New iPhone 6 launch date rumored as front glass panel leaks

The iPhone 6 rumors aren't going to stop anytime soon, but by now you've probably gotten used to that idea.

From China today comes a new rumored announcement date, alongside a purported release date as well as pricing information (at least for the mainland).

Furthermore, what you can see below is said to be the upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone's front glass panel that goes atop the display. It's been made to star in a photo shoot, getting compared to the glass of the iPhone 5S (in the first two images), and even Apple's current flagship smartphone itself (in the next two).

iPhone 6 front glass panel

This gives us an idea about how the 4.7" iPhone 6 will fare, size-wise, against its predecessor. The new glass panel is thinner than the one used in the iPhone 5S, which is what you'd expect given the technological advances in the field.

The edges of the iPhone 6's glass front are rounded, and that may have to do with them seamlessly 'blending' into the metal frame of the handset - to supposedly allow for easier one-hand use of the biggest iPhone yet.

The iPhone 6 is now rumored to get official on September 15, with a release on September 25 - at least in China. A while back a German carrier leaked September 19 as the launch date over there, and both things may be true. Apple is known to do staged rollouts of its devices across the world, so perhaps the 'first wave' of countries (US included) will get it on the 19th, and the next wave (of which China will apparently be a part of) will have it six days later.

On the other hand, the Chinese media report on the matter specifically mentions that China will be in the "first list". So do take all of this with a pinch of salt.

In terms of pricing, the 4.7-inch iPhone will start at exactly as much as the iPhone 5S currently does. That's CNY 5,288 ($851) in China, but prices vary across markets.

The 5.5" variation of the iPhone 6 will reportedly go by the name iPhone Air and it will be sold for CNY 5,998 with 16GB of built-in storage. That's around $965 at the current exchange rates, so in the US you should probably expect this bigger handset to cost around $100 more than its smaller sibling.

In China, the new devices are likely to be carried by both China Mobile and China Unicom.

Source 1 (in Chinese) • Source 2 (in Chinese) | Via 1 • Via 2