Leaked photos of a purported iPhone 6c plastic case on Twitter suggest that its design will be similar to Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5s.

Images posted by Future Supplier, a Chinese smartphone spare part vendor, revealed an iPhone case that's similar to the iPhone 5c with a few prominent differences, including a pill-shaped LED flash cutout and two lines of speaker grilles at the bottom, and without any protruding camera cutout. If that design appears to be strangely familiar, it is because this is the same design that Apple used with the iPhone 5s, counting the pill-shaped "True Tone" flash in the device with two rows of cutouts for its speaker and microphone.

According to Apple Insider, the case design of the purported iPhone 6c indicates Apple may use some parts of the iPhone 5s to build its 6c. The report says that it is the same approach that Apple employed with the iPhone 5c, which included components having specs similar to the iPhone 5. Then again, it is also likely that the photo of the case posted by Future Supplier is an absolutely fake design.

There are rumors that the next iPhone lineup from Apple may come in three sizes - while two are likely to match the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the third will possibly be a 4-inch model akin to the 5s and 5c. In fact, the plastic body iPhone 6c may be attractive to customers looking for a smaller iPhone, in addition to the low and mid-price customers in emerging markets.

Apart from the similar plastic casing, Apple may also incorporate Force Touch capability, which was first introduced in the Apple Watch, to all its future smartphones. The upcoming devices may also include NFC (near-field communication) for Apple Pay and a Touch ID fingerprint reader. It is worth mentioning that the Force Touch feature allows a touch screen or trackpad to detect dissimilarities between a light tap and a hard press, thereby facilitating new gestures and controls.

In addition, Apple is also said to be experimenting with means to make its iPhones water resistant. While this was revealed by patent filings, it is still not known if or when Apple will be introducing such feature in its products.