It's long been known that mobile operators are as much in the dark as the rest of us when it comes to the latest iPhone news, but that hasn't stopped Vodafone getting ready for the next iPhone.

According to a spy shot snapped by a supposed Vodafone employee and subsequently sent to Stuff magazine in the UK (since removed), Vodafone has added the iPhone 6 to its stock inventory system presumably so it can start planning for the big day.

It's a tactic many of the carriers use so they can plan ahead, but though there have been a fair share of these kinds of leaks for numerous devices in the past, it really is pure guesswork, sadly.

Still, what it does show us is that Vodafone believes the new Apple iPhone will be called the iPhone 6, not the iPhone 5S and that it will have a 4G antenna that will play nice with a yet to be launched 4G network in the UK, something that the current iPhone 5 can't do.

All the latest chatter suggests that Apple will announce new details on iOS 7 in June at WWDC and a new iPhone in September.

We will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Stuff has been in touch to say it has added the picture again, this time with other details blurred out for anonymity:

vodafone iphone 6 added to inventory as carrier gets ready for launch image 2