Apple's tough sapphire screen may be reserved for a premium iPhone 6

Apple could be lining up special versions of the two rumoured iPhone 6 models for sapphire screens, as the high-cost material looks to push the firm's premium banding to the max.

The Wall Street Journal says that "people familiar with the matter" revealed the Cupertino firm is currently deciding whether or not to reserve the tough-as-diamonds material for premium variants due to launch in September.

The main reason for the indecision seems to be surrounding the increased cost - the report estimates a Sapphire screen costs about $16 (around £9, AU$17), while a sheet of Gorilla Glass comes out at just $3 (around £1, AU$3).

This could potentially push the price of the new iPhone 6 up above the current cost of the iPhone 5S, so splitting out the variants between a more costly premium model and a non-sapphire toting standard option does make some sense.

That said, having multiple variants of the same handset is a very un-Apple thing to do, so we'd be surprised if this was the way the firm decided to go with the iPhone 6.

Sapphire for sure

Questions over whether sapphire crystal glass would be used at all have been raised with some suggesting Apple won't bother, but according to the WSJ this isn't the case.

It claims that sapphire screens for not only the new iPhone 6, but apparently the much rumoured iWatch too, will roll off production lines by the end of August.

The iPhone 6 launch date is currently being touted as September 9, so there's hopefully less than a month to wait to find out which way Apple will go.

• Everything we know about the iPhone 6