Rendered conceptual pictures of an iPhone 6 trickled in through the digital grapevine Monday.
The images, created by designer Martin Hajek, come fresh on the heels of last week's rumor of an iPhone 6 that will allegedly feature a polycarbonate body and 4.5-inch screen.
Hajek's concept posits a display without a bezel, which is to say, edge-to-edge. It has a unibody aluminum chassis with an anodized black or silver back.
The concept also features a new aspect ratio, more akin to that of the iPad Mini than the current iPhone.
Perhaps most strikingly, there is no Home button. Numerous rumors over the years have suggested the iconic key might be phased out of future iterations of iOS devices. The claims were always greeted with a healthy dose of skepticism. However, the notion of a dedicated hard-key is becoming increasingly antiquated.
In its stead, Hajek imagines a clickable touchscreen not unlike the one found on a MacBook trackpad.
The omission of a Home key would mark a novel development in the endless give-and-take between Apple and Samsung. The former has shown terminal perseverance in suing the latter at the slightest inkling of patent infringement.
Although the scope of what's proprietary to Apple has evolved in tandem with the jurisprudence that governs the laws in question, it would be mostly fair to look at the issues through the lens of the "monkey see, monkey do" analogy, in which Apple is the first monkey. This dynamic would be flipped on its head, since Samsung was one of the first developers to pioneer a handset without buttons on the front, with the Galaxy Nexus.
The buttonless design is perhaps more elegant than a concept released earlier that shows a side-mounted Home button.
Even at 4.8-inches, the screen on this proposed iPhone 6 would still be smaller than the 5-inch displays rumored to be debuting on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z.
(Edited by Lois Heyman)
