iPhone 6 rumor roundup: Will the next iPhone have gold trim, 128GB of storage, or a plastic back?

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                      Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is next week, and rumors                           are flying fast about what the next iPhone is going to be like. It’s been nearly nine                         months since the iPhone 5 launched, and consumers are starting to get antsy.                               Even if we don’t get any substantial information directly from Apple at its keynote                         on the 10th, parts are starting to leak out, and industry speculation is going wild.

The golden iPhone

Pictures have recently surfaced of parts that suggest we could see a gold-trimmed iPhonein the near future. The iPhone has long been relegated to black, white, and silver, but other product lines (like the iPod Touch) have seen a wide variety of color options introduced. If these parts are legit, this could be the start of a line of all new iPhone colors. Personally, I’m holding out for a purple iPhone with silver trim for the Saints Row IV launch.

128GB iPhones

Earlier this year, Apple added a 128GB version of the iPad to its lineup, and this has lead many to believe that the launch of a 128GB version of the iPhone is inevitable. Realistically, it’s quite likely, but there isn’t a big rush to offer it immediately. Now that music, movies, and photos all live in the cloud, local storage just isn’t all that important.

Steve Jobs had a hand in the next iPhone

Earlier last year, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón let it drop that he had been informed that the next two iPhones have already been designed, and “they preceded Tim Cook.” While Apple’s founder has been gone since the end of 2011, it seems as if his mark may still be on the iPhone for years to come. Perhaps a new Jobs-inspired iPhone can help save the company’s lackluster stock price.

Jonny Ive is flattening the user interface

Much fuss has been made about Apple’s previous dalliances with skeuomorphism — making iOS apps look and function like real-world objects. Last year, Apple lost Scott Forstall (Senior Vice President of iOS) in anexecutive shake-up. Since he was supposedly one of the biggest proponents within Apple for skeuomorphism, it’s a pretty safe bet that we’ll see less of it going forward. Jonny Ive, now in charge of iOS’s design, is now rumored to beflattening everything like Windows 8. It would be ridiculous to assume that Apple will just mimic Microsoft’s Metro aesthetic, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a radical shift away from previous UI trends.

The low-end iPhone

There have been rumors about a low-end “iPhone Mini” since the original iPhone launched in 2007 at $499, and they haven’t slowed down a bit. The most recent rumor has a curved plastic-backed iPhone Mini launching alongside the next iPhone revision, and these blurry snapshots from China are stoking the flames. The iPhone featured a plastic back circa 2008, but this is probably nothing more than a case or an iPhone knock-off. Even if Apple is making an “iPhone Mini,” it probably won’t go out of its way to make the Mini look like an old iPhone.

Apple’s adding AirDrop to the iPhone

Apple introduced AirDrop on Macs in 2011 with the launch of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. This ad-hoc WiFi feature allows two Macs to trade files without needing to connect to the same network, and it’s quite useful for swapping PowerPoint decks or pictures while you’re at a conference or meeting up with a friend. Now, 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple will add this same functionality to the iPhone when it ships iOS 7 later this year. The idea of trading files with friends with only a simple tap is nice, but let’s hope Apple doesn’t call it squirting.

We’ll be covering WWDC in-depth starting next week, so check back soon for all the juicy details about iPhones, iPads, and iOS.

Will Apple abandon the iPhone 5S in favor of an iPhone 6 and iPhone Mini?

We’ve seen a number of supposed leaks for the next iPhone in the last month. Plastic backs, gold trim, and even a phablet-sized redesign have been bandied about, but we’re starting to see some interesting trends. Most recently, the idea of a cheap colorful iPhone has really taken off. At this point, it’s a pretty safe assumption that we’ll see at least one plastic iPhone launch this year.

Nowhere Else, a French tech blog, posted a few pictures of a supposedly leaked iPhone 5S shell last week. This lime-green monstrosity features an all plastic back with what looks like a metal framework on the inside. The introduction of whacky colors has been rumored for years, and it fits neatly in Apple’s modus operandi for product line expansion. After the iPod line saw so much success from the fashion-conscious, it was only a matter of time before the iPhone received similar options.

When you look at the supposed iPhone 5S logic board and these gold-trimmed buttons, it’s clear that the rumors are converging on the idea of a colorful iPhone 5S with a small footprint. Just last year, the iPod Touch line expanded to five different color options, and that is par for the course at Apple. Frankly, a line of colorful iPhones with matching trim is just the next logical step.

Last month, a picture leaked showing an iPhone with a curved plastic back. This was reportedly some kind of low-end iPhone or “iPhone Mini.” Even if this model was legitimately prototyped by Apple, it seems unlikely that it would come to market with a design so reminiscent of the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Regardless of a specific design, the rumor mill seems adamant that an iPhone Mini is on the horizon.

While most signs point to a small, cheap iPhone, some people aren’t giving up hope for a phablet from Apple. While it is certainly possible that Apple can simultaneously launch a cheap iPhone 5S (or iPhone Mini) while offering a bigger phablet-sized iPhone 6, it doesn’t seem likely. Apple is quite bullish on minimizing fragmentation, and a bump in screen size a single year after the introduction of the 4-inch iPhone 5 just seems too sloppy.

After putting all of these rumors together, I theorize that Apple will end up releasing two iPhones this year. I’m betting on the first model being a boring old iPhone 6 with a nice bump in specs, and the second model being a cheap plastic iPhone that can be sold for little or no money on contract. Needless to say, both versions will likely sport a 4-inch screen. Apple recently did away with the generational split for the iPod Touch line, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cupertino drop the iPhone 5 and 4S completely going forward.