Reuters Reports iPhone 6 Coming in August, "Phablet" in September

Reuters reported today that the much-anticipated 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will be coming in August — a month earlier than everyone has been expecting. And the report said that the larger 5.5-inch device will make its appearance in September. This too diverges from earlier rumors, which have stated that it wouldn't arrive until the end of 2014. The source of the Reuters report was media reports in Taiwan, which were based on unidentified sources in Apple's supply chain. The report also said that Apple will build 80 million iPhone 6 units in 2014. That's in line with earlier rumors. And it does make sense that in order to sell so many phones in the remaining months of 2014, Apple would need to get it out as early as possible. Given the leaked images and all, I think there's some credibility in the report that it could come out in August. On the other hand, I suspect it all depends on how smoothly the manufacturing process goes. It could well be that Apple itself doesn't yet know exactly when the device will be ready to go on sale.

I'm more doubtful about the claim in the Reuters report that the larger 5.5-inch device will appear in September. If that were so, it seems that by now we'd be seeing some of the same sorts of leaks that we're seeing with the iPhone 6. I'm inclined to give more credence to the rumors that it will come late in 2014.

Meanwhile, according to the website BGR, the French website Nowhereelse.fr continues to post photos of iPhone 6 mockups. My understanding is that these mockups are based on official machine schematics and apparently are used by manufacturers for some purpose. The latest mockup again shows the sleep/wake button moved to the right side of the device. Earlier mockups showed the curved edges that are rumored to be a feature of the iPhone 6's new design.

Nowhereelse.fr has also posted a video of the dummy mockup:

We can look forward to several more months of rumors, but fortunately we won't have long to wait until Apple introduces iOS 8 at the Worldwide Developers Conference early next month. We should finally hear whether the rumors are true that iOS 8 will have a new Healthbook app and a greater focus on monitoring health.

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Jim Karpen holds a Ph.D. in literature and writing, and has a love of gizmos. His doctoral dissertation focused on the revolutionary consequences of digital technologies and anticipated some of the developments taking place in the industry today. Jim has been writing about the Internet and technology since 1994 and has been using Apple's visionary products for decades.