Monday, we got our first glimpse of what a rumored iPhone 6c might look like in a pair of purported images of the handset’s rear shell, leaked by Chinese parts vendor Future Supplier and reposted by French blog NowhereElse.fr.
The part resembles the backplate of the current-generation iPhone 5c, sans a thicker casing, a pill-shaped LED flash hole next to the iSight camera, two rows of speaker grilles on the bottom versus a single row of four holes on the iPhone 5c and six microphone holes stacked in two rows versus just one mic hole on the iPhone 5c.
If these comparison shots are anything to go by, there may be credence to the four-inch iPhone 6c talk after all, in spite of critics hoping the handset would go away as to avoid “cheapening,” or so they say, of the Apple brand.
I wouldn’t bet on this particular leak if I were you.
Part vendors often have hidden agenda sharing supposed Apple leaks on the web (hint: free press). It’s also possible that this is a part for a Chinese knock-off iPhone product.
Be that as it may, the rumor-mill expects the iPhone 5c to share to share the same display technology, Touch ID fingerprint recognition, NFC and Corning’s Gorilla Glass screen protection like the forthcoming iPhone 6s models, with the exception of last year’s camera and processor.
Costing between $400-$500, the iPhone 6c should become Apple’s new entry-level model, as per DigiTimes, suggesting the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 4s will be removed from market come this fall.
I believe this is exactly what’s going to happen this year. Apple’s smartphone lineup will be much cleaner if it keeps only 4, 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones on the market that share the same design and most of the features, with the screen size being the major differentiator.
Source: Future Supplier via NowhereElse.fr (Google Translate)