Is Apple’s next iPhone really going to have an unsightly camera bulge on the back akin to Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and many other Android handsets out there? You bet it will, if questionable images said to depict an iPhone 6 in trial production are anything to go by.
While there’s no way of determining the veracity of these photographs, we’ve managed to spot a few discrepancies which cast doubt on their legitimacy, so you too are advised to apply some skepticism…
The images are said to be sourced from Foxconn, Apple’s manufacturing partner, and were first published on Chinese microblogging site Weibo and relayed by the Chinese blog GforGames.
They depict the back of a device which seemingly resembles Apple’s next iPhone. You can also catch glimpses on a production software displaying what appears to be a 3D model of the device.
The device pictured appears a slightly taller, slimmer and wider than the current iPhone 5s. However, that rounded hole for LED flash on the back is suspicious given the pill-shaped True Tone dual-LED flash on the iPhone 5s.
We have no reason to believe that the next iPhone will revert to a single LED flash design, but who knows… Anyway, provided these shots are legit, the iPhone 6 should incorporate a back camera that protrudes slightly, like on the iPod touch.
The camera lens protrusion shouldn’t be a deal breaker, no?
It is entirely possible that Apple was prototyping various iPhone 6 designs, among them the device pictured here, but there’s no way of ascertaining whether this particular prototype ever made it past the testing stage.
For what it’s worth, a purported engineering drawing upon which today’s iPhone 6 renderings are based also calls for a rounded LED flash design and a protruding camera component on the back.
The sketches, seen below, claim that the iPhone 6 will be 7.1mm thin (the iPhone 5s is 7.6mm thick). If its chassis is too thin to accommodate the entirety of the back camera module, the protrusion becomes perfectly conceivable.
Apple is also said to consider increasing the iPhone 6’s thickness slightly to 7.5mm to do away with the camera bulge. As a reference point, all previous iPhone models have had camera lens flush with their body.
The rumor-mill thinks Apple is working on two iPhone models this year, one with a 4.7-inch screen and the other using a screen that measures at least 5.5 inches diagonally, which would class that model as your typical phablet.
Other features of the iPhone 6 are said to include a speedier A8 chip, edge-to-edge display design with sapphire protection, three new sensors, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and an improved eight-megapixel camera.
Should Apple sacrifice thinness for the sake of seamless design or should the next iPhone be as thin as possible, the protruding camera lens be damned?