. This is supported by the visit of MIT's Kevin Bullis to GT Advanced technologies, where he saw a machine slice of a micro-thin layer of sapphire, which could then be laid over a regular glass panel.
This would explain the iPhone 6 screen's improved (but not invincible) scratch-resistance.

The best look at the iPhone 6 yet  (sort of)


YouTuber Tom Rich also managed to get his hands on a non-working 4.7in iPhone 6 dummy unit, and he compares it to rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8), before super-imposing iOS8 into the unit's screen, showing off the difference in size between the current iPhone 5s' 4.3in display.
The 4.7in iPhone 6 model is only slightly smaller than the 5in Galaxy S5 and HTC On (M8) rivals, implying that the 5.5in version might be uncomfortable to use one-handed for people with regular-sized hands.

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