A user on the MacX forum [translation] claims to have gotten his hands on a part from the upcoming iPhone 6 that features the data and audio connectors, as well as one of the device’s microphones. The source of these photos? According to the poster:
Source is one of my junior high school classmates, he never phones in Shenzhen, the manufacturing industry a few years, I did not ask him where to come
Given the fact that this is from an unknown source, it would be prudent to question the veracity of any claims made regarding these images. That said, there’s also a chance the part could be real. Let’s take a closer look at the second photo:
In the photo above, the larger white piece near the bottom appears to be the audio out connection, while the wider (also white) part in the middle looks like it could be a Lightning port. The small black and gold part between the two would be the microphone.
For comparison, here are photos of the same part from iFixit’s teardowns of the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5. As you can see, they’re quite similar.
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- iPhone 5 Lightning and audio ports (via iFixit)
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- iPhone 5c Lightning and audio ports (via iFixit)
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- iPhone 5s Lightning and audio ports (via iFixit)
Whether this is for the smaller 4.7-inch model, or the 5.5-inch variant isn’t mentioned, but given the relative lack of leaked parts for the larger design, it seems logical that this would be for the smaller version. We’ve already seen a host of parts and design leaks for the 4.7-inch model, including a sapphire display cover, dummy models, and alleged supplier renders for accessory design.
The larger model is said to be facing manufacturing issues that could delay its launch until next year, though both models are expected to be in mass production very soon.
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Besides for Apple, what other company do they do this type of “components before assembly” charade. This is so damn stupid. That part could be from anything. I’d certainly like to know why this stuff is important to anyone at all. There are hundreds of models of Android smartphones and I’ve never seen anyone posting internals of any of them.
Apple is an exciting company. It’s exciting to speculate and watch what they are working on, even if it is just a regular internal component. They have a reputation for beautiful product design, stretching to even internal components, so this stands to reason.
I have never felt this way about other devices / manufacturers since Cybiko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko) or Tapwave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapwave_Zodiac) years and years ago. Exciting products (to me) with great communities at the time.
Disclaimer: I’m a total fanboy.
When did Apple tie up with Microsoft to produce the iPhone 6 Surface? /s
Surface is a verb.
You can also read it as “appear”.
Thanks, I knew that but my playful side couldn’t resist making a joke.
I wonder what they will do in the long run, because as far as thinness goes, the lightening connector and home button are going to compete for space. It will be interesting to see which will go first, or if they’ll get rid of them both at the same time.