We’ve had an endless string of rumors and supposedly leaked photo photos showing parts of the iPhone 6. Whether any of these will turn out to be true remains to be seen. This time we have some photos of an alleged mold posted on a Chinese form and picked up by the French website Nowhereelse. However, they may not be credible, according to Apple Insider.
iPhone 6 takes on Samsung
Most believe the iPhone 6 will have a bigger screen, and we’ve heard numerous reports that there will be a 4.7-inch model and a 5.5-inch model. If this is true, then Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) is going to see increased competition in the phablet market. Speaking on Bloomberg, Brian Blair of Rosenblatt Securities said the larger iPhone 6 is going to “really attack Samsung at the high end.”
When asked about whether saturation or competition has been responsible for slowing smartphone numbers, the analyst said there’s a little bit of both. He noted that sales of high-end smartphones priced over $500 are slowing and that there is increasing competition in Asia, particularly at the low end.
Earlier this month, someone leaked what they claimed to be images of the front panel of the iPhone 6, so it comes as no surprise that we have images which are supposedly of the molds used to make cases for the handset. There’s nothing in these images which hasn’t already been suggested by past rumors, which means it’s possible that the person who made the mold simply created it according to the rumors.
Why the iPhone 6 mold could be a fake
However, there are a few things in the images which make them suspect, according to Apple Insider. While the dimensions of the mold do suggest a 4.7-inch screen and an ultra-thin design, there is a rear-facing camera which sticks out from the handset. We saw artist renderings with a protruding camera in the past, but this week a Chinese analyst with pretty good connections suggested that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would use electronic image stabilization (EIS) rather than optical image stabilization (OIS). If she is correct about that, the camera may not protrude from the back of the iPhone 6 because EIS technology would allow the camera to be smaller and possibly fit inside an ultra-thin casing.
Apple Insider suggests the protrusion in the mold is meant to hold an old-style LED flash. Such a flash was first seen in March on a supposedly leaked photo of a prototype chassis. In the iPhone 5S, however, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) moved to a two-color dual-LED True Tone camera, so it would seem odd that the company would backtrack so much on the camera for the iPhone 6.
Previous iPhone patent could provide a clue
Earlier this month, there were reports of a patent which could provide an explanation for why the iPhone 6 could have a protruding camera lens. The patent indicated that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might offer interchangeable camera lenses along with the handset. Of course once again, the person who created the mold could have designed it according to this patent if the mold isn’t the real deal.
