The latest intel from VentureBeat points to several iPhone 6 rumors, including details on possible iPhone 6 features and release dates for both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch variants.
According to VentureBeat’s Mark Sullivan, who cited information from unnamed sources, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 may be released on September 19 as scheduled, or “mid-September” as he mentioned. The 5.5-inch iPhone 6, on the other hand, may “ship several weeks or even a month later.” While these details on the iPhone 6 release date are important, the main takeaways from the report were mainly connected to the iPhone 6’s features.
The report went on to enumerate a number of possible selling features for the iPhone 6, including the debut of NFC support, as well as a faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, all part of a comprehensive connectivity suite. Sullivan wrote that Apple will be using its own homebrewed Wi-Fi chip to facilitate 802.11ac support, using “a team of engineers (from) Texas Instruments,” as well as an NFC chip courtesy of NXP.
The phone’s cellular modem will come courtesy of Qualcomm, as Apple will reportedly be using the new MDM9x35 part; this model will supposedly support Category 6 LTE, which is capable of facilitating download speeds of up to 300 Mbps.
Other iPhone 6 features hinted at included the use of a material slightly stronger than Gorilla Glass for the iPhone 6’s display. As can be inferred from VentureBeat’s special report, Apple will not be going with sapphire after all as a build material for the iPhone 6 display, so it’s likely this material would take its place, even if it isn’t clear what it is just yet.
One specification mentioned by VentureBeat was an A8 chipset, which has been included among iPhone 6 rumors in the past. The report, however, notes the processor speed, which should be, at 2.0 GHz, much faster than the 1.3 GHz clock speed of the iPhone 5s’ A7 processor.