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Sketchy photo of an iPhone 6 front panel appears on Chinese forum (Update: additional photos)

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A picture claiming to be of an “iPhone 6” front panel has surfaced on a Chinese forum after being posted without context on Weibo. Details surrounding the image are not clear, but the forum poster claims that it originates from within an iPhone ‘factory’. The image was first found by iphon.fr.

Compared to the iPhone 5s, as shown above, the screen size is noticeably larger. It appears to feature a screen approximately 4.7 inches diagonally, as previously rumored.




Yesterday, iPhone molds appeared online that seemed to resemble a 4.7 inch form factor.  The area of the supposed next-generation panel could almost contain the entire device footprint of the 5s.

Apart from the increase in size, the device is almost identical to current iPhone designs, although the side bezels may have decreased in width marginally. The opening for the front camera also seems to be placed higher up than the same hole in the 5s’s faceplate.

Nowhereelse.fr has also posted a shot of what it claims to be next-generation iPhone batteries. The images are about as interesting as you would expect from battery pics; they don’t show anything of significance. There is also little evidence to support that these are actually for future iPhone devices.

Batteries-iPhone-6

This purported iPhone 6 bezel compares it to the iPhone 5 display:

iPhone_6_front_panel

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Comments

  1. Man, if these are in any way left; Apple will be p!ssed!

  2. Tim Jr. - 10 years ago

    That looks more like the 5.5″ to me. Note is about same size screen to screen ..

  3. basbadjas (@basbadjas) - 10 years ago

    Look at the size of that home button…
    Sorry, but this ain’t even close to the real thing.

    • I disagree. That home button size looks fine. If it uses the same button as the 5s it will have a coloured ring around the actually sapphire sensor. Looking at this it looks about the same. I’m disappointed by that bezel. Especially at the top and bottome with the speakers and camers, I thought they’d shorten that length to stop the phone being so tall. That is if this is real.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        It’s clearly real. The real question here is it a prototype of is this what the shipping device will have for its front.

    • Taylor Smith - 10 years ago

      @irelandjnr yes, it’s as real as flight MH370 was abducted by aliens.

  4. Fake Sound (@Secrxt) - 10 years ago

    I feel like it would have a smaller bezel…

  5. Richard Everson - 10 years ago

    Has the FaceTime camera moved again?
    Odd choice

    • Michael Napier (@NapMan) - 10 years ago

      If you are referring to the hole to the left of the speaker cutout that is the ambient light sensor. The camera appears to be above the speaker opening, just like it is on the 5/5S/5C

      • It appears to me that the black dot at the top is smaller than the one to the left, which is the opposite to how it is now. I think that the camera sensor will continue to be larger than the light ambient sensor (it makes more sense) and therefore it looks like they switched places.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        They appear to have switched places because the sizes switched places, but I just know Apple wouldn’t put the FaceTime off-center. That would simply never happen.

    • Yes (@AMillah) - 10 years ago

      Seems to me because they reduced the height of the bezels above and below the display, meaning there was probably less room for the camera to fit above the earpiece if the top of the bezel is now closer to the earpiece. Just speculation, though that seems the most likely reason.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        Nah, more likely the ambient light sensor got larger (new sensor?) to get a more accurate and adjust brightness more aggressively to save battery life on the device with a much larger display or something like that. They wouldn’t dream of putting the FaceTime cam off center.

    • Richard Everson - 10 years ago

      It has moved, back to the side.
      That hole at the top is way too small for the FaceTime camera.

  6. themis333 - 10 years ago

    The leaks are going to just flow from here. To me, this looks to be a bit too big for a 4.7 inch design. I would be disappointed if the actual phone turns out to be this big. I enjoy the compact form factor of my 5s. I was hoping for a bigger screen with a similar dimensioned body.

  7. lottoStud (@1LottoStud) - 10 years ago

    Look at the pallet in the bottom corner, def look legit to me. I welcome the bigger screen, just wish they could have squeezed it in a smaller form factor. Bezel and everything else looks the same, just scaled up unfortunately.

    • Great spot, I didn’t see that. If these are fake they’ve made a fair few of them, and if they were made by hoaxers surely they’d post better pictures. I’m calling this reall

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        You can tell they aren’t hoaxes. But you can’t tell if they are simply prototypes.

  8. Frederick Fidura - 10 years ago

    I had a Samsung Galaxy S3 and absolutely hated it. Despite all its wonderful specs, I found it impossible to hold it comfortably usually requiring two hands to do anything. I couldn’t wait to trade it in for an iPhone 5S. I love it because it fits so comfortably in my hand and that is part of the Apple aesthetic which you will never find in other products. I pray Apple doesn’t do something stupid like mimic the Samsung Galaxy.

    • They definitely are looking to mimic the Galaxy and other larger Android models. The reality is what seems too big to you isn’t too big for other people. It’s like how people used to complain about how big the Xbox controller was, but I always found it very comfortable, while using the Playstation controller always left me with crampy hands. Different sized people like different sized devices. Apple is just presenting choice.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        They’ll eventually have a family of iPhones with 2 or 3 sizes to choose from. Perhaps that will happen this year. In fact it’s that way now with the 4s around, but that is soon to reach EOL. I see them keeping the 5s around and introducing first a 4.7″ iPhones 6 first and they’ll see how that plays out before deciding if they need to or should add a 5.1″ model. I’m not buying the 5.5″ rumours. I think they’re wrong. The “well respected” analyst who predicted both these sizes also predicted a thinner Retina MBP for WWDC 2013, but that never materialised. And then he predicted a 12.9″ iPad, but seems to be morphing that prediction into a 12 Retina MacBook Air or something.

  9. Keeping the top and bottom bezels the same ratio is just a bad idea the bigger you go. The iP4 was fine but moving up, the iP5 cutting it close. With a 4.7 screen you have to shrink the bezels otherwise you end up with a phone like the HTC One that was just long. Which it gets dinged on during reviews. I think Apple painted themselves into a bit of a corner with the TouchID being round. Last year was a time to rethink the homebutton design. If they go bigger, that design is going to bite them.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      But with a small top bezel the device would look out if proportion and decidedly uglier that it will otherwise. And the bonus about going longer is they can fit in a longer battery while reducing volume on the z-axis and still getting good battery life. The battery will be thin but a monster. I think battery life will be stellar for this device.

  10. Octopus (@fredddieleee) - 10 years ago

    In the reflection of the glass you can see the person taking the picture with their shirt pulled over their face to not show who they are. Definitely looks like it could be real. Hopefully the bezels shrink more with the final design.

    • afvet13 - 10 years ago

      No, that’s a guy bending over, behind the piece. You can see his head.
      The reason I believe this is legit is because the major body leaks from the past couple years are all from this guy with super long thumbnails. Same hands.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        The screen is so big a man can almost fit inside it!!! ;-)

    • I thought so too at first but if you look closely you can see that it’s actually a person bent over facing towards the pile of screens. Anyway, I too cross my fingers for smaller bezels, that thing just looks fat.

      • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

        The bezels actually look the same size as on the 5s. Makes you wonder why if real? Perhaps there’s a usage reason? Try grasping a 5/5s in one hand and check out the way the folds of skin on your fingers end up just about one mm from the digitiser. Yes, they added that accidental touch software to the iPad mini/Air, but what if it’s not as east to add such software to a far small then iPad display without adding unwanted side effects?

  11. tigerpork - 10 years ago

    I think this is fake. This is probably one of those chinese company that sells replacement touch screens on ebay.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      And they make a larger one for a photo and claim no ownership for attention? Nah, it’s real alright. The real question here is it a prototype design or a finished design.

    • Taylor Smith - 10 years ago

      Agreed, it’s fake.

  12. Alex (@Metascover) - 10 years ago

    May be legit. Too big for me.

  13. David Fabian - 10 years ago

    It is clear that the top bezel has been reduced by a little bit compared to my white iPhone 5. From the speaker to the top on the iPhone 5, there is more space than in this supposed iPhone 6 glass. The reduced space on the top bezel could also point to the reason for moving the Facetime camera to the left of the speaker, since the camera requires more space than the ambient light sensor.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      Incorrect, I think. It looks more like the ear-speaker has been centred vertically now. If anything the bezel here like a shade taller than the 5 I’m typing this text into.

  14. fugu (@fuguapp) - 10 years ago

    maybe it’s a chinese copy, based on rumors. Remember that S6 copy that we saw the next day of the launching?

    The lcd, touch sensor and protective glass are all one tight sandwich. No way Apple is going to make a 2 part screen like the iPhone 3s… the 5s is just one piece.

  15. Mike Bellman - 10 years ago

    I do not want a thinner phone or a smaller bezel frame. The case style I use is a full body case and a bezel is important to hold the phone inside the frame (see transformers aluminum frame hard cases made by arachnophobia)
    I just want more battery capacity and a better camera.

    • irelandjnr - 10 years ago

      The great think about having a larger display is you get a larger device, so even if the device is 0.5 mm thinner than the 5s the battery could still be way bigger overall. In fact, if they move/reengineer the components around thanks larger internal footprint they might even be able to squeeze into this phone not just a much longer and possibly wider battery, but a thicker one too.

  16. Sam Edlund - 10 years ago

    iLike her nails :D

  17. Reduce the upper and lower bezels please, i so hate this, copy the front plate from Nexus 5

  18. Taylor Smith - 10 years ago

    That’s a plastic screen…dont be so gullible. However, I do believe the iPhone 6 will have a maximum 4.7 inch screen (Not 5.+) as many reported. The iPhone 6C might have the same 4.0 inch screen as the iPhone 5/5S

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.