The Apple iPhone 6C has long been rumored since the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus came out in September 2014.
In fact, there have been reports that when the next iteration of the iPhone 6 came out, it will come with three variants, notably the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, and the iPhone 6C.
But as it turned out, only the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus came out in September last year and there was no sight of the iPhone 6C.
The first leak about the iPhone 6C came out in March last year when one website called Future Supplier, got hold of an iPhone 6C with rear housing and it subsequently compared it to the iPhone 5C just to show the differences in size and also the input and output holes of the device, particularly on the back and on the lower side.
It first compared the rear part of the iPhone 5C with that of the iPhone 6C. It noted that the iPhone 5C has a round-shaped flash hole on the upper back side of the phone while the iPhone 6C features an oval shape for the same flash hole located in the same position.
The second difference can be seen on the lower side portion of the smartphone. The iPhone 5C only has one row of four holes for its speaker output on the bottom side whereas the supposed iPhone 6C has two sets of four holes, or a total of eight holes, on the same side of the handset.
There is also another obvious difference in terms of the input hole for the microphone. The iPhone 5C has only one hole while the iPhone 6C has six in all.
A phone with a different name
Despite its non-release in September last year, the rumors and speculations about the cheaper and smaller 4-inch iPhone continue.
Over time, however, the speculations have been modified and reports now have it that from previously being called iPhone 6C, it is to be called as the iPhone 5SE. But there are still rumors going around that it could actually be named as iPhone 6C or iPhone 7C, notes Digital Trends.
As far as release dates are concerned, there are reports stating that the 4-inch iPhone could come out in February 2016 but since January 2016 is about to draw to a close, it seems unlikely.
There are also other speculations that the next iPhone could come out along with the Apple Watch 2 in March this year possibly along with the 2016 Apple MacBook Air. While it may look possible at this point, critics are putting their bets on the release date in the spring of 2016, during Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference to be held in July.
However, all these release dates as well as the iPhone 6C or iPhone 5SE itself remain as speculations at this point in time and should be taken with a fine grain of salt. It is very unlikely for the American tech giant to come out with an official statement or announcement about the smaller iPhone until such time that the company is indeed ready to launch it or on the day of the launch itself.
A similar-sounding but different nomenclature
While the iPhone 6C may be called as the iPhone 5SE, it is to be pronounced as ‘CE’ to sound like the letter C.
Accordingly, the ‘SE’ suffix has been described in two ways by Apple employees – one, as a special edition variant of the vintage 4-inch iPhone screen size, and two, as an enhanced version of the iPhone 5S, details Macrumors of UK.
As early as November last year, there have been rumors that the 4-inch iPhone 6C was already in production. Japanese site Mac Otakara also confirmed then that the new entry iPhone has already entered production and would start shipping soon.