Phone network opens up iPhone 6 pre-orders, outs Apple secrets early

Someone had to go too far and spoil the party: China Mobile has reportedly opened-up pre-orders for the iPhone 6, seemingly confirming Apple's next phone will come in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch varieties.

Invites for the 9 September launch of the iPhone 6 have already been sent out, but China Mobile has reportedly jumped the gun by launching a pre-order campaign for the new phone, according to China Daily.

It's the Beijing branch of China Mobile that launched the contentious campaign, which asks prospective buyers to choose between 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions of the phone.

While we haven't been able to locate the web page for the pre-order, we're told that it doesn't also spill the beans about when the two phones will actually start shipping.

A China Daily source suggests we'll see iPhone 6s start to arrive by mid-month, although this is merely the standard for Apple launches. Once an Apple device is unveiled, you can be sure it'll be available within a couple of weeks.

Racking-up orders

The pre-order campaign has apparently attracted 33,000 orders as of Tuesday 2 September, even though it's only available in Beijing, and is for a phone that doesn't officially exist yet.

While we have not heard of any Apple reaction to this early leaking of the iPhone 6's core design specs, you can bet if it happened in the UK we wouldn't be looking at slapped wrists – more like cut off hands.

These long-rumoured specs come as no surprise, but we're still none the wiser as to whether the reported production issues for the larger 5.5-inch iPhone will result in a staggered release, or limited availability of the large iPhone.

via Mac Rumors