iPhone 6 renders supposedly meant for accessory manufacturers leak, claim 6mm thinness

“UkranianiPhone.com has posted images of what it claims are iPhone 6 renders aimed at helping manufacturers produce accessories for the upcoming device,” Benjamin Mayo reports for 9to50Mac.

“The images appear to be better quality versions of the schematics leaked a few weeks ago. They depict the full-metal backplate with inlets at the top and bottom, assumedly related to the antenna structure. The cutouts for these lines match the image from the previous leaks,” Mayo reports. “Interestingly, the renders also give specific measurements saying that the phone is 138mm in height, 67 mm in width, and 6 mm in depth.”

“This is slightly taller and wider than the current iPhone 5s, which measures 124 mm by 59 mm,” Mayo reports. “These sizes point to a screen of about 4.7 inches, as suggested many times before.”

Read more and see the images in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]

38 Comments

      1. I’m a long long-time Apple fan and I also think iOS7 sucks. I’m still using iOS6 on my 4s. The interface is what sucks to me, it looks like it was designed by girls for girls. Stupid ugly 60’s psychedelic colors are butt-ugly.

        I’m an engineer and I want something professional looking. Doesn’t have to be snazzy. iOS6 was fine.

        All that said, I *may* upgrade to an iPhone 6 if it has a slightly bigger screen and iOS8 is on it and iOS8 isn’t so girlish looking…

        I hope and pray that Apple doesn’t make a later version of OSX look like iOS.

    1. Oookkaaay, I thought you mighta folded up shop and moved on down the road, but I see you’re lonely and tired of watching the Fistory Channel, and need to exercise your Fist Amendment rights.

    1. Verizon’s/Samsung’s current fix for this camera issue is for users not to use their phones, i.e., they are telling people not to install or use apps that access the camera like Instagram, Facebook, etc. Can you imagine the firestorm if Apple said something similar? It would be plastered all over the front-page news and the stock would tank from 700 to 390. But with Samsung? – “Get your 2 for 1 here. Get your 2 for 1 of junk.”

  1. I really hope they don’t make it any bigger, am I the only one who still misses the 3.5in iPhones? Also it would be nice if they made the iPhone 6 all glass like the 4/4S, the renderings on this look identical to the 5/5S and it shouldn’t since it’s a brand new redesign.

    1. This article highly consistent with the information that I posted quite a while back about an iPhone with a 4.5″ display. I recall estimating similar increases in width and height based on an extrapolation from the geometry of the 4.0″ display. This indicates that Apple will retain the same 16:9 display aspect ratio as the 5c/5s.

      According to the article, the iPhone 6 will be 14mm taller (138mm vs. 124mm) and 8mm wider (67mm vs. 59mm). To put that in perspective, 14mm is approximately 0.551″ and 8mm is approximately 0.315″.

      The iPhone 4s is 115mm tall. So the 5s is about 9mm taller and the leaked numbers for the 6 make it 23mm taller, or about 0.906″. The widths of the 4s, 5c, and 5s are virtually the same.

      In addition, if the 6 is only 6mm thick, it will slightly less than 2/3 the thickness of the 4s.

      The iPhone 4s has a 3.5″ display. The iPhone 5/5c/5s has a 4.0″ display. And the rumors for the 6 place it at 4.7″. Personally, I believe that the substantial increase in display size is well worth the extra height and width of the rumored iPhone 6. I believe that it hits a sweet spot that will appeal to a lot of people. And, as I have said before, I would be fine with Apple offering several models of the iPhone with different display sizes. Apple differentiated the iPod lineup very successfully. It will work for the iPhone, too.

      1. My only problem is that at this size (except for the thinness) the iPhone 6 will be the same size as Android phones that have 5″ screens and much larger than all Android phones with similar 4.7 inch screen. So we are are essentially getting the added difficulty of handling a larger phone without the added benefit of the extra screen real estate to show for it. This phone is essentially (minus the width a bit) the same height as the Galaxy S5 (5.2″ screen), and the Nexus 5 (actually slightly shorter than the proposed iPhone 6 but has a 5″ screen).

        1. First, I have to say that it is entirely possible that the *real* iPhone 6 will be different than the “leaked” (perhaps fabricated?) versions. I will reserve judgment until I get my hands on the shipping product.

          Second, if the display aspect ratio remains the same, the size differences between a 4.7″ display, a 5.0″ display, and a 5.2″ display are not really that big. In addition, due to the Pythagorean Theorem, the effect of a 0.5″ increase in the display diagonal has a diminishing effect on the display height and width dimensions as the display size increases. Thus the jump from 4.7: to 5.2″ represents a somewhat smaller increment in the external display dimensions. Apple designers have made it clear in the past that they understand these considerations and are very serious about optimizing the user experience. Apple has a rather strong product history, so I am not going to start second-guessing Apple based on product rumors.

          The ironic thing is that Apple is now on the other side of the aspect ratio issue. Apple successfully argued that their 4:3 iPad aspect ratio is better for 8″ to 10″ tablet displays. But Apple also evolved their iPhone display from a 3.5″/3:2 aspect ratio to a more vertically stretched 4.0″/16:9 aspect ratio. If the iPhone display size increases beyond 4.7″, Apple may need to reconsider the optimal aspect ratio.

          The iPhone Home button is a key factor in the dimensions of the iPhone because it drives the size of the lower bezel. However, the Apple home button also works very well for Touch ID, which is reputedly greatly superior to the Samsung “swipe” ID. The Samsung approach does enable a smaller bezel. Perhaps Apple can embed all of this functionality into the display and dispense with the physical Home button in future versions of the iPhone.

          While the iPhone has used symmetric top/bottom bezel dimensions to date, there is no such thing as a “Law of Symmetry” in Apple design. Apple may strongly favor symmetry, but Apple also knows when and how to balance aesthetics with functionality.

          Some Android phones have very thin bezels. This is nice in terms of squeezing a larger display into a given form factor. But it also increases the risk of display damage from impacts. I personally value robustness over a small reduction in width or a small increase in display size. Again, I expect Apple to make educated and wise decisions in terms of the evolution of the iPhone design.

          After initially copying the iPhone and iPad, Android phone makers have tried to find ways to differentiate their products from the iPhone and competing Android smartphones and tablets. Display size has been an easy way to “look different” rather than actually “thinking different.” My personal belief is that Apple has waited too long before releasing an iPhone with a larger display. It should have been released last year, at the latest. But I am also confident that a larger iPhone will be rapidly adopted by consumers and quickly erase that disadvantage.

        2. They often are, grizzmick. Sometimes I step back from these discussions because of that type of crap. This forum was so much better 10 years ago when far fewer people cared about Apple and even fewer wasted their time trolling Apple forums. But I enjoy discussing Apple with my fellow Apple fans. New/revised product discussions are my favorites, because it is fun to speculate even when you turn out to be wrong.

          I hope that Apple finds a way to make their iOS ecosystem more independent of display resolution and aspect ratio. That will free up Apple designers to do what is best rather than live with the shackles of a few specific values.

    2. It’s a render, for size only. It’s also easier to make a one-piece frame/back structure, with antenna ‘windows’ top and bottom, which also makes for a stronger, less fragile structure.

        1. You obviously missed all the posts where people say they’d like a slightly bigger screen without it becoming a ‘phablet’; or else you’re just ignoring anything that doesn’t fit into your narrow world-view, just sticking your fingers in your ears, going ‘lalalalalala’
          (Rolls eyes)

        2. The Moto X also has a 4.7 inch screen but puts it in a smaller and easier to handle with one hand package; allowing you to traverse the entire phone top to bottom with one hand… I am one of the people who wanted a bigger screen, however I wasn’t expecting the industry leading engineers at Apple to be unable to engineer a phone as compact as Motorola with that same 4.7 for goodness sakes.

    1. I believe that 4.0″ and 4.7″ displays will meet the needs and desires of the vast majority of consumers. According to MDN’s online poll, a few consumers (~2%) might want smaller displays, and a somewhat larger minority of consumers (~16%) might want larger displays. But, for 76% of respondents, their “dream” iPhone screen size ranges from 4.0″ to 5.0″, and there is not a lot of difference between 4.7″ and 5.0″. Granted, this poll probably does not accurately reflect the desires of consumers across the world. In some countries, a “phablet” form factor may be more desirable. If Apple eventually produces an iPhone lineup with display sizes of 4.0″, 4.7″, and 5.5″, then it will offer something of great interest to nearly every potential customer.

  2. I hope the new iPhone will be called the Airphone.
    I detest 5S and S5 naming schemes.
    Airphone is catchy, kinda like Oprah…no last name needed.

    Add an otter box to 6mm and it will still be pretty thin for work use. Hope it is a little heavier than the latest iPod.

  3. There are a couple of problems with this…

    One is the single flash hole, although Apple may have found a way to use a single flash to achieve the same effect as they currently have.

    The other is that we’re still looking at a Fall launch. When Apple used to launched iPhones earlier, they had the beta available for iOS much earlier in the year as well. Since there’s no beta yet, iOS 8 can’t be expected to launch until later, thus the iPhone 6 will be a Fall launch (or end of summer at the earliest).

    Apple doesn’t provide details to “accessory manufactures” pretty much at all, let alone this far in advance. It doesn’t make sense given that the accessories that would really be dependent on the design would by case manufacturers, and they can start cranking out product literally within days.

    In the past, cases were plentiful simply between the date of product announcement and the actual ship date of the iPhone without any specs being sent in advance.

    The only exception to any of this would be specialized case makers like Mophie, and as much as I’d like them to receive the specs in advance so that they’d have a product available at launch, they never have. If a major player like Mophie (or Speck or Griffin) isn’t going to be given advanced specs, why would some cheap vendor with ties to UkranianiPhone.com be given them?

    Maybe, just maybe…

    UkranianiPhone.com took a look at all the existing rumors and doctored one up themselves to draw traffic to their site.

    Of course, why bother thinking that way when click, click, click, fap, fap, fap = $$$

  4. this is worse for Samsung then apple’s Maps debacle, with the maps problem user could use alternative maps, but when the camera is down there is no alternative. Cheap Camera and a shitty firmware from Samsung is expected, and with the OS/firmware they probably have not much control either.

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