Apple might be planning a break from its usual black and white colour schemes with the iPhone 5S by introducing a third, gold coloured handset, Digital Spy said.

Images of a metallic iPhone 5S backplate were obtained by MacBoutic. The iPhone repair shop's pictures appear to show the shell of a faux gold effect iPhone 5S.

While it's fairly unlikely that Apple would opt for such a colour scheme, as it breaks entirely from the company's design language, the images do appear to be fairly realistic.

The edges of the handset seem to show a gold wrap with the same bezelled edges as the iPhone 5. There also appears to be a white band between each section of the handset's edge, not unlike that on the HTC One.

A KGI analyst has also supported claims that the gold coloured iPhone could be a reality.

Apple is rumoured to be hosting a launch event for the iPhone 5S and the long-touted iPhone 5C on September 10.