Alleged Gold iPhone 5S Photos Leak

According to countless rumors and MG Siegler’s sources, the gold iPhone 5S isn’t just something we tech bloggers have concocted to keep this summer interesting. It’s real.

Bits and pieces of proof continue to leak out, not least of which are these newly posted images on a Japanese website. Of course, as you can see from the images, the usual “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China” fine print that is emblazoned on the black and white models is missing.

However, this casing is clearly unfinished, as the prototype is not yet fully constructed.

A gold iPhone has left a number of us scratching our heads. Apple is all about keeping it simple (stupid), and for a long time it felt like a stretch that a white iPhone would become a reality. Expanding into even more colors with the champagne-style iPhone 5S just doesn’t feel right.

However, MG’s sources have confirmed it, and there are a number of arguments for why Apple would go gold.

The most poignant is that, while Apple keeps things simple, the company is all about evolution. At one point, our iMacs were the colors of tangerines and limes. Now they’re all silver. For a long time, iPhones were black plastic, and then Gorilla glass was introduced. Now it’s anodized aluminum, with white options.

The more we can do with manufacturing, the more freedom Apple has to evolve and stay relevant. Plus, gold is in right now.

And, according to other rumors, it doesn’t stop there. Apple is expected to unveil two new iPhone models at its alleged September 10 event, an iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which is rumored to be a cheaper, plastic model that comes in various color flavors.

Of course, Apple is pretty good at keeping secrets (though not as good as they used to be under the Jobs regime), so we won’t know anything for sure until September 10.