Apple iPhone6

iPHONE 6 DESIGN

Typically, Apple uses the same design for a product for two iterations, before bringing out something new. As we've had the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S, it makes sense for Apple to go for something different for the iPhone 6.

Rumour has it that the iPhone 6 is taking design cues from the iPod Nano and iPhone 5C.

Rumours published on the Japanese blog Macotakara stated that Apple wants to replicate the multiple colours of the iPhone 5C, giving people a choice for their new phone.

The iPhone 5C was made of plastic, which wouldn't seem like the right move for a high-end smartphone; Apple seems to agree and is also looking to the construction of the iPod Nano. This product comes in multiple colours, too, but uses anodised aluminium body to provide the colour.

With a metal body, Apple will then take some of the design cues from the iPhone 5C, including the curved edges, and the same speaker and microphone holes in the bottom of the handset.

Allegedly, the phone would be just 7mm thick. At this size, the current camera would protrude from the back of the phone. Apple may make the phone thicker to compensate or, by the time the phone is released, have a smaller camera module.

These rumours seem to be been proven as true, if the latest leaked photos are to be believed. The iPhone 6 allegedly snapped in the Foxconn factory shows a new curvier design. Rather than the harsh edges of the iPhone 5S, the smooth, curved sides are definitely closer to the iPhone 5C and iPod Nano.

There's nothing for scale in the photo, so we can't tell how big the phone is, although it's pretty much accepted that the new iPhone will have a bigger screen (see below for more information).

As well as showing off the casing, the photos also seem to show a new sensor on the bottom right. A second snap from the factory showed a CAD drawing of the phone, with the sensor labelled, but the resolution is too low to read it properly. It may be a pulse reader, as Apple is said to be gearing the iPhone 6 towards fitness.

While those photos aren't particularly clear, some new renders give a better idea of what the phone may look like. Now, renders are simply an artist's impression of what a new handset may be, rather than the real thing, but they help visualise the information we already have.

Martin Hajek, who's well respected for his other Apple renders, has produced some new designs for Nowhereelse.fr.

Using the existing leaks, Hajek has produced two 3D models: one a metal iPhone 6 and one a plastic iPhone 6c. With edge-to-edge glass and thin case, the iPhone 6 render looks gorgeous.

While we'll have to wait to see what the final product will actually look like, these renders start to show how Apple's design choices will let the company create a sleek, large screen phone. If the iPhone 6 looks half as good as these images, then we'll definitely want one.

This render shows how gorgeous the iPhone 6 could be

It's possible that iPhone 6 will have a relocated power button. A Chinese case manufacturer had pictures of its iPhone 6 product posted on nowhereelse.fr, showed that while the volume and mute switches will stay on the side, the power button would move to the right-hand side of the case instead.

There are several reasons why this might be the case, but the main one is size. As the iPhone 6 is going to be larger than existing models, the power button may simply be more comfortable to operate one-handed if it's placed on the side, rather than the top of the handset.

Of course, all case leaks have to be treated with a healthy sense of scepticism. Often, case manufacturers will prototype lots of different models based on rumours, so that they can get rolling as soon as the official specs have been released. It's important to note, though, that Apple doesn't share advanced specs with case manufacturers, so everything pictured here is purely speculation.

iPHONE 6 LEAKED PHOTOS

File under slightly dubious, but new images of the iPhone 6 have started to leak out. Mostly posted on Chinese forums, the images are typically low quality and a little blurry, so you have to assume that they're not the real thing. Still, even though that may be the case, some of the more recent shots have at least shown what we can expect from a larger iPhone.

First, came the pictures allegedly showing the iPhone 6 front panel. Discovered by iPhone.fr, the leaked images show the front panel of the iPhone 6 compared to an iPhone 5S.

In the first shot (below), you can see that the new iPhone 6 front panel is a lot bigger than the iPhone 5S, hinting that this is the 4.7in version. In the image you can see through the gap where the screen would go, showing a man bending over a box of what appears to be further front panels.

iPHONE 6 TWO SCREEN SIZES

The one thing that everyone seems to be able to agree on is that the iPhone 6 will have a larger screen than any other iOS smartphone before it. There's a definite market for large-screen phones, as we've seen start with the big Android phones of 2013 including HTC One, Sony Xperia Z, and Samsung Galaxy S4, continuing with these releases. With the current iPhone having only a 4in screen, it makes sense for Apple to step up.

The question that has to be answered is, how big will the screen be? Early rumours suggested that there would be a 4.7in screen, but soon rumours appeared saying that it would be available in two screen sizes.

First, Foxconn executives (unnamed, of course), reported by BGR, added fuel to the fire of this rumour.

According to this information, the iPhone 6 will ship in 4.7in and a phablet-sized 5.7in. Then, it was reported that the4.7in iPhone 6 was to be joined by 5.6in iPhone phablet.

According to Taiwan's Economic Daily News, Apple is set to launch a new phablet alongside the iPhone 6, with a 5.6in screen size.

Most recently, it was reported by Reuters that the iPhone 6 screen was going into production in May, with both 4.7in and 5.5in displays.

Even more information has come out recently, with the iPhone 6 4.7in and 5.5in screen resolutions allegedly leaked. According to KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a good track record with this kind of thing, the two screen sizes will have different resolutions.

Reported by MacRumors, the smaller 4.7in handset will have a resolution of 1,334x760 with a pixel density of 326ppi (a minor increase over the S5). The larger 5.5in phablet is said to get a Full HD 1,920x1,080 resolution, with a pixel density of 401ppi. We're not so convinced on these resolutions, as that would mean introducing two new screen sizes for app developers to cope with, which is something that Apple has never done before.
As well as trying to predict the screen resolutions, Kuo also said that Apple will make the iPhone 6 slimmer. He said the bezel would shrink by 10-20 per cent smaller, and move the power button to the side.

At first, we were fairly quick to dismiss rumours that Apple would launch a phone in two screen sizes. After all, it's not something that the company had done before and it usually likes to release a single smartphone. However, the evidence keeps on piling up, so it would appear as though we may well get two handsets.

According to the manufacturing rumours, the 4.7in screen is going into production first. It will use in-cell touch technology, integrating the touch components into the screen to save space. Apparently, there are manufacturing problems making the 5.5in screen, so it may use the traditional film sensor technology instead.

iPHONE 6 SCREEN RESOLUTION AND TECH

Most rumours suggest that the screen will have a Full HD 1,920x1,080 resolution. However, we think that the resolution could be wrong, mostly because of the way that Apple works.

Generally speaking Apple likes resolutions that scale easily from previous products, so it and developers know how apps will look on-screen. Full HD doesn't do this from the existing iPhone or iPads. We think that Apple could quadruple the existing iPhone 5S's screen resolution, giving an iPhone 6 with a resolution of 2,272x1,280 instead. We've covered why the iPhone 6 won't have a Full HD screen in more detail.

Increasing the screen size isn't all that Apple seems to have planned, as the company is also looking at ways of improving image quality. Apple has long been known for its high-quality screens and it seems that it wants to stay ahead of the pack with its latest smartphone. This time around, Apple is said to looking at quantum dot technology for the iPhone 6.

Quantum dots are man-made nanoparticles of semiconductor material, used to create light. They're so small that quantum effects start to take place. Without getting too bogged down in the science, the result is that the size of the dot affects its behaviour.

From a display manufacturer's point of view, this behaviour can be harnessed, as the size of the quantum dot directly affects the wavelength of its light emission. The smaller the dot is, the closer to the blue end of the spectrum; the larger the dot, the closer to the red end of the spectrum it gets.

What's exciting about this is that displays can be fine-tuned using quantum dots of specific sizes. It means that a display can show more accurate colours. Quantum dot is not new technology and the Kindle Fire HDX uses this technology in its screen already. However, as we noted in our Kindle review, one of the downsides was some light bleed around the edge of the screen.

Apple is aware of this problem and is working to correct it. According to recent patents, discovered by Patently Apple, the company is also working on a methods to improve colour gamut. If Apple can overcome some of the limitations of quantum dot technology, the iPhone 6's screen could be hugely impressive.

iPHONE 6 SIZE

ETNews has been reporting that the iPhone 6 will be the slimmest iPhone yet. In fact, at a reported 6mm thick, the iPhone 6 would shave 1.6mm off of the iPhone 5. It would also make the iPhone 6 half the thickness of the iPhone 3GS.

Making the iPhone slimmer also raises the question, will it be called the iPhone 6 at all? When Apple made the iPad slimmer and smaller, it went with iPad Air. Plenty of people believe that the iPhone 6 could be the iPhone Air instead.

It would make sense in a way, as Apple could continue to sell the iPhone 5S as the smaller screen version and have the iPhone Air as the slim, large-screen model

iPHONE 6 RELEASE DATE

The short version is that nobody really knows when the iPhone 6 is coming out. Everyone has a guess, but it's usually wrong. In other words, Apple releases a product when it's good and ready.

Typically, Apple releases a new iPhone once a year, around September. This time around, the rumours are that Apple is breaking that cycle. As the iPhone 6 is largely a complimentary product to the iPhone 5S, giving people a choice of screen sizes, the argument is that Apple will release the new smartphone soon.

So far, we've seen May, June and July all rumoured for a launch date. The information comes from a wide variety of conflicting sources, so none of these feels right.

However, there's a more persuasive argument that the iPhone 6 will launch in September, as is usual. It all comes from the financial report submitted by GT Advanced. This is the company that will manufacture sapphire glass for the new smartphone (see below for more information).

In GT Advanced's earnings report, it's clearly stated that the company expects to earn the vast majority of its money in the second half of the year. That means, from July, GT Advanced will be producing sapphire glass that will have to be shipped to China to be used with the iPhone 6 production line. That would seem to suggest that the iPhone 6 will be released in September, one year after the iPhone 5S.

It's hard to argue with those kinds of figures, but we'll bring you more information as we have it.

iPHONE 6 PRICE

Apple typically releases its new models at the same price as the old ones. If that holds out, then, and assuming that the 16GB model is dropped, we'd expect the 32GB model to cost £529, the 64GB model £599 and the 128GB model £699. However, if the company continues to sell the iPhone 5S, we could be in for some new pricing, with the iPhone 6 a premium model that sits above it, in which case all bets are off and we have no idea how much it will be.

If Apple does decide to make an iPhone with a larger screen, there's also a good chance prices will increase too. Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso, speaking to AllThingsD, predicted that there could be a $50 to $100 premium for a larger iPhone 6, compared to the 4in iPhone 5s.

Rumours of an iPhone 6 substantial price hike have been echoed by The New York Post. Again, the story says that the new smartphone could cost $100 more than the existing iPhone 5S.

Although this goes against Apple's tradition of keeping prices the same across generations, it's not a rule the company is afraid to break every now and then. Last month's iPad Mini with Retina display launch introduced a $70 premium over the entry level model, so a price hike isn't out of the question.

However, there is potential good news. As Apple is said to be planning two screen sizes, it may be that the 4.7in model costs the same as the current iPhone, with only the larger phablet costing more. We're going to have to wait until much closer to launch to have any true idea of pricing, though.

iPHONE 6 TOUGHER CONSTRUCTION

Although beautifully made, the iPhone is just as breakable as any other smartphone, with plenty of people walking around with cracked screens after a drop. Apple appears to be working on a solution to this problem, toughening up its products.

A new deal could signal a super-tough sapphire screen for the iPhone 6. According to reports, Apple has struck a deal with GT Advanced technologies to produce sapphire glass in a plant in Arizona.

The deal was announced by GT Advanced Technologies in a regulatory filing. "The sapphire glass that GT will make in the facility will be used to cover the camera lenses in Apple's phones and the fingerprint-reading devices in its latest products. GT's technology also can be used to make scratchproof glass covers for smartphones, although it is not used for that purpose by Apple today".

Apple is due to pay $578m, which GT Advanced Technologies will use to buy and operate sapphire production equipment in a new Arizona facility. GT Advanced Technologies will pay back the Apple over a five-year period.

While the deal should, in the short-term, provide Apple with the materials it needs for existing components, there's a long-term plan, too. As part of the deal, GT Advanced Technologies will "deliver low cost, high volume manufacturing of sapphire material" using a large-capacity furnace.

Synthetic sapphire glass gets its name because it's transparent, although it's not technically glass. However, sapphire's advantage over glass is its incredible durability and hardiness. Sapphire has a value of 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, putting it just behind diamond. This means that it's extremely difficult to break, resulting in fewer broken iPhones, saving money in repair costs.

It would seem almost certain now that Apple will go with Sapphire Glass. Thanks to GT Advanced's earnings report, covered by Forbes. Looking through the filing, GT Advanced appears to be doing little business in the first and second quarters of the year, but expects to jump massively to $500-to-$700m in the last six months of the year alone.

What this tells us is that GT Advanced is now fully committed to Apple and that it expects to ramp up production of sapphire glass in the second half of the year. Revenues of this size can only be generated by one product: the iPhone. As noted above, this information would also seem to give away the release date, ruling out the iPhone 6 coming in May.

As well as looking at the screen, Apple is also said to be looking at toughening up the case by investigating liquid metal for the iPhone 6. Liquid metal would encase the iPhone 6 is a super-tough metal, built up layer-by-layer, making it a lot hardier and more difficult to break. According to new information, Apple has put in five patents for liquid metal.

One describes how bulk metallic glasses (BMG, or liquid metal to give it the more familiar name) would be layered on top of each other to create components. The main focus on this invention is via 3D printing, allowing Apple to build components and cases from computer-generated designs.

What's more Patently Apple, which found the information, believes that Apple has already used liquid metals in the iPhone 5S, suggesting that the technology is already available. It's clear, then, that Apple is interested in liquid metal for the iPhone and iPad range, so it's now a matter of when.

Liquid metal could make the iPhone 6 a lot tougher than previous models

iPHONE 6 CAMERA

For the iPhone 5S Apple upped the physical size of its 8-megapixel sensor, meaning that each pixel gets more light. In addition, it upgraded the lens from an f/2.4 model to an f/2.2 model, increasing low-light performance again. Combined with the A7 SoC, the camera has a couple of neat modes, including a 10fps burst mode that goes on until the phone's memory is full, and a 120fps slow-motion mode.

It would make sense if Apple was to use this sensor in the iPhone 6, although, given it's a bigger phone, with more room inside for components, it could well up the pixel count, with a 12- or 13-megapixel on the cards.

Apple may also be considering going in a completely different direction, particularly if a new patent is to be used. This suggests that the iPhone 6 could get a refocus-able lightfield camera.

Reported by 9to5Mac, a patent has been granted to Apple for a lightfield camera, allowing people to refocus their shots after they've been taken.

The technology works by capturing light fields, rather than a single 2D capture of the moment. The net result is that a photo is no longer a fixed capture, but one where you can select a part of the picture to completely refocus the image.

We've already seen the technology in use with the Lytro Light Field camera. It's an interesting product, using software to let you choose the point of focus after the image has already been capture. You can see an example of this in the shot below.

Part of the problem with the system is that the Lytro camera only took low-resolution photos, which were no good for printing at a later date. Upping the resolution isn't that easy and, by the details of the patent, not something that Apple is going to do. Instead, the patent refers to a high-resolution and low-resolution mode, with the patent covering a "digital camera system configurable to operate in a low-resolution refocusable mode and a high-resolution non-refocusable mode".

From the sounds of this, the lightfield option would be an option in the camera mode, much as Slo-Mo is with the iPhone 5S. The Slo-Mo editing tools, which are easy-to-use and incredibly intuitive, so if Apple can bring the same approach to lightfield, it could offer a completely different smartphone photography experience.

The patent contains no information as to when or if Apple will use the technology, particularly as it could be hard to slim it down to fit into a smartphone. Still, we can just hope that it will be ready for use in the iPhone 6.

Something that seems a lot more likely is the iPhone 6 to get optical image stabilisation (OIS). This all stems from the rumours that Apple is keen to make the photography better on the iPhone 6, focusing on quality over specifications. While the sensor looks set to stay at 8-megapixels, OIS could help reduce shake and improve photography, particularly in low light.

The information comes from The China Post, quoting from Nomura Securities, stating that Apple "may adopt an 8 mega-pixel (MP) camera with improved optical image stabilization on its upcoming handset, instead of the 16 MP upgrade anticipated by industry observers".

This information follows an Apple patent for improved autofocus and OIS. Information in the patent shows that Apple plans to use a lens actuator module that contains an autofocus mechanism "capable of moving a lens according to at least three degrees of freedom" and an OIS mechanism "capable of moving the lens according to at least two degrees of freedom".

Apple is also said to be looking at using two camera sensors in the iPhone 6 in an effort to boost low-light performance.

According to the Electronic device with two image sensors patent, Apple is developing a camera that has two separate sensors: one for colour and one for light. By doing this, the camera is able to capture more information and produce better photos.

The idea behind the camera is that one sensor is designed to be black and white, capturing luma (brightness detail). The second sensor captures chrome (colour) data. By combining the two into one picture, you'd theoretically be able to take high-quality photos in low-light.

In the words of the patent, ""The electronic device may include a black-and-white camera having a first sensor area configured to receive luma [brightness] data pertaining to the object. The electronic device may also include a colour camera having a second sensor area configured to receive chroma [colour] data pertaining to the object."

This kind of technology will require a lot of processing power, but the rumoured Apple A8 SoC could provide this and may even have a custom image processing chip to deal with the camera's new sensor.

If this information turns out to be true, we're pleased. We've long said that more megapixels doesn't lead to better quality (quite the opposite in many cases), so focusing on the core components and increasing quality is a much better idea.

iPHONE 6 STORAGE

In terms of storage, 64GB has been the top model for a couple of years, and continues to be so for the iPhone 5S. We're not expecting this to change for the iPhone 6, although we know that the Apple can make a 128GB model, thanks to the recent launch of a 128GB iPad 4.

The new model doubled the maximum capacity of the previous high-end iPad (64GB). This update was said to be about increasing the variety of uses for the tablet, with Apple stating that more storage was good for large files for use in applications such as CAD and music production. It's also a more useful amount of storage for photos and videos.

iPHONE 6 A7 SoC

At the moment, the Apple A7 system-on-a-chip (SoC) is the main focus for the company. This is the first 64-bit mobile chip and it's extremely fast. In fact, in our benchmarks on using the iPhone 5S, we found that the A7 is by far the fastest mobile processor. Apple has now used the A7 chip in both the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display.

Where as in the past Apple had to tweak the graphics part of the SoC to work on an iPad's screen by adding quad-core graphics (the latest chip with the A6X), with the A7 this isn't required. Instead, the A7 is fast enough as it is.

With that in mind we'd expect to see the same chip used in the iPhone 6. However, the only caveat is when the phone comes out. If it's early next year then we'd expect the A7 chip to be used as is; if the release date is closer to the end of next year, then we could see a tweaked version, perhaps even a quad-core variant.

As the smartphone become more ubiquitous it makes sense for it to be at the heart of everything we do, including paying for goods. Now, Time Cook, Apple's CEO, has dropped a rather massive hint that Apple is looking at a mobile payments system, which could launch with the iPhone 6.

Reported by [a href="http://business.time.com/2014/01/30/apples-next-big-thing-could-be-allowing-you-to-easily-pay-for-stuff/"], Cook told investors on a recent earnings call, "You can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices…that it’s a big opportunity on the platform."

The question is, how will Apple approach this. Current mobile payments systems rely on NFC. There are plenty of NFC readers in shops now, providing contactless payments via card and phone for transactions of up to £20. However, Apple has so far shunned NFC, refusing to introduce the technology in any of its smartphones or tablets.

Following this, we could assume that Apple will want to go its own way. On its side is the fact that Apple is actually already one of the biggest companies dealing with mobile payments, thanks to the collection of credit card details and payments it processes through iTunes and the App Store. It would make sense for Apple to find a way to open up its systems and start letting people pay for goods in stores.

One way it could do this is with iBeacon. This indoor positioning system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), letting low-cost transmitters advertise their presences to iOS 7 devices. For example, the system can be used to broadcast offers in a shop alongside a payment system. In fact, Apple already uses this technology in its stores to let customers pay for goods without having to approach a till.

Apple could roll out iBeacon to other shops, making it an addition, not replacement, to NFC terminals. The benefit of Apple's system, particularly if used with verification, such as through TouchID, is that it could allow transactions of any value, rather than the £20 limit of today.

The problem with reporting on a product that doesn't officially exist is working out which leaks are real and which ones are just made up. Sadly, the most recent iPhone 6 photos have proven to be fake.

Posted by a Twitter user, @mornray886, the photos purported to show the iPhone 6. However, closer inspection showed that things weren't quite as they appeared. For starters, the Twitter user was new and had only posted up these pictures.

Secondly, the phone was covered in protective plastic, but both the front and back had identical air bubbles. Finally, a Reddit user showed that the fingerprint smudges were lifted from an iPad render made by Martin Hajek. This proved that the iPhone 6 photos were just an artist's rendering.

We're not against renders, as they can help visualise what a feature might look like. However, we are against renders being passed off as the real thing. As for the iPhone 6, we're going to have to wait a bit longer to find out what it will really look like.