We’re now less than three weeks away from Apple’s September 9 event where it’s almost guaranteed that Apple will debut the new iPhone 6, and more leaks about it are starting to appear. The latest seems to capture exactly how the new iPhone looks, although we're granted a view from the top side only.
As you can see from the image, it looks very iPad Air-like, which was to be expected. The iPad Air has been Apple’s most well-designed and engineered device yet. An “iPhone 6” would have also needed a new design, different from the iPhone 5 design, and it’s somewhat logical that Apple would make its mobile devices look similar so people recognize them more easily.
Almost every detail of the new iPhone appears to resemble the iPad Air. Even the microphone and speaker holes are look identical. The device is also rumored to be around 7 mm thin; the iPad Air is 7.5 mm.
There is even some speculation that the new iPhone 6 will in fact be called “iPhone Air”. Since the “iPhone 5S Gold” worked so well for Apple at last year’s launch, we can see how an “iPhone Air” would generate a lot more word of mouth and media buzz than the more predictable “iPhone 6” name. The name alone would also tell people exactly what they can expect from the new iPhone. A lot of people have seen or heard about an iPad Air by now, so they’ll immediately know what the iPhone Air’s main features are.
Rumors have also pointed to two new iPhones, one with a 4.7” screen and another with a 5.5” screen. These larger screens would obviously need to be “Retina”-level, so the resolution will have to increase. There have been a couple of resolutions rumored, one being 1472x828 and the other 2208x1242.
Both of these resolutions would give the phones over 300 PPI, although the first one would give the 5.5” iPhone only 307 PPI which would be less than what the current iPhone has. However, Apple uses even less than 300 PPI (264) on the iPad Air, so it’s doubtful they’d worry too much about it.
Apple tends to care quite a bit about the battery life of its devices and their slimness, and a slim devices requires smaller batteries, so the 1472x828 resolution seems much more likely. Fortunately, with less than three weeks to go, we don’t have to speculate much longer about the new iPhone’s specs and features. It will all be unveiled soon.
Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
