Getting you all the information about the much awaited iPhone 7 in one place.
Rumors about Apple's next generation smartphone the iPhone 7 have been making the rounds for a while, even though it's been just a few months since the launch of the Apple iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. Die hard Apple fans are already searching the web to know more about the upcoming iPhone 7.
It seems, Apple has quite a bit in store for us in the next generation iPhones, including a thinner display, unique design, larger battery, better cameras and much more. But the biggest rumor is Apple will be launching three versions of the iPhone this year; a 4.7 inch iPhone 7, and two variants of the bigger 5.5 inch iPhone 7 Plus.
So here's a round up of all the rumors hitting the internet about the upcoming iPhone 7.
Design
Apple did not make many design changes to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s plus launched in 2015, as it was riding on the success of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus which were launched in 2014. Reports suggest this year Apple's iPhone 7 will see some major design changes. Apple is reportedly planning to make the iPhone 7 even thinner and it will come between 6.5 mm to 7 mm.
The company is planning to replace the 3.5 mm headphone jack with a lighting connector that will provide support for charging as well as music playback with lightning-equipped headphones, which will boost the audio quality even further. Apple is working on a new noise cancelling technology for its ear pads that will eliminate any background noise while playing music or taking phone calls.
It is also developing new wireless Bluetooth earphones dubbed 'air pods'. The air pods will come as a premium accessory in addition to the Ear pods and will be sold separately from the iPhone 7. The air pods are rated to deliver four hours of battery life, and will come with a separate carrying case that will also work as a rechargeable battery, which can also be used for the phone.
The technology giant is also planning to make the iPhone water and dust resistant to compete with rivals Samsung, Sony and Motorola, which have been touting their devices with the said features for a while now. Launching the iPhone 7 with a dust and water resistant chassis may be the next step for Apple. The Cupertino firm has also filed a recent patent called "Electronic Device with Hidden Connector," that states that "the iPhone's port would be covered with a self-healing elastomer that would protect it against splashes. iPhones covered with elastomer would be covered with membranes that would contract and seal back up once the USB or headphone is removed from the device.
Also according to latest news, Apple has apparently won a patent for 'Non capacitative or radio-frequency-transparent materials with anodized metal appearance’ in June 2015 and Apple may use the technology in its subsequent iPhones. According to rumors the iPhone 7 will be made from the new compound materials that will allow wireless signals to pass directly through them, allowing the technology giant to finally get rid of the antenna bands.
Display
Apple may use the Sapphire Glass display on the iPhone 7 which is stronger than the Gorilla Glass display currently being used on the iPhones.
It may also remove the home button on the iPhone 7; instead the device will come with an integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the display so you could unlock the device by tapping any where on the screen.
Apple is also working on new AMOLED displays, however the technology is likely to be launched in 2017 for the iPhone 7s.
The iPhone 7 will have the same TFT display technology, as its predecessor the iPhone 6s.
Camera
Latest rumors suggest that Apple iPhone 7 Plus may come with two rear facing camera lenses to merge wide-angle and telephoto shots. According to a report by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the dual lens camera will come with 12 MP resolution. One lens would be a wide-angle version equipped with OIS (optical image stabilization) for higher quality photos. The other would come with an optical zoom capable of enlarging an image by two to three times.
Although Apple has seen blockbuster sales this year, it's iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus did not receive as big a response as their predecessors. A major reason could be that the devices have a similar design as the 2014 flagship devices the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and did not offer enough upgrades in technology as well as design.
This year Apple is planning to make extensive changes in the camera technology in order to coax more customers to upgrade from the earlier iPhone models to the latest devices. It had bought LinX for $20 million last year, from which it had acquired impressive technology that can be used to create high-quality images from relatively small lenses and may be using it in its upcoming devices. LinX technology reportedly has 2-3x optical zoom capabilities that can be implemented via the dual lenses that have different focal lengths.
The resulting images are much clearer and brighter and will capture more details even in low light conditions. LinX dual-lens system also boasts of depth mapping that will allow users to take 3D scans of all things or use the depth information to refocus an image. However it remains to be seen whether Apple will actually use the technology in its next phone.
There is going to be a different camera configuration in the three variants of the iPhone 7. The 4.7 inch iPhone will come with the a single camera lens, while the bigger 5.5 inch iPhone 7 Plus will come in both single and dual camera variants. Approximately 35% of the iPhone 7 Plus smartphones will come with the dual cameras.
Apple is not the only technology giant using the dual-camera set-up, rival HTC which launched an iPhone look-a-like HTC One A9 earlier this year and had launched the HTC One M8 last year with dual-cameras.
Memory
The iPhone 7 is likely to ship with 2GB RAM while the bigger iPhone 7 Plus will come with 3GB of RAM. Apple may also bump the internal storage from minimum 16GB to 32GB and maximum from 128GB to 256GB. None of the current iPhone variants come with 256GB internal memory, so it remains to be seen whether Apple will introduce it in its next generation smartphone.
Processor
Rumors suggest that the Apple iPhone 7 will be powered by an A10 processor with six cores, which will be a huge upgrade considering that the current iPhone's run on dual core processors. This seems like a huge leap for the iPhone and we will have to see whether Apple is planning to make the changes.
Battery
The iPhone 7 will reportedly come with a larger 3100 mAh battery, however considering that Apple is planning to make the iPhones even thinner than their predecessors how will they fit the bigger battery inside the device is a mystery.
Apple is also working on a wireless charging technology which will reportedly be incorporated in its iPhones. Rivals Samsung and Sony have already launched their flagships with wireless charging features, considering that Apple is also planning to remove the 3.5 mm headphone jack; an Apple iPhone with wireless charging doesn’t seem very far fetched.
Launch
Apple had launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in September last year, and will be launching the iPhone 7 at around the same time this year. This would be a big launch since the Cupertino firm will reportedly launch three versions of the iPhone 7- a smaller 4.7 inch device and two versions of the bigger 5.5 inch smartphone.
Apart from this, Apple is holding a big event in March this year, where it will be launching a smaller 4 inch 'iPhone 5se' at the event in order to boost the waning interest in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The 4-inch iPhone will be called iPhone 5se where the 'se' stands for special edition. The smartphone will have the curved design of the iPhone 6s and will include the similar specifications including an 8MP rear camera and 1.2MP front camera. It will also support an NFC chip for Apple Pay and a barometer sensor for tracking elevation in the health app. It will be available in Silver, Space Gray, Gold and Rose Gold color variants as the iPhone 6s line. Apple is also expected to launch its next Apple Watch at the March event which will come with a front facing camera. Apple will also be rolling software updates for its first generation Apple Watch at the March event.
We have to wait till September for the iPhone 7 variants; nevertheless Apple will be announcing the iOS 10 at its annual World Wide Developer conference from June 6 - June 10, 2016 in San Francisco where we might get an idea about the new devices.
Are these changes exciting enough for you to upgrade to the new Apple iPhone 7?
What do you think about the new dual cameras? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
