Rumor: Apple’s iPhone 6 will be thinnest yet

Apple’s next-generation iPhone models are rumored to have the largest screen sizes of any iPhone yet. Multiple media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, have cited insider sources who claim that Apple will release one iPhone model with a screen-size around 4.7 inches and another model with a screen size around 5.5 inches. However, a new rumor out of Eastern Europe suggests that the next-generation iPhones may also be the thinnest smartphones ever produced by Apple.

A series of purported iPhone 6 renderings were recently posted on UkrainianiPhone, an iPhone-dedicated blog based in the Ukraine. The images were first spotted by Steve Hemmerstoffer of the French tech website Nowhereelse.fr. As seen in the image above, the rendering obtained by UkrainianiPhone appears to show a device that is 138 millimeters (5.43 inches) long, 67 millimeters (2.63 inches) wide, and an astonishingly thin 6 millimeters (0.23 inches) deep.

In comparison, Apple’s current flagship iPhone 5S model is 123.8 millimeters (4.87 inches) long, 58.6 millimeters (2.31 inches) wide, and 7.6 millimeters (0.30 inches) deep. If the leaked iPhone 6 renderings are correct, this would mean that Apple managed to decrease the thickness of the next-generation iPhone by 1.6 millimeters, even as the overall size of the screen was increased.

Although the original source of these images is unknown, there are several details that suggest that these may be genuine iPhone 6 renderings. As noted by Nowhereelse.fr, the renderings appear to align with estimated measurements that were derived from a previous leak that purported to show an iPhone 6 casing mold from a Foxconn factory in China. Hemmerstoffer estimated that the casing produced by that mold would be approximately 138 millimeters long and 64 millimeters wide, which is quite close to the measurements revealed in the iPhone 6 renderings.

Besides aligning with iPhone 6 measurements from previous leaks, the renderings also appear to confirm a prediction made by well-connected KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a research note released earlier this month and obtained by 9to5Mac, Kuo predicted that the iPhone 6’s power button would be moved from the top to the side. The renderings posted by UkrainianiPhone also show a power button opening on the side of the rear casing.

Although it seems remarkable that Apple would be able to further decrease the depth of a large-screen iPhone, a recent report from Taiwan’s Commercial Times also appears to bolster the genuineness of the iPhone 6 renderings.

According to Commercial Times’s sources, Apple asked its battery supplier to produce a battery that was 2 millimeters or less in thickness for a so-called “iPhone Air.” On the other hand, the report also indicated that this ultra-thin battery was intended for the 5.5-inch iPhone, not the approximately 4.7-inch device depicted in the renderings. Either way, Apple watchers likely won’t know whether the renderings are genuine or not until September, when the next iPhone model is expected to be launched.

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