Without question, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 launches are the most hotly anticipated smartphone launches of the year. According to reports from numerous solid sources, Apple plans to launch not one but two completely redesigned iPhone models in 2014. One new iPhone 6 is said to feature a 4.7-inch display alongside a new design and upgraded internals, and the second new iPhone model is said to be a phablet with a 5.5-inch screen.
The look and feel of these two new phones will seemingly be quite similar despite the size difference, according to various leaks. Unfortunately, we have also seen several leaked mockups that suggest the two new iPhone models will have something else in common: A design element on the back of the phones that completely ruins their look.
FROM EARLIER: 5.5-inch iPhone 6 model compared to iPhone 5s and Android phablets in new HD video
Rumor has it that schematics for Apple’s next-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone phablet leaked from Foxconn several months ago. As a result, manufacturers in China have been creating mockups of the phones that are said to closely resemble the actual devices Apple plans to launch this fall.
The mockup units have varied in a few ways, but they have all had one thing in common. On the back of the aluminum cases, they feature painfully thick plastic inserts that completely ruin the look of the phone.
These plastic inserts are seemingly necessary in order to give the phones’ antennas better reception. Our sincere hope, however, has been that the plastic pieces on the actual iPhones launching later this year would be a bit thinner than the ones we have seen on dummy models thus far.
A leak from last week claiming to reveal the actual housing from an iPhone 6 on video was a bit troubling since it showed plastic inserts that are just as thick and ugly as the ones we’ve seen on mockups, but now a new report from well-sourced Japanese news agency Nikkei says the actual iPhone 6 and iPhone phablet’s antenna designs will differ dramatically from the mockups that have been floating around for months.
According to the report, the markings on leaked schematics that iPhone 6 model makers have used to place these plastic inserts are actually designations for areas that will be completely covered by glass, just as the top and bottom of the iPhone 5s case feature glass inserts. This would obviously completely change the look of the phone compared to what we have seen thus far.
The report also notes that there are other errors in the design of the mockups we’ve seen to date, such as the placement of the phone’s buttons and the fact that the glass covering the display on the actual new iPhones will be slightly curved, as Bloomberg first reported last year.
Apple’s next-generation iPhone models are expected to launch this fall, possibly beginning with the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 on September 19th, according to a pair of recent reports.
For more on Apple’s upcoming new iPhone models, check out our iPhone 6 hub!
