With reports of a September 10 iPhone media event circulating, analysts are offering up their ideas on what Apple will announce and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks well's see a faster A7 processor, up to 128GB of storage, and a gold model along with the familiar black and white versions. Wait, what? Gold?
Mr. Kuo said, "The new model will add a new look, a golden casing, and a new option for larger 128GB storage, to offer greater differentiation from iPhone 5."
Moving to a 64-bit A7 processor would give the new iPhone better overall performance in part because it's faster than the chips currently available in the iPhone 5, and Apple has already added a 128GB version to the iPad so it may be time to bump up the maximum storage for the iPhone, too. Mr. Kuo expects the new iPhone will stick with an 8 megapixel camera, but bump up to a bigger f/2.0 aperture and move to a dual LED flash.
He also thinks the iPhone 5S Home butting will include a built-in fingerprint sensor, echoing other rumors about the new device.
For the new iPhone's color options, however, sticking with just black and white seems far more likely than adding in gold. Outside of the iPod lineup, Apple has favored simple color options: For the iPhone and iPad it's black or white, and for its computers your only choice is aluminium.
Gold is a color Apple hasn't used for any of its products, and it doesn't seem likely it would start now, especially considering how difficult it is to make gold coloring work without coming off as garish -- a style that Apple definitely isn't interested in.
If we look at the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle as a roadmap for where Apple could go with iPhone colors, we have blue, green, yellow, pink, silver, and black. Gold doesn't show up in that mix.
What seems more likely is that Apple would extend its current color lineup to the iPhone, and that's where the iPhone 5C comes in. Rumors claim Apple is ready to announce a lower priced iPhone model that will mark the end of selling the previous two iPhone versions at a discount. The 5C is said to come in several colors, and sticking with the colors the company already knows work and are popular makes good business sense.
Rainbow colors for the iPhone 5C and black or white for the iPhone 5S fits with Apple's mobile device track record. But gold? That feels like a stretch.