Apple iPhone 6 Rumors: Photos Of Plastic Budget iPhone Allegedly Leak

With the release of its iOS 7 slowly approaching, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) appears poised to launch another smartphone. According to most insider sources, however, Apple won’t be releasing just one new phone this fall: The company is expected to launch a new, plastic iPhone for consumers on a budget, as well as the anticipated iPhone 5S. Although no official name has been announced, the expected budget iPhone has been dubbed the iPhone 6 by some Apple fans. And, thanks to the Techdy Blog, we may (or may not) have a pretty good idea of what the budget iPhone will look like.

On Friday, Techdy posted it had somehow acquired the body of Apple’s budget iPhone. The blog post encompassed more than 40 photographs of the rumored budget iPhone body from various angles, showing a new hard plastic case with a design reminiscent of both the current-generation iPhone 5 and -- surprisingly -- the original iPod.

Despite the rumored low cost of this iPhone, one thing seems clear from Techdy’s description: It doesn’t feel cheap at all.

“The budget iPhone will be made substantially from plastic (we can feel it’s actually polycarbonate material),” Techdy wrote. “It will have a 4" screen, like the iPhone 5, and interestingly, the budget iPhone actually has a shape that’s similar to Apple’s original iPod. When we hold the budget iPhone in our hands, the plastic chassis does not feel cheap at all. Unlike the plastic build quality of the Samsung Galaxy phones, the plastic material used on the budget iPhone feels more sturdy.”

While the budget iPhone superficially resembles the iPhone 5, there are a few definite changes. For one, the bottom panel has a different number of holes, implying that the budget iPhone may have a different speaker configuration than current models. If several other rumors are to be believed, the iPhone 6 may be available in several different colors, ranging from red to green to blue, as well as the classic black and white.

It appears likely that the budget iPhone will make a big splash in the U.S. market, allowing lower-income techies to purchase a new Apple device instead of remaining several generations behind. Despite its probable success in America, however, Apple is really shooting for the developing market with the budget iPhone.

So far, there’s been no official word from Apple about Techdy publishing the allegedly leaked budget iPhone photos, but given the company’s typical secrecy regarding its unreleased projects, that should be expected.

Inspired by Apple’s rumored budget iPhone, Techdy has taken steps to create its own competing Android smartphone, the Basic Bear. Techdy’s Basic Bear is effectively a budget iPhone clone capable of running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean. The Basic Bear features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core, 1.7GHz CPU, but, of course, it’s highly unlikely that its components will resemble those of the budget iPhone in any meaningful way.

Regardless of the iPhone 6’s components, it’s probable that Apple will officially unveil the budget iPhone sometime in September. The International Business Times’ own Dave Smith estimates that the company will reveal the iPhone 6 alongside the iPhone 5S at a single event in early September, although the devices probably will not go on sale at the same time to avoid huge lines at retail outlets. In one scenario, the release of iOS 7 on Sept. 18 would be followed by the release of the iPhone 5S on Sept. 20 and the release of the iPhone 6 on Sept. 27.