The iPhone 7, Apple’s latest model of its flagship phone series, is due to be announced on Wednesday the 7th of September. In the months leading up to the announcement, the tech world has been buzzing with rumours, specs and potential redesigns for the new iPhone. Rumours around the new device have recently reached fever pitch thanks to increased leaks as we get closer to the Apple keynote conference. Here’s a roundup of the latest rumours before the full announcement on Wednesday.
Design
With so many online designers making mockup models of the iPhone 7, it can be tough to tell what’s real and what’s been made to stir up rumours. Despite this, certain leaks and photos from case manufacturers do suggest some changes with the iPhone 7. The device being thinner than the previous model is all but confirmed, with Apple taking drastic steps to make the 7 a sleeker phone.
One of the main criticisms of the iPhone’s previous models is the lack of waterproofing, something that Apple is rumoured to have added to the 7. In order to make it waterproof, the iPhone 7 is suspected to do away with the physical home button, instead making way for pressure-sensitive technology used in Apple’s Mac computer line.
Power
Apple’s iPhone normally comes with the latest version of its ‘A’ chip, with the A10 expected to make its debut. This is rumoured to run at a predicted 2.4GHz, which would give it a significant upgrade over the A9 chip currently found in the iPhone 6S.
Whilst little is known about the battery life of the iPhone 7, it’s rumoured to have a new type of storage size, with a huge 256GB model expected to be announced. This would be a way of the iPhone having a large memory without the ability to change your memory type, as is standard with the iPhone.
Camera
One of the biggest rumours surrounding the iPhone 7 is the addition of a dual-lens camera. This would give the phone the capability to take larger and more vibrant photos than its predecessors, allowing it to compete with rivals Samsung in this department. Leaked case concepts and frames for the iPhone 7 suggests this could be on its way due to the increased size of the camera hole in the back of the device.
It has, however, been suggested that this new dual-camera system will only feature on the iPhone 7 Plus - the larger model of iPhone. Despite this, the megapixel count is expected to be upped on both models of iPhone 7, as this is standard for Apple’s upgrades.
Headphones
Arguably the biggest and most controversial rumour about the iPhone 7 is the potential removal of the standard 3.5mm headphone port. This is rumoured to be removed for a number of reasons. The most prevalent is that it will be removed in order to make the phone slimmer, as one less port will allow the phone to be trimmed down. This also, however, means that headphones will now have to be plugged into Apple’s universal Lightning port, which has only been used for charging before.
The Lightning port is currently used on new Macbooks as the only standard port, where the device can be charged, accessed via USB and more. It makes sense that Apple would want to follow suit with its iPhone product, but it does mean that users will either have to use the Lightning-compatible earbuds that will presumably be bundled with the phone, or buy an adapter to use with standard headphones. If you’re an iPhone user who listens to a lot of music, this could be frustrating.
Colours
Colours is another area that Apple are rumoured to be expanding upon. Previous iPhone models have launched in Black, White, or Rose Gold, with slightly different hints of silver lining the back. The iPhone 7 is rumoured to come in 5 different colours at launch, including Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Dark Black and “Piano Black”.
Unlike previous models, the iPhone 7 is expected to retain its colour across the front and back of the device with its white and black models, meaning that if you go for black, the whole device will be black rather than half of it. This new “Piano Black” colour could be a limited edition version, so Apple could be restricting it to the largest storage size.
Price
Various tech sites have claimed to know how much the iPhone 7 will be when it launches, and there’s little reason to believe it will be any cheaper or more expensive than previous iPhone launches.
These prices range from an estimated £595 for the 32GB model of the iPhone 7 (Apple is scrapping the 16GB model) to around £797 for the rumoured 256GB model.
The iPhone 7 Plus will, as always demand a larger price, with the cheapest estimated to cost around £880 if you buy it from Apple rather than as part of a contract with a mobile carrier.
