iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending July 4

"Today, Sonny Dickson sent us several photos of purported display glass covers in both black and white variations for the 4.7-inch iPhone," Gurman wrote.

If that sounds like a Big Deal, it's really not. "The images do not indicate any breakthrough new features for the next-generation iPhone, but the availability of these parts indicates that the new iPhone is nearing mass-production ahead of a launch this fall," Gurman wrote, confidently. As we've already seen, at this point almost every iPhone rumor indicates that the new iPhone is nearing mass-production ahead of a launch this fall.

One of the photos from Dickson shows the iPhone 5s/5c front glass panel, at left, and the purported 4.7-inch iPhone 6 front panel at right. In case you're not sure, the one at the right is bigger.

"The edges also appear to be slightly curved," says Gurman, which indicates how he, at least, interprets persistent rumors that Apple is experimenting with, or planning, or manufacturing "curved screens." To The Rollup, the Dickson photos seem to show a more beveled rather than rounded or curved edge. So, who knows

What's really odd, even bizarre, about these photos is that in light of the intense speculation that Apple is spending like a billion dollars to manufacture synthetic sapphire, presumably for device cover glass, no one at 9to5Mac or Dickson or Dickson's sources apparently thought to ask the really obvious question: "Are these made out of sapphire" [For more details, see "How Apple's billion dollar sapphire bet will pay off"]