iPhone 7: All You Need To Know

Much like the fate of Jon Snow, we also know nothing about Apple’s iPhone 7. Nobody, save the few people involved in its design and development, knows anything for certain.

However, by virtue of production lines, insider discussion and the occasional prototype going walkabout, the internet is already awash with rumours surrounding Apple’s next major iPhone. As it begins to stack up, we can get a pretty firm idea of just what to expect from Apple. Where there’s smoke, there’s an iPhone – right?

Here’s everything we know so far.

When It Will Be Announced?

For several years, Apple has hosted events at the start of Autumn (late September or early October) at which it has staged its biggest iPhone updates.

Given that Apple only announced a minor handset update this March with the iPhone SE, we’d bet our entire office supply of biscuits (that’s a lot of biscuits) on there being in the first week of September – likely the 7th.

It’s Getting A New Home Button

 from “people familiar” with Apple’s new iPhone that the home button will now use haptic feedback (a fancy term for “vibrations”) to let people know how hard they’re pressing the button.

By scrapping a button that you have to physically depress, Apple might be able to save some room inside the new iPhone for some more… stuff. You know, fancy stuff. It’s thought that the new home button will employ the technology Apple currently builds into the Force Touchpad of the new MacBook.

They’re Finally Dropping The 16GB Model

The has word that the smallest version of the new iPhone will be 32GB, finally dropping the nearly useless 16GB model.

Seriously, anyone with a 16GB iPhone 6S will be familiar with the repeated frustration of having to delete photos and apps on a regular basis – even just to get the thing to update.

It Won’t Have A 3.5mm Headphone Input

Word of Apple ditching the standard headphone input started when a tech blog reported the company might turn to the iPhone’s slender Lightning port for audio output.

It’s a rumour that’s been furthered by various leaked schematic drawings lacking a 3.5mm headphone input.

In addition to making more room inside the phone for other components, it allows Apple to push toward greater adoption of wireless Bluetooth headphones, or get a higher quality of audio output from the Lightning input.

There’s A Host Of Leaks Backing Up The Switch

Numerous photos of ‘leaked’ chassis designs have backed up reports that the next iPhone will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack – including this image from.

It Might Not Actually Be Called The iPhone 7

At least, that’s the opinion of one  – tried-and-tested leaker of gadgets and smartphones – on Apple’s next iteration of the iPhone.

An anonymous source has told Blass that Apple is now moving to a three-year iPhone production timeline, which would mean that the iPhone of 2016 would be the final iPhone 6 model,

It’ll Get A New Colour Option

This blue handset is supposed to show off the new colour Apple will debut with the next iPhone.

Sent to Hilsenteger’s channel – a YouTube series in which he takes new things out of their boxes, describing the process in intricate detail (we don’t understand the internet either sometimes) – the mock-up handset is the product of Chinese group Besound, whose design matches many elements of Apple’s new phone to have been leaked in recent months.

The Larger Model Will Feature A Dual Camera

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the larger model of Apple’s next flagship phone will incorporate the technology of LinX, an Israeli camera startup. The larger smartphone would have the necessary room and battery bulk to incorporate the cameras, while the smaller iPhone 7 would stick with a less powerful camera.

Two lenses would sit side-by-side on the rear of the iPhone 7 Plus: while have used this feature to create 3D images, the LinX technology uses complex algorithms to combine two images for a greater impression of depth and improve image quality under low lighting.

LG Will Make The Dual-Lens Camera

Word comes that LG has won the contract to make the new dual-lens camera for the iPhone 7 Plus, beating Sony to the deal.

The battery isn’t going to be huge
This odd-looking picture apparently shows the batteries of the iPhone 7 and its larger model, containing 1735 mAh and 2810 mAh capacity batteries respectively.

To put that into perspective, the iPhone 6S contains a 1715mAh battery, while the iPhone 6S Plus holds a 2750mAh battery. Both were smaller than the previous generation (the iPhone 6 squeezed in 1810mAh and iPhone 6 Plus 2915mAh), but their internal components claimed to put less strain on their batteries.

This doesn’t mean that the iPhone 7 will have a shorter battery life than the current handsets: it’s all down to how the new phone and its A10 chipset (basically its brain) uses the battery. But it does rule out a vast leap up in battery performance.

The Smaller iPhone 7 Will Look Like This

Apparently the same size as the current iPhone 6S, there are a few notable additions to the iPhone 7:

• There’s a bigger camera lens, allowing more light into the sensor for bigger, better, clearer pictures.
• The camera still sticks out – which, frankly, feels lazy. Apple isn’t alone in making sticky-outy lenses, but we’d hoped they’d go above and beyond to make a sleek, smooth handset ahead of competitors.
• There’s no headphone jack

The Bigger Model Will Have Some Extra Tricks

The larger iPhone 7 model has some major differences over the ‘regular’ model,  that Apple might ditch the ‘Plus’ label in favour of calling the new handset the iPhone 7 Pro:

• That’s what the aforementioned dual camera will look like
• See those three dots on the back of the phone? That’s a Smart Connector, which can transfer data and power. It’s currently used on the iPad Pro to attach to the Apple keyboard. It might be used for superfast charging, a case that has a much larger battery capacity or connectss to a host of new accessories.
• Again, there’s no headphone jack, so expect to buy an adaptor or new cans.