More than a month ago, Apple appeared to have accidentally revealed what seems to be the successor of the plastic-cased iPhone 5C in its advertisement for the new charging dock for its smartphones.
"The image used to advertise Apple's new iPhone charging dock with a lightning connector shows an iPhone 5C with a red plastic back, but with a Touch ID fingerprint reader where a regular home button should be," The Guardian noted.
This leak fueled rumors that the company may be making and releasing an iPhone 6C, which is expected to "feature lower-powered components compared with its higher-end iPhones, but is expected to feature a Touch ID sensor."
Recently, reports say that the new budget version of Apple's iPhone lineup may have a metal casing, rather than the plastic backing, as seen on the 5C in the past.
Why the change in the strategy? Will this mean that the 6C will be costlier than its predecessor?
"The metal case is likely because it represents Apple's "style" and helps differentiate iPhones from other smartphones," MacWorld noted, citing a Barrons Asia report.
"Foxconn and Hon Hai will benefit from this metal casing business, causing shares of Foxconn to surge," the site went on to say, based on Jefferies analyst Ange Wu's forecast.
In addition, it's also been revealed that the iPhone 6C may be released next year, 2016. This tidbit reportedly "fits in with an early June story from Chinese site UDN, which stated manufacturer AU Optronics had been asked to produce 4-inch iPhone screens for a device that may arrive in the first quarter of 2016," according to Digital Trends.
Reliable pundit Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst, had affirmed this report by saying that there won't be a 4-inch iPhone release this year. Instead, Apple will allegedly launch the iPhone 6C, said to have a 4-inch screen, in 2016.
"The company's reasoning seems to be that the iPhone 5S is still enjoying strong sales among customers, and Apple is reluctant to throw in another device to compete with those sales," the tech news portal added.
And when it does get released, the iPhone 6C will reportedly support Apple Pay, as well as be equipped with an A8 chip, NFC, and Gorilla Glass. However, it's not expected to feature the new Force Touch technology, which is presumably reserved for the high-end Apple smartphones.
With the battery life, it's predicted that the 6C will have a similar capacity as the 5C, as not much is known about this aspect of the rumored device.
Apple has not announced the iPhone 6C yet and has not confirmed any of these reports. As such, we will keep watch and wait for the company to officially unveil this device.
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