WHATSNOW

Our iPhone 6 release date, features and price rumours article is updated on a regular basis, so check back to keep up with the latest information. Updated on 14th May 2013 with new launch rumours.

There's a staggering amount of speculation and interest in Apple's next iPhone, although information would seem to suggest that we're going to have to wait until next year for the big changes. The current information seems to be that the next Apple smartphone will be an iPhone 5S, an update to the existing iPhone 5. All of the major changes are likely to come next year with the release of the iPhone 6.

Regardless of names, there's plenty to suggest that Apple needs something brand new, as the iPhone 5 wasn't met with the same rapturous applause of the previous releases, both because of the hardware and the problems with Apple Maps. With the competition getting a lot tougher, such as with the Samsung Galaxy S4, it could mean that Apple needs to up its game with a brand new phone.

As always, it's hard to pin down an accurate release date, because of conflicting information being released. Initially, the confusion was over whether the next iPhone would be the 5S or 6. With that seemingly wrapped up, and the iPhone 5S coming next, a release this year for the iPhone 6 would appear to be too soon.

All of the current information points to a 2014 launch for the iPhone 6. Jeffries analyst Peter Misek, released a note to investors stating that he believed the iPhone 6 would be launched in June 2014. Depending on when you believe the iPhone 5S will be launched, the iPhone 6 date is roughly a year to nine months later.

Misek is reported as saying by the Financial Post that "the supply chain is primed for an iPhone 5S and pivoting to the iPhone 6 will take at least two or three quarters". That's about as good as the information gets, but it feels about right.

Some doubt was thrown on this, after an alleged Vodafone worked sent a shot of the company's internal systems to Stuff. The shot shows the words '4G iPhone 6', although the rest of the screen is blurred out.

So, that could either mean that the next iPhone will just be called iPhone 6, rather than iPhone 5S. Alternatively, as the iPhone 5S is technically the 6th iPhone (iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5), this could just be an internal reference on a stock system. As always, our general rule is that if a spy shot is badly blurred and short on detail, there's a high chance that it's incorrect.

One of the constants of the iPhone has been iOS 6, which as barely changed. In fact, with iOS 5, which was introduced with the iPhone 5, the OS barely changed, bar the introduction of the disastrous Apple Maps app.

With Android offering Widgets and Windows Mobile 8 a cleaner interface, it's fair to say that iOS is starting to look a bit dated. It stands to reason that the iPhone 6 will ship with iOS 7.

According to the latest rumours, iOS 7 is being developed by Jonathan Ive, who has a free-hand to completely redesign the aging OS. Some of the changes include making the OS cleaner and more modern. In particular, the skeuomorphic design will be replaced with a flat interface. Skeuomorphic design is where one object is designed to look like another; for example, the Notes app is designed to look like a real-world notebook.

Recent website stats show an increase in iOS 7 devices, typically being used in the area surrounding Apple's Cupertino offices. Apple typically tests new operating systems internally, before releasing to developers and then, a few months later, consumers. More iOS 7 devices means that Apple is probably getting ready to unveil its next-generation operating system, with the June Worldwider Developers Conference the most likely time. This will definitely mean that iOS 7 will be ready for the Autumn launch of the iPhone 5S; we'd bet that the iPhone 6 will get an iOS 7 update and new features for its launch in 2014.

Apple has been known for its high quality screens and it's going to be interesting to see what it can do with the iPhone 6, particularly as it looks like the iPhone 5S will have the same screen size and resolution as the iPhone 5.

According to Apple's definition of a Retina display, it's one where you can't see the individual pixels when used at a normal distance. In practice, by Apple's definition, it means upping the resolution on a Retina screen is pointless. That doesn't mean that Apple won't simply increase resolution to Full HD, in order to keep up with the competition, but moving to a larger screen to justify more resolution makes more sense.

Currently doing the rounds are the rumours that the iPhone 6 will have a 4.8in screen, which would make the phone similar in size to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. At this screen resolution, Apple could then move to a Full HD (1,920x1,080 resolution) or even go beyond.

While Apple has not previously made a large-screen phone, upping the screen size for the iPhone 6 makes a lot of sense. It means it can compete with the large-screen phones from other manufacturers and keep the iPhone 5S as a smaller alternative, giving iPhone users more choice.

Tim Cook has made a statement that would appear, on a first glance, to deny alarge-screen Apple iPhone 6. In Apple's most recent earnings call, Cook said:

"My view continues to be that the iPhone 5 has the absolute best display in the industry, and we always strive to create the very best display for our customers," said Cook. "Some customers value large screen size, others value other factors such as resolution, colour quality, white balance, brightness, reflectivity, screen longevity, power consumption, portability, compatibility with apps and many things.

"Our competitors had made some significant trade-offs in many of these areas in order to ship a larger display. We would not ship a larger display iPhone while these trade-offs exist."

What that statement says, to us, is that Apple won't ship a large-screen iPhone until it's managed to iron out all of the trade-offs. A thinner screen, to make a lighter phone, could well be the right way to go, then.

It's no wonder, then, that Apple may also be considering the screen technology that it uses, with a Sharp IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) screen top of the list. This new technology allows for screens that use less power and are considerably thinner. Rumours certainly picked up when the Sharp IGZO technology was demonstrated at CES 2013.

Sharp has also started manufacturing a super-sensitive touchscreen, which you can write on with a pencil and even operate with gloves on. Given Apple's relationship with Sharp, rumours have linked the new technology to the iPhone 6.

The new screen technology has eight times the sensitivity of existing models, is scratch resistant and is also thinner than existing screens. In other words, it would be hard to see why Apple wouldn't want this technology.

One of the most important part of any smartphone is the camera, with people generally preferring their phone over a compact camera. With the competition putting a lot of effort into the quality of their cameras, Apple has slightly fallen behind, with the iPhone 5's quality not matching that of the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One.

Recent rumours, reported by MacRumours have stated that the iPhone 5S will get a 12-megapixel sensor, up from the 8-megapixel version on the iPhone 5. It stands to reason that the iPhone 6 will get the same, or better, sensor.

Upping the sensor resolution can introduce problems with noise, though, as there's less light per pixel. Apple will be keen to counteract problems like this, so a lens with a faster aperture would make sense. Currently the iPhone 5 has an f2.4 lens, but an f2.2 or f2.0 lens would mean better low-light photography.

In terms of storage, 64GB has been the top model for a couple of years, so we'd expect the top model to now be 128GB. This has been predicted by Misek, who believes that the iPhone will offer more storage than before. Whether or not this means a new top-end model or whether the entry-level 16GB model hasn't been confirmed, but we'd expect Apple to ditch the low-end and stick with its current pricing.

The rumours of a 128GB version would seem to be true, as we know that Apple now has that capacity, thanks to the recent launch of a 128GB iPad 4.

The new model doubled the maximum capacity of the previous high-end iPad (64GB). This update was said to be about increasing the variety of uses for the tablet, with Apple stating that more storage was good for large files for use in applications such as CAD and music production. It's also a more useful amount of storage for photos and videos.

The update to the iPad 4 was a completely new model with a new price, so we'd expect the same range of capacities and prices to be available from the iPad 5: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. With Apple now using 128GB storage in its tablets, the question is whether or not it will provide the same range of capacities in its iPhone and iPad Mini range, too.

Given that the capacity is now available to Apple and that the smartphone market is even more competitive, we'd say that a 128GB version of the new phone is more than likely.

Apple has recently bought indoor location tracking start-up WifiSLAM for $20m, fuelling a rumour that the iPhone 6 will have indoor mapping.

Apple has bought the company outright, so it's likely that its technology will be integrated directly into iOS products, rather than being available for third-party use.

While GPS is brilliant, it requires line-of-sight to satellites, meaning that it doesn't work accurately indoors. WifiSLAM's technology is designed to use alternative radio beacons (WiFi networks, RFID tags or specialist transmitters) to track people inside a building.

That may sound a little odd, but inside large buildings, such as museums, shopping centres and airports, the technology could be really useful.

It may be that the iPhone 6 gets this technology, so that it's in-door ready. However, as indoor mapping requires additional technology to work properly, it could be a while before a lot of buildings are supported.

One of the omissions from the iPhone 5 was NFC, but with the technology starting to appear in most new Android phones, we'd expect this in the in iPhone 6. With Apple pushing its Passbook App, for storing store cards, tickets and coupons, integrating this with NFC would make a lot of sense. An Apple phone with NFC would also help push the technology, as retailers are more likely to take it seriously with this handset on board.

One of the things that attracts people to the iPhone is its ease of use and simplicity. However, iOS has barely changed since launch, so Apple could well introduce new ways to interact with its phones in order to stay ahead of the competition.

Patently Apple managed to dig up information on a new patent for a smart bezel. This will use a secondary display system, which could be embedded around the primary screen or even on the back of a device to provide new controls that light up when needed.

According to Patently Apple, "Apple intends to use the secondary display to introduce a new set of illuminated indicators that would be able to morph into various controls for work and play. Illuminated gaming and productivity controls could be built into the face-side of the bezel and/or selected back-side areas of iOS devices like the iPad."

Smart bezel will use a secondary display system that illuminates controls when they're needed

That sounds pretty cool to us and could negate some of the negative point of iOS, such as having to scroll all the way to the top of an SMS thread to call the contact.

Judging what Apple will do with the processor is harder, but we'd expect an updated model in the iPhone 6. Currently the iPhone 5 has a dual-core Apple A6 processor, but a quad-core Apple A7, using ARM Cortex A15-based cores, sounds plausible to us.

It also seems more than likely that Apple will use ARM's big.LITTLE architecture. This allows a processor to have low-power cores that save on battery life, when not much CPU power is required, switching to full-power cores when more intensive tasks are required. Apple's always been hot on battery life, so this move would make sense, particularly as it's something that ARM's really pushing at the moment.

There are already quad-core phones from Apple's competitors and there's now theSamsung octa-core Exynos 5 chip. However, it's important to note that more cores doesn't been better performance and the iPhone 5 is still the smoothest and fastest smartphone that we've used, despite having 'only' two cores.

With that in mind, Apple will only use the hardware that its phone requires, rather than going all-out to get the most number of cores into a phone.

The latest information suggests that the Apple A7 processor is now being finished by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing company. It appears as though, the final design will go in March, then move to risk production in May-June.

With that kind of schedule production of the new chip would happen in 2014, meaning that this processor will definitely be for the iPhone 6, while the iPhone 5S is more likely to get some kind of tweaked A6 processor. Recent rumours have suggested that the iPhone 6 process will be manufactured by Intel, rather than Samsung.

With Intel's core market of desktop and laptops contracting, the company is looking to expand its business by offering contract manufacturing. It makes a lot of sense, as Intel has the capital investment in global fabrication plants, which means it should be able to offer competitive prices. It also means that Apple can move away from Samsung, reducing its reliance on its main competitor.

This shouldn't be read as a move to Intel-based technology, though. Although Intel has a smartphone chip, it hasn't been used in a lot of phones, with manufacturers preferring ARM. ARM has the dual benefits of low power requirements, which are important on battery-powered devices, and the fact that it licenses its technology, so manufacturers can easily build their own custom chips.

Working off the discovered patents and leaked information, a lot of iPhone 6 concepts have been released. At the moment, the most interesting one is from InventHelp's Nickolay Lamm.

"I feel that the sales success of the iPhone 5 overlooks the fact that it was a pretty boring phone," Lamm said. "I looked at all of Apple’s recent patents and chose four which Apple may include in the iPhone 6 or later version. I then hired a 3D graphic designer to illustrate each of these patents so that the illustrations were as realistic as possible. I gave him very specific guidelines to follow."

The shot below shows a possible version of the phone, along with the Smart Bezel highlighting controls on the screen. The finished iPhone 6 will most likely look different, but it's interesting to see how Smart Bezel could work.

This iPhone 6 concept shows how the new phone could look, complete with its smart bezel

Apple typically releases its new models at the same price as the old ones, and we can't see it introducing a more expensive phone into this tough market. If that holds out, then, and assuming that the 16GB model is dropped, we'd expect the 32GB model to cost £529, the 64GB model £599 and the 128GB model £699.