14 DAY TRIAL // There is still no indication whether or not Apple has started manufacturing the next-generation iPhone 6, which is said to feature a flagship larger display and sapphire glass as the front panel covering that display. But an intriguing image from China may offer us a first look at that glass panel.
From China with love comes this tantalizing image of three different iPhone touch panels, one for the older-generation iPhone 4/4S range, one for the iPhone 5, and one for what is believed to be the upcoming iPhone 6.
Noticeably wider and taller, the transparent area of the glass would indicate the presence of a larger display, something that has become the flagship feature of the impending iPhone of 2014 dubbed by the media as “iPhone 6.”
At the time the image was posted on Chinese forums no details were offered, leaving viewers to speculate at will. Immediately visible is the closer proximity of the Home button to the display, and the lack of a circular bezel (as is the case with Apple’s current models).
The display living underneath this panel would presumably go edge to edge on the horizontal, while vertically the bezel has been pushed more towards the top and bottom edges of the phone.
It’s hard to see much of a difference by just looking at these empty pieces of glass, but if you take into account all the areas where the screen can expand, you get to the rumored 4.7-inch size (diagonally).
The material from which this panel is made remains a mystery, though Apple is known to have signed an expensive deal with GT Advanced to lease their talent for the production of sapphire crystal meant to be used as the cover glass of the next generation iPhone.
In a discussion at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Gorilla Glass maker Corning indirectly slammed Apple’s decision to forgo its services and choose sapphire for the next run of iPhones.
Tony Tripeny, the man quoted as saying such things, refrained from actually naming Apple as the smartphone vendor that plans to equip its future devices with sapphire glass. However, given the widespread media attention Apple has been getting over its deal with GT Advanced, it’s pretty hard not to connect the dots.
At the end of the day, this photo remains a tiny drop in a sea of so-called leaks that may not even be real, but fabricated.