We're probably telling you what you already know: that two new iPhones, likely the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have been uncovered in data logs before they're launched next month. I mean, who doesn't spend evenings poring over such things, looking for evidence of the new handsets?
Well, mobile marketing firm Fiksu definitely does, and its efforts to scout out a new iPhone accessing its servers found reference to the iPhone 8,1 and iPhone 8,2 – if that's confusing, the iPhone 6 Plus is known as the iPhone 7,1 and the iPhone 6 the iPhone 7,2 in Fiksu's logs.
The info means that there's almost certainly two devices in testing from Apple, and it would be shocking if we didn't see the 6 and 6 Plus refreshed at an event in September.
But I love the plastic!
Sadly for those hoping for a lower cost version of Apple's handset, Fiksu notes: This data does seem to run counter to the suggestion that Apple will also unveil a 6c, however, as we're not seeing a third device being tested."
There were 87 instances of the iPhone 8,1 in the logs, and 67 of the iPhone 8,2, so surely there would be at least some mention of the iPhone 8,3 if it was coming, right?
Not necessarily. The iPhone 5C was based on the previous year's model – the iPhone 5 – and therefore any new 'C' variant would likely be an older phone shoved into a plastic, smaller, shell and sent out the door as the lower-cost model.
As such, it's feasible the phone could be masquerading in the logs as an older model, given the internal architecture would be similar – so we're not giving up on an iPhone 6C just yet.
There's also the possibility (albeit a small one) that the iPhone 6 Plus isn't getting a refresh, and the iPhone 6C is the one that's being seen in the logs, but that seems a LOT less likely given the popularity of Apple's phablet in the last year.
- You want to know about the iPhone 6S. We've got everything right here.
