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We're about two months away from Apple's unveiling of the future of phones, and it looks like we're in for something really big this year. Figuratively and literally. Not only is Apple expected to increase its diagonal, but it is expected to be among the best products Eddy Cue has seen in the last 25 years. mentioned at the Code Conference.

Speculation is at full speed and there are more and more leaks and supposed claims about the functions or components of the future phone, or phones, Apple is to present two. So let's take a look together at what the devices that we will probably see in September could look like.


iPhone 6 back mockup | 9to5Mac

Design

Apple changes the design of the iPhone every two years, and this year we should see a new form of the phone. The appearance of the iPhone has already gone through many revisions, from the rounded plastic back to the combination of glass and stainless steel to the all-aluminum body. Given Apple's general preference for aluminum, it is likely that the majority of the chassis will be made up of this metal element, a return to rounded corners should be a novelty.

In recent months, we have been able to see allegedly leaked photos of the back of the iPhone 6, which strikingly resemble the last-generation iPod touch or the latest series of iPads. The rounded corners contribute to greater ergonomics, as the shape better mimics the human palm when holding the phone. Apparently, Apple went a step further and rounded the glass on the front of the phone, so the edges could be smooth all around. After all, last year Apple released the iPhone 5c, which also had rounded corners of the plastic chassis, and quite a few customers who bought this phone praise its ergonomics compared to models from the iPhone 4 to the 5s.

The allegedly leaked photos show not-so-elegant plastic lines at the top and bottom of the back for better signal passage, but this could be a design intermediate or simply a fake. As for the connectors, everything is likely to remain in place - the 3,5mm jack is unlikely to simply disappear despite I am afraid of some and takes its place together with the Lightning connector on the bottom of the phone, in line with the speaker and microphone. Due to the possible rounded sides of the iPhone, they could change the shape of the volume button after a long time, but this will be more of a cosmetic change.

In terms of colors, Apple is likely to keep the current colors available for the iPhone 5s: silver, space gray, and gold (champagne). Of course, it is not excluded that another color variant could be added, but there is no indication of this yet.


[youtube id=5R0_FJ4r73s width=”620″ height=”360″]

Display

The display will probably be one of the key points of the new phone. Just like last year, Apple should introduce exactly two new iPhones, but this time they should not be separated by a year's generation difference between the hardware, but by a diagonal. For the first time in its history, Apple is likely to introduce two phone sizes in one year, similar to what it did with the launch of the iPad mini.

The first of the diagonals should measure 4,7 inches, i.e. an increase of 0,7 inches compared to the last two generations. In this way, Apple reacts to the trend of large phone screens without getting carried away by the megalomaniacal dimensions of oversized phablets. It partially confirms the theory of the 4,7-inch model last week's leaked panel, which even a glass expert rated as authentic.

The diagonal size of the second phone is still the target of speculation. Some publications, according to their sources, say that it should be up to 5,5 inches, which would bring the iPhone close to the display of the Samsung Galaxy Note II, which is generally among the largest phones on the market. So far, none of the allegedly leaked images indicate that Apple is preparing such a phone, moreover, it would be far removed from its principle that the phone must be operated with one hand.

Instead, Apple could keep the existing four inches as the second size, giving a choice to those who are comfortable with a smaller phone, namely the female part of the population. After all, four inches is one of the best-selling display sizes due to the success of the iPhone, and it would not be the wisest thing to get rid of something that is still in great demand and that is not offered by virtually any competing manufacturer (at least in high-end specifications).

Whatever happens with the diagonals, Apple will have to increase the resolution at least for the 4,7-inch model to reach its Retina display specification with a dot density greater than 300 ppi. The solution of least resistance is triple the base resolution to 960 x 1704 pixels, which would cause only a minimal degree of fragmentation among developers, because scaling the graphic elements would not be as demanding as if Apple had chosen the standard resolution of 1080p. A 4,7-inch display would have a density of 416 ppi, and a 5,5-inch panel would have 355 pixels per inch.

Sapphire glass

Another innovation in the area of ​​the display is to be a change in material. The existing Gorilla Glass (currently the third generation) is to be replaced by sapphire. Apple has been flirting with sapphire glass for a long time, using it for the glass protecting the camera lens and Touch ID for the iPhone 5s. This time, however, it should occupy the entire front of the phone. Although Apple opened its own factory for sapphire glass in cooperation with GT Advanced Technologies and forward bought nearly $600 million worth of sapphire stock, the mass production of sapphire displays in the number of tens of millions within a few months is a big challenge even for Apple.

The panels have to be carved with artificial diamonds and this is a rather lengthy process. However, according to a glass expert, the video showing the leaked panel of the iPhone 6 should indeed show the attributes of a sapphire display, that is, if it is not a significantly improved third-generation Gorilla Glass. However, the possible advantages of sapphire are apparent at first glance. The surface could not be scratched even by direct stabbing with a knife, and it could not be broken if the display was bent significantly. An indestructible display is definitely a tempting promise of the future iPhone.

The last bit of wild speculation is haptic feedback. This has been talked about for several years, namely technology using electromagnetic layers, which creates the illusion of different surfaces for the nerve endings, so the buttons on the display can have tangible edges, even though the display is completely flat. Apple even owns the relevant patent, but so far no manufacturer has come up with such technology in a phone. According to not very reliable Chinese sources should the iPhone instead contain a special linear vibration motor that should provide a tactile response by vibrating a part of the display.


Guts

The internal components of the iPhone are the alpha and omega of the phone, and even the iPhone 6 does not come up short. It will get a 64-bit A8 processor, probably produced with 20nm technology. Apple designs its own processors, and it can be expected that the iPhone will once again be the most powerful phone on the market. Greater computing and graphics performance is a matter of course, and energy savings will go hand in hand with them. Together with the larger battery capacity, this should contribute to better endurance, as is usual with the iPhone. However, the improvement will still be rather marginal between 10 and 20 percent unless Apple comes up with something truly revolutionary in this area.

The iPhone 6 could also receive double the operating memory, i.e. 2 GB of RAM. Due to the demandingness of system processes, improved multitasking and the increasing demands of applications, more operating memory will be needed like wine. This year could also finally be the year Apple offers 32GB of storage as a base. Applications are more and more demanding on space, and today's already ridiculous 16 GB memory can be filled very quickly with music and recorded videos. In addition, the prices of flash memories are still falling, so Apple would not have to lose a large margin.

A completely new speculation is a built-in barometer, which would measure the outside temperature and thus be able to correct the Internet weather forecast. Weather data collected from a large number of phones in a certain area could definitely contribute to a more accurate determination of temperature.


Demonstration of optical image stabilization

Camera

The camera has an exclusive position at Apple, which is evidenced by the fact that it ranks among the handful of best camera phones on the market. This year, the iPhone could see interesting changes, in addition, Apple recently hired a key engineer working on PureView technology at Nokia.

It is speculated that this time the number of megapixels could increase after years. Apple has remained at 4 megapixels since the iPhone 8S, which is not a bad thing, because the number of megapixels does not determine the quality of the photo. However, the advantage is the possibility of a better digital zoom, which replaces the optical zoom, which is impossible to integrate into the thin body of the phone. If Apple were to keep the pixel size and thus the photo quality, nothing prevents a higher resolution.

Another major innovation could be optical image stabilization. Until now, Apple has only used software stabilization, which can partially prevent blurry images or shaky video, but true optical stabilization provided by lenses with built-in stabilization or a separate sensor, which is usually available on dedicated digital cameras, could better eliminate blurry photos.

Hopefully, there are other improvements to the camera, especially the quality of photos in low light conditions (among other things, the advantage of the Nokia Lumia 1020 with PureView), a larger aperture or a faster shutter.


In the end, the question is whether Apple will stick with the current naming of the new models and really call its new phone iPhone 6, given the possibility of introducing two models with a different diagonal, it could resort to names associated with iPads. The 4,7-inch model would be called that iPhone Air, four inch then iPhonemini.

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