Colorful iPhone 6C With Touch ID Bares All Via Apple Store Mixup

It doesn’t happen very often, but Apple on occasion leaks upcoming products either via its website or via the App Store. The last such incident happened in October when the user guide for the iPad mini 3 and iPad Air 2 leaked a day before the official keynote.

Today, another Apple product has leaked, but this one likely won’t be officially revealed for another few months. At first glance, the image below could be easily mistaken for the nearly two-year-old iPhone 5C. However, closer inspection shows that this pink iPhone has Touch ID in place of standard home button.

The image didn’t stay up long on Apple’s website, and was replaced with an iPhone 5C sitting in a Lightning Dock according to Forbes.

iPhone 6C on the left, iPhone 5C on the right. (Source: Forbes/Apple)

With the folks in Cupertino quickly ramping up Apple Pay and expanding its partnerships with banks, credit card companies, and retailers, it makes sense to expand the functionality to as many new iPhones as possible — even if they’re lower price models. As for other hardware specs for the iPhone 6C, it’s all speculation at this point. But chances are that it will bring over the 64-bit Apple A7 processor and improved camera from the aging iPhone 5S (the current iPhone 5C is based on the 2012-era iPhone 5). Apple would of course also have to fit an NFC chip inside the iPhone 6C to enable Apple Pay functionality.

So it looks like Apple’s 2015 smartphone lineup will include the iPhone 6C (which would effectively replace the iPhone 5S), the iPhone 6S, and the iPhone 6S Plus. The latter two iPhones are expected to bring Apple’s next generation A9 processor with at least 2GB of RAM, Force Touch, an improved Touch ID sensor, and a 12MP image sensor.

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus could be unveiled as early as August.