BEWARE FAKE PHOTOS

The problem with reporting on a product that doesn't officially exist is working out which leaks are real and which ones are just made up. Sadly, the most recent iPhone 6 photos have proven to be fake.

Posted by a Twitter user, @mornray886, the photos purported to show the iPhone 6. However, closer inspection showed that things weren't quite as they appeared. For starters, the Twitter user was new and had only posted up these pictures.

Secondly, the phone was covered in protective plastic, but both the front and back had identical air bubbles. Finally, a Reddit user showed that the fingerprint smudges were lifted from an iPad render made by Martin Hajek. This proved that the iPhone 6 photos were just an artist's rendering.

Don't believe the hype, this isn't the iPhone 6

We're not against renders, as they can help visualise what a feature might look like. However, we are against renders being passed off as the real thing. As for the iPhone 6, we're going to have to wait a bit longer to find out what it will really look like. 

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iPHONE 6 MOBILE PAYMENTS SYSTEM

As the smartphone become more ubiquitous it makes sense for it to be at the heart of everything we do, including paying for goods. Now, Time Cook, Apple's CEO, has dropped a rather massive hint that Apple is looking at a mobile payments system, which could launch with the iPhone 6.

Reported by [a href="http://business.time.com/2014/01/30/apples-next-big-thing-could-be-allowing-you-to-easily-pay-for-stuff/"], Cook told investors on a recent earnings call, "You can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices…that it’s a big opportunity on the platform."

The question is, how will Apple approach this. Current mobile payments systems rely on NFC. There are plenty of NFC readers in shops now, providing contactless payments via card and phone for transactions of up to £20. However, Apple has so far shunned NFC, refusing to introduce the technology in any of its smartphones or tablets.

Following this, we could assume that Apple will want to go its own way. On its side is the fact that Apple is actually already one of the biggest companies dealing with mobile payments, thanks to the collection of credit card details and payments it processes through iTunes and the App Store. It would make sense for Apple to find a way to open up its systems and start letting people pay for goods in stores.

One way it could do this is with iBeacon. This indoor positioning system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), letting low-cost transmitters advertise their presences to iOS 7 devices. For example, the system can be used to broadcast offers in a shop alongside a payment system. In fact, Apple already uses this technology in its stores to let customers pay for goods without having to approach a till.

Apple could roll out iBeacon to other shops, making it an addition, not replacement, to NFC terminals. The benefit of Apple's system, particularly if used with verification, such as through TouchID, is that it could allow transactions of any value, rather than the £20 limit of today.

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iPHONE 6 STORAGE

In terms of storage, 64GB has been the top model for a couple of years, and continues to be so for the iPhone 5S. We're not expecting this to change for the iPhone 6, although we know that the Apple can make a 128GB model, 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.

iPHONE 6 A7 SoC

At the moment, the Apple A7 system-on-a-chip (SoC) is the main focus for the company. This is the first 64-bit mobile chip and it's extremely fast. In fact, in our benchmarks on using the iPhone 5S, we found that the A7 is by far the fastest mobile processor. Apple has now used the A7 chip in both the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display.

Where as in the past Apple had to tweak the graphics part of the SoC to work on an iPad's screen by adding quad-core graphics (the latest chip with the A6X), with the A7 this isn't required. Instead, the A7 is fast enough as it is.

With that in mind we'd expect to see the same chip used in the iPhone 6. However, the only caveat is when the phone comes out. If it's early next year then we'd expect the A7 chip to be used as is; if the release date is closer to the end of next year, then we could see a tweaked version, perhaps even a quad-core variant.

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