Is Apple working on a gold-coloured iPhone 5S?

After rumours of the iPhone 5S having a new feature of a fingerprint scanner, the buzz now is that Apple is moving away from its traditional colours of white and black to add some bling to its collection.

KGI securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who has had a proven track record of correctly predicting Apple’s future devices, has speculated that the company will come up with a gold iPhone 5S. Yes, that’s right… gold. Images of the phone were released on iMore, which also spoke of the gold phone, and a picture of the shell of the phone were also spotted last week at Macboutic, an Apple shop in France.

A report in TechCrunch yesterday said that its sources had confirmed the new physical feature. Techcrunch stated:

That’s the latest I’m hearing from multiple sources after several weeks of rumors and possible component leaks suggesting the same thing. At first, I couldn’t believe Apple would break from the tradition of offering the simple choice: black and white (or “slate” and “silver” if you prefer for the iPhone 5) for their flagship device. Gold simply seemed too gaudy, perhaps even tacky. But a few compelling arguments countered my disbelief. And now, upon checking, sure enough, there will be gold.

iMore‘s Rene Ritchie said that gold would be one of the “easiest colours to anodise onto an iPhone, propelling a strong arguement for its likelihood. Ritchie said that many of his sources had confirmed the same, as had his colleague Ally Kazmucha, according to TechCrunch.

TechCrunch‘s MG Seigler, in his article also said there was also a strong case for the gold device based on the argument that gold is one of the most popular after-market color adjustments for current iPhones (including for gold cases).

While iMore‘s earlier mock gold version of the phone showed an ultra bright gold-back, Ritchie said that the colour of the shell may be a lot “more champagne” than gold coloured.

While the import of gold coins and bars may be banned from India, the gold iPhone may just hit the sweet gold spot with Indians.

TechCrunch also speculated that a gold iPhone could do well in the Indian and Chinese markets, where the colour is very popular.