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Claimed ‘iPhone 6C’ rear shell leaks, lends further credence to rumors of new 4-inch model

iPhone-6C-Rear-Housing-1

Image via Future Supplier

Some new photos posted by Future Supplier claim to show the leaked rear casing to the rumored “iPhone 6C.” Recent reports have said that the device will sport a 4-inch screen like that of the iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S, allowing it to appeal to those who prefer smaller displays over the larger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

While the veracity of these shots has not been confirmed, there are some interesting details to note that could give us some more clues about the design of the rumored device.

In the image above, there are a few notable differences between the purported iPhone 6C and the iPhone 5C provided for comparison. The cutout for the camera flash on the 6C is elongated, unlike the round one found on the iPhone 5C and current iPhone models. The elongated shape goes back to the introduction of the True Tone flash in the iPhone 5S.

There are also changes to the cutout for the camera itself. Unlike the iPhone 6, the supposed 6c does not feature a “camera bump.” The opening for the lens seems to be flush with the rest of the shell. Additional changes can be noted by looking at the device from another angle.

iPhone-6C-Rear-Housing-2

Image via Future Supplier

On the bottom of the handset, there are changes to how the mic and speaker grilles are designed. On the current iPhone 6, there are six speaker holes on the left side of the Lightning connector (when the phone is face down), and one microphone opening next to the headphone jack.

On the 5C, there were only four speaker holes, but the design is otherwise the same.

The new photos of the supposed 6C, however, show eight speaker holes arranged in two rows on what looks to be a noticeably thicker body that is found on the iPhone 6. The microphone has also gained a few extra openings, with six cutouts now situated next to the headphone jack rather than just one. Like the speaker grilled, those circular cutouts are stacked in two rows.

It’s hard to say whether these images are real or fake just yet. While some of the changes seem to be a step backwards for Apple, like the seemingly thicker design and elongated camera flash, the redesigned audio grilles and the removal of the “camera bump” could indicate that it’s actually a step forward. It’s also entirely possible that this is simply one design Apple is considering, or an entirely fake shell.

Rumors of multiple next-gen iPhone models in varying sizes have been swirling for a while now, with some indicating that the 6S will receive Apple’s new Force Touch technology and be available in the color pink—though it doesn’t seem likely that the above photos are any indication of what that might look like on the higher-grade device.

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Comments

  1. Богдан Чуб - 9 years ago

    Plastic? Not again!

    • tomorrowville - 9 years ago

      Why? The plastic bodied 5C feels nice. It’s a nice alternative for those who want some color. What’s wrong with that?

      • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

        I don’t have a problem with Polycarb cases for their lower tier models, but they need better colors, the pastel colors they used on the 5C are ugly.

        They need to use something a little snazzier.

      • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

        @Rich Davis it’s no wonder because the person at Apple who’s speciality is colour is female.

    • say8425 - 9 years ago

      I agree with you. I don’t want plastic.
      It makes iPhone looks like a toy.

  2. Let the rumours start, again :D

  3. bunim1 - 9 years ago

    IPhone 5s will be 6c. Simple. The idea is will there be a 4 inch 6s ? No there will not. Not enough people care about the 4 inch and the people that do will do with 6c

    • Lagax (@Lagax_) - 9 years ago

      A lot of people care about 4-inch. Definitely more than those who care for 5.5-inch… At least here in germany…

      • Dafty Punk - 9 years ago

        HELL YES! I will trade in my 6 for a 6c in a heartbeat if it’s a 4″ phone! The 4.7″ is too big for me. I get why some people prefer larger phones, I’m not saying they are terrible, they just don’t work for me. Based on my online reading, there are a lot of people like me out there as well.
        Even if it’s just the iPhone 6 guts stuffed into a 5c shell, I’ll be happy. The performance and camera has been great with my 6, it’s just the large screen size (making it tough to use one handed) that I don’t like.

      • Matthew Judy - 9 years ago

        There are a whole lot of people who want an iPhone 6 “Mini”, myself included. I’ll gladly sacrifice a bit of battery life for the ability to operate my phone with one hand.

    • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

      How many people who care about 4″ won’t be the determining factor, it will be if they can actually engineer a phone that small. I think if they could have before, the option would exist. Whether they can do it now is still a question. It doesn’t seem promising that this has the 5s flash cutout though…

    • bluemeansgo - 9 years ago

      When they came out with the 5c, it had slightlty upgraded internals (compared to the 5). However, it was also replacing last year’s phone. This will be replacing two years ago’s phone as the entry level. Perhaps they will add NFC to the iPhone 5s and brand it the iPHone 6c. Or the iPhone sport… in line with the watch line.

      The 5c phone is actually pretty popular and serves as a gateway phone for many people. There will be enough to differentiate the 6 (size) and 6s (force touch, pink metallic) to warrant the price premiums people will pay for them. The 5s will be discontinued in its metal form.

    • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

      If they do a plastic 6s I think they should do aluminium 7’s in 4, 4.7 and 5.5 treating them all as equals.

    • Yep, it makes sense for the 5S to reappear as a 6C. They will probably add an NFC chip so it can do Apple Pay properly but that’s about it.

  4. Ryan - 9 years ago

    Seems pretty obvious that the 5s will become the 6c, especially with the pill-shaped flash.

  5. zubeirg87 - 9 years ago

    It seems pretty clear to me that this is not the rumoured “iphone 6c”. Judging by the form factor, I think this is gonna be the iphone 5c with its internals upgraded to that of the 5s, albeit I don’t see them naming it the 5sc. Perhaps they’ll keep the 5c name, or new 5c.

    • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

      I think keeping the same name (5s) is a bad move and won’t happen. Two different phones with the same name but different internals is not sensible. The iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5s are also almost certainly going to be retired for good this year, so calling it the iPhone 5sc (or iPhone 5 anything) is kind of silly too. It will most likely be named iPhone 6c, even though it will most likely have 5s internals.

      • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

        Honestly I think the whole numbering thing got way too complicated with the introduction of the color line. Should just be iPhone and iPhone color.

  6. zubeirg87 - 9 years ago

    I forgot to include that it will most definitely replace the original 5c at the entry level, also meaning that the 5s will be discontinued and replaced by this device. Just like the 5c replaced the 5.

    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

      I can see Apple replacing the 5S with a 5SC (polycarb) for the low end, then make the 6 and 6+ into 6C and 6C+ for the middle tier models and then a 6S, 6S+ for the top end.

      C=polycarb case
      S=(I have no idea what S stands for)

      I think that Apple should just use numbers for each year’s release and don’t use the 6, 6S, 7, 7S….. The 2015 year should just be the 7 and 7+. and then add “C” for the polycarb version.

      I can see a slightly lower priced “C” version selling well since the price is more affordable, it’s 64Bit and larger screen. I think the 5C didn’t do well because it was 32Bit and the colors were kind of on the ugly side.

      Plus they have to make them so the Bendgate issue doesn’t surface on all these new models. While most people aren’t really being affected by it, the fact that people were breaking them with just their bare hands isn’t good publicity. They do need to make these things more bullet proof.

      • rettun1 - 9 years ago

        That last point is great. I hope they actually make these next iphones thicker, for a couple of reasons; the camera could be flush with the body, they could market it as a more durable body, and heck they could actually increase battery life while they are at it. That alone would be a good upgrade, with faster chips and more ram being the bonus. MAKE IT HAPPEN TIM!!

        and you’re right the names are getting a little confusing

  7. Patrick (@PatrickPoech) - 9 years ago

    iPhone 5s transforms into 6C. Pretty sure.

    • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

      They may *call* it the 6c, but it looks more like 5s technology so far. We still need a 4″ iPhone 6.

  8. philboogie - 9 years ago

    I’d trade in my 6 for a 4″ version with the latest internals. In a heartbeat. This iPhone6 is too large for me.

  9. borntofeel - 9 years ago

    It won’t just be a 5S into a new body for sure. For starters, it will have Apple Pay.

  10. 619insd - 9 years ago

    What Apple should do to try and get more android users to switch is make the iPhone 6c with the same specs as the 6s and 6s plus but a tiny bit smaller screen, a smaller battery and a removable back with an extra battery. Android users will like the experience with the apple software then boom they get the iPhone 7 the next year.

  11. epicflyingcat - 9 years ago

    Wow that’s ugly and thick. Who the hell would buy this?

  12. silverhawk1 - 9 years ago

    It looks more like someone put a look alike case on the phone. The case does not look integrated and where is the “Made in China, designed in California” printing?

    • rettun1 - 9 years ago

      Those markings usually don’t go on until they are production models ready for shipment

  13. PMZanetti - 9 years ago

    Very good.

  14. Jim Phong - 9 years ago

    Another Tim Cook fake iPhone .. another cheap plastic iPhone that no one wants.
    People rejected the iPhone 5C crap. And the iPhone 6C will be killed quickly as well.
    Tim Cook is a shame of a CEO ! Anyone else would have been fired after having caused Apple to lose billions manufacturing millions of iPhone 5C that are still in warehouses and weren’t sold and no one would buy other than a few willing to waste their money on a fake iPhone made of cheap plastic.
    Enough is enough!
    Fire Tim Cook and put an Apple SoC engineer or OSX and iOS programmer as CEO ! So Apple would stop wasting time and resources to please the Tim Cook CEO nonsense crap.
    Tim Cook thinks to be able to defeat Steve Jobs by forcing Apple to create and sell cheap plastic products. He is absolutely wrong.

    • silas681- - 9 years ago

      You don’t know what you are talking about. The 5c outsold the flag ship samsung of the day.

      http://www.cnet.com/news/web-trolls-are-narcissists-sadists-and-psychopaths-says-study/

    • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

      Jeepers! rant much? It’s worth noting that everything you say is based on wild rumours. We don’t actually even know the sales figures of the iPhone 5c, or have any real idea of it’s popularity or not for example. You might as well be talking to your mirror in the bathroom.

    • Gareth Zahir-Bill - 9 years ago

      yeah! the idiot has only doubled the market cap since he became CEO..sack him!!!!!!!

    • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

      I’m pretty sure he is just trolling now.

      • Jim Phong - 9 years ago

        You people must be really delusional if you around claiming that the iPhone 5C was not a huge flop and a big mistake.
        Tim Cook has nothing to do with what Apple still does good to top-notch. Tim Cook put so much effort damaging everything Steve Jobs created at Apple so far… Just count the number of managers and employees he fired that Steve Jobs selected to work at Apple.
        If it will ever happen that Tim Cook started firing Steve Jobs best selected engineers and programmers working on OSX, iOS, APIs as well as the SoC and all other advanced tech in Apple labs to replace them with anyone Cook selected then that would be the end of Apple destroyed at the core.
        Steve Jobs chose those people to deliver the top-notch products Apple is still able to do now. Without those people, breaking the teams working on projects, replacing the best ones would only be key to ensuring Apple going the Nokia and RIM/Blackberry route.

      • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

        So the 5c is specifically Tim Cook’s idea, but he has nothing to do with why Apple is still so successful?

        It’s delusional to cherrypick things you don’t like about Apple and blame them solely on Cook. Either you treat all of Apple as a team and share the blame/praise or you treat it all like it’s Cook’s responsibility and give him all the blame and *praise.*

        The only way I’d give your claim that the 5c was a flop is if Apple released SKU breakdowns for the last 5 years so we can compare the sales relations between the year old model and the new model. Even then that doesn’t really say if the product was a flop or not. As long as more iPhones sold than the previous year, wouldn’t selling a larger ratio of the flagship device that year be considered a successful sales move?

  15. Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

    The camera flash hole suggests that this will be two year old technology as before. In other words, it’s not really an “iPhone 6c” as much as it is an “iPhone 5sc.”

    That’s terribly sad if true. Apple needs to make an “iPhone 6 mini” in addition to this.

    • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

      Do you think they actually can make it? I guess they shrunk down an iPad 2 to be the iPad mini but like I feel like on iPhone scale things get even more complex. I want a 6 mini too, but I’m not that confident they can do it. I think we’d be lucky if this next colored phone gets nfc.

      • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

        Dunno. We will find out. I’m hoping it’s like the intro to the original iPad mini, where they made such a big deal out of fitting it all in the case and how it “couldn’t be done, even last year!” and so on.

        I am going to need a new phone myself and I want a 4″ version, so if they don’t, this plastic thing is my next iPhone I guess.

  16. Tom Who (@TommieWho) - 9 years ago

    Gosh, I hope this is true and not a fabricated rumor! I have not upgraded to the iPhone 6 from my 5S because I do not like the larger phones at all. I don’t care if it’s plastic.

  17. zerotwelve012 - 9 years ago

    or maybe just an iPhone 5S with plastic rear

  18. rettun1 - 9 years ago

    I think the smaller phone, like everyone else, will be mostly 5s. But I think it would be smart to put NFC in for apple pay, And fingers crossed for force touch

  19. yojimbo007 - 9 years ago

    Please please No!
    Keep the same design of 6 or ( the main line) but in smaller size !

    No C !!!

    • capdorf - 9 years ago

      For me, the 6 is too thin, which makes it very difficult to hold (as well as too wide), so I prefer this, if it’s true.

  20. zubeirg87 - 9 years ago

    My opinion about what the 2015 iphone line up will be like is as follows.
    High-end: 6s & 6s+
    mid range: 6 & 6+ (@ $100 cheaper)
    entry model: new 5c (or 5sc) as shown in picture above.
    Hence the new 5c replaces the original one at $450, with the 5s internals. Sounds like the next logical step to me.

  21. Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

    You know, this might not totally be a bad sign. I mean lets say this is a case for the 5s turning to the 5c. That leaves an opening in the price tiers. This would be “free” but what would replace the 5s’ current position?

    It seems unlikely they would keep around the 6 and 6 plus with the 6s and 6s plus. Maybe they can make the iPhone 6 mini using the year old chip but include all the new features the 6s will have. Staying hopeful for new 4″ devices.

  22. jedimindtrick99 - 9 years ago

    We already knew a plastic model was coming, just not the size and style…. Do you really think they are gonna make the ‘C’ models the middle tier?? I think not, they will replace the bottom tier, just like before.
    **As for camera bump, the bump is there when the actual lens is in place.
    ** As for colors & Size, the ‘C’ models aim for tweens & females, 4 inches fit in all their hands without issues, colors catches their eyes as a personal touch of their fav color.
    The original iPhone 6 & + colors are very suitable for non dainty males and older adults , don’t get me wrong dainty males like them too but they seem to like a little color in their life.
    Just my 2 cents

    • capdorf - 9 years ago

      I am neither a Tween or female, but I prefer the feel of the c, along with the fact that I’m less likely to drop it. Of course I also include that this size will fit in my pocket and other devices, comfortably (Although I must admit I would prefer the 4s size)

      • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 9 years ago

        I have been fantasizing about an iPhone that’s the 4s height with a 4″ screen *drools…

        I figured a couple things would need to happen for that to actually be possible. One is shrinking the home button, or some other change to the home button, and another would be removing the headphone jack. I mean that’s crazy but whatever.

  23. valanchan - 9 years ago

    I hope this is true.
    Since the depth of the original iPhone 5c is 8.97mm, this design is more than enough to cover the camera bump since the iPhone 6 depth is 6.9mm.

  24. Ilko Sarafski - 9 years ago

    As far as naming is concerned, I think they should go (as it was previously mentioned above me) like this:
    iPhone 7/iPhone 7+/iPhone 7C. Simple as that. For few reasons. First of all, it’s getting confusing for non-geeks/apple fans to learn/differentiate all of the models. Second of all, Samsung is already on the same number as them. That means that the next flagship will be with different naming – Samsung will be ahead with one. Why/how is that important? Well, the same thing that happened with Chrome/Firefox – Chrome was on version 15 lets say, when FF was 5?!? And in the non-geeks/computer pros heads 15 is more than 5. 15 is better than 5. It’s a simple logic that has been learned for years in schools. As third, they’ll refresh it in their own manner (like Jony) – “all new refreshing naming, yet simple”-sort-of-thing.
    As far as the iPhone itself is concerned, I guess they’ll be able to manage to put the 6 into a plastic case, maybe a bit thicker (simply because it’s the model, they won’t put the premium internals in a body with the same mm), Apple Pay, without Force Touch of course. So that’s my vote: same as 6, 7.5/8mm thickness, no Force Touch, Apple Pay included (NFC). It would be a killer. If they do it, I’ll be the first one to buy it (here in Bulgaria haha). :)

  25. capdorf - 9 years ago

    Great, if they have sufficient memory and facilities.

  26. emucillo - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on .