14 DAY TRIAL // Japan’s Macotakara has a pretty decent track record involving Apple rumors and leaks, so their latest tidbits about the look and feel of the iPhone 6 are well worth looking at. People in Apple’s supply chain (at production facilities) are likening the iPhone 6 to the iPod line.
Corroborating a Reuters report from 2013 that originally spread the word about Apple’s larger display in the upcoming iPhone 6, Macotakara notes that the Cupertino giant has two variations of the same phone on the launch pad for this year.
One phone has a display that measures 4.7 inches on the diagonal, while another goes up to 5.7 inches. Reports of Apple launching not one, but two new iPhone 6 models abound, but few believe the company will indeed go after the phablet form factor.
More importantly, the Japanese report offers some details regarding the look and feel of the iPhone 6. It resembles existing Apple devices, but only by inheriting certain parts and features, the publication notes.
For instance, iPhone 6 will have the same camera shape and speaker grills as the plastic-made iPhone 5c. The 5.7-inch model in particular sports a chassis akin to the fifth-generation iPod touch, with the camera ring shooting out from the back shell.
The phone also borrows design elements from the seventh-generation iPod nano, according to the Japanese site. Finally, it offers some measurements done on the smaller, 4.7-inch model (approximated): “about 14cm in length, about 7cm in width, and about 16cm in length and about 8cm in width.” The thickness of the 5.7-inch model is reportedly at 7mm.
Mashing together all these design details, we’re left to judge that the iPhone 6 is essentially just a bigger iPod touch with cellular components and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
However unlikely that may seem to some readers, let’s not forget that Apple is a big fan of recycling and retouching its existing designs. The iPad mini eventually gave birth to the iPad Air, and most of the iPhone 5 design was extended to the fifth-generation iPod touch. The player even inherited the iPhone’s new Space Gray color model a few months after launch.
iPhone 6 is expected to make its debut in fall, around September, but it’s not out of the question to see the phone unveiled even earlier this time around. WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference, has been used more than once for iPhone announcements.