iPhone 6 Apparently Confirmed By China Telecom

The long wait is over. The iPhone 6 has been revealed, but the announcement didn't come from the lips of Tim Cook on a stage in California. Rather, China Telecom seems to have become a bit impatient and gone ahead and announced the upcoming Apple flagship phone on its own with a post on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter -like site.

In the post, captured here by Sina News, the Chinese carrier said that the upcoming phone would be available unlocked and will support a variety of networks, including two kinds of LTE networks, WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, and CDMA1X. Selling unlocked iPhones would be a first for China Telecom. But more importantly, the carrier has also lifted the veil on what seem to be some pretty official looking promotional images of the iPhone 6 in gold, silver and black.

Normally, Apple's carrier partners tread very carefully with upcoming product information, and leaking anything before Cupertino does is typically a big no-no. Someone at China Telecom caught the goof and deleted the post, but not before it was forwarded around the web.

The latest word on the iPhone launch from Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly is that production delays could hold things up for Apple. We'll see soon how much longer China Telecom and the rest of the world must wait at Apple's planned September 9th media event. Meanwhile, Mark Rogowsky has a look at what we may know so far about the iPhone 6.

Update: At this point Forbes contributor Anthony Wing Kosner has convinced me that I shouldn't trust China Telecom to have a real image of the iPhone 6. As such, that line has been stricken above. 

Screenshot by Eric Mack

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I've covered science, technology, the environment and politics for outlets including CNET, PC World, BYTE, Wired, AOL and NPR. I currently produce the Warm Regards podca...