Recently, two new Apple patents were published that could point to the biggest features in the next generation iPhone. The Daily Mail reported that last Tuesday, the Cupertino tech giant was granted the U.S. Patent No. 8,600,120. The said patent is "personal computing device control using face detection and recognition."

Apple Insider reported that the feature allows users to unlock apps on the iPhone while keeping other people at a safe distance from their private information. Although the facial recognition technology has already been seen in Samsung's Galaxy smartphones, the patent from Apple highlights that the facial recognition works regardless of the background unlike Samsung's.

Another technology that Apple recently patented is the light field camera that allows users to refocus images even after they have already been taken. The camera will be able to capture images' light fields. This technology is already seen in the Lytro Light Field camera.

Currently, Apple is rumoured to make a couple of major changes to its future flagship device, iPhone 6, incorporating bigger screen pushing their current line of smartphones to phablets. Although Apple has been hesitant to join Samsung in the phablet category, the company is rumoured to finally jump into the bandwagon realising the vast untapped potential that lies there, said by the Design Trend.

However, Apple is expected to stick to its promise of providing smartphones that can be held with just one hand. As a matter of fact, Apple is rumoured to do so by having curved displays that would ensure bigger screens while keeping its accessibility.

Moreover, apart from the curved screen design, Inferse reported that the iPhone 6 would feature a pressure-sensitive screen that can gauge how much pressure a user interacts with the device, therefore allowing to "assign specific functions to the weight of the hand on the screen."

The iPhone 6 most likely, will be launched next year with release dates projected from as early as the first quarter to as late as September next year. Also, two iPhones could be released in "the second half of next year," according to a Bloomberg source.