iPhone 7 release date rumours: When is the iPhone 7 coming out?
With the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus unveiled on 9 September 2015, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the 9 September 2014, one might think the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will come on 9 September 2016. Except that will be a Friday, and it's much more Apple-like to unveil new products on a Tuesday. Our money is on either Tuesday 6 September 2016, or Tuesday 13 September 2016 - probably the latter.
iPhone 7 price: How much will the iPhone 7 cost?
For its past two iPhone releases Apple has kept the pricing the same. That means we could well see the iPhone 7 costing £539 for a 16GB version, £619 for 64GB, and £699 for the 128GB iPhone 7. Rumour has it, though, that there may well be a 256GB model of iPhone 7, although we think that's unlikely. If there is, however, expect it to be well into the region of £800. We'll update this article as more rumours come to light.
iPhone 7 rumours: Design & specifications
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus looked largely similar to the 6 and 6 Plus, which is usually the case with Apple's 'S' models. We are expecting to see something completely new for the iPhone 7, although it's very likely that it too will come in Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold. We'll look at some of the rumoured design changes below.
With the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Apple finally budged on some of the specifications it has refused to change for years, such as the 12Mp iSight camera, up from 8Mp in the 6 and 6 Plus. It's likely that Apple will stick with that 12Mp camera for some time to come, although one thing it still refuses to improve is the screen resolution. With rival smartphones now offering Quad- and Ultra-HD screens, we hope that Apple might bump up its pixel count in the iPhone 7 - perhaps to the 400ppi level of the Plus models.
Apple might stick with the 4.7in and 5.5in screen sizes, but with so many phones having a 5in or larger screen it could well move to 5- and 5.7in models and look at ways of increasing the screen-to-body ratio which is fairly low compared to some phones right now.
Expect the usual performance upgrades, with the new Apple A10 processor and embedded M10 motion co-processor. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were the first iPhones to finally get 2GB of RAM, and expect this to stay the same in the iPhone 7.
The iPhone 7 will ship with iOS 10 installed. Expect Apple to unveil iOS 10 (or iOS X?) at WWDC in June 2016.
iPhone 7 with new headphone jack? D Jack
When Apple announced the iPhone 5 with a new style of power connector it angered many fans who would now need to purchase an adaptor to fit their old accessories. We could be about to see Lightning-gate all over again with headphone-gate, as it's rumoured that Apple will shake things up once again with a new style of headphone jack, leaving older accessories incompatible. According to Apple Insider, Apple has patented a new slimmer headphone jack technology called D Jack, which has a diameter of just 2mm.
iPhone 7 with no headphone jack at all?
If you thought that was bad news, it gets worse - according to Japanese site Mac Otakara, Apple is thinking about ditching the headphone jack completely, enabling the company to shave 1mm from the device's thickness.
The rumours about Apple ditching the headphone jack for the iPhone 7 don't seem to be slowing in 2016, either. Throughout the first week of the year, we've heard numerous rumours and reports backing up the theory.
But how will we listen to our music without a headphone jack? It leaves consumers with two choices; you can either use wireless Bluetooth headphones (like many consumers are already doing) or you can use a pair of headphones that connects to your iPhone via the Lightning port. The issue with using a Lightning-port enabled pair of headphones is that a) these are quite expensive, with the likes of the Philips Fidelio headphones costing £184.99, b) it limits the use of the headphones to the iPhone 7, and the iPhone 7 only.
Of course, there's always a possibility that Apple will include some kind of adaptor that'll allow users to use their standard headphones, but we imagine this will come with a large price tag.
But how plausable is this idea? Music is a big part of the history of the iPhone, and we're not too sure Apple would jeopardise that just to shave 1mm off the width of its next iPhone. But with this being said, Apple did replace multiple ports with a single USB-C port on the 12in MacBook all in the name of shaving a a few millimetres off its' latest MacBook.
Consumers certainly seem to be convinced that it's possible, but they've been flocking to signan online petition in the hopes that they can stop Apple from removing the headphone jack. So far there are more than 280,000 signatures in the petition.
Plus, on 20 January even more evidence arrived to suggest that the headphone jack port is on its way out. Code spotted in the iOS 9.3 beta 1.1 software release by Twitter user Chase Fromm reads "Headphones.have.%sinput.NO." which could well be a reference to the future removal of the port.
iPhone 7 to come with Lightning EarPods & wireless AirPods?
Of course, if Apple does decide to ditch the headphone jack then it's going to need to supply some new EarPods with the iPhone 7, and the current rumours are suggesting some Lightning EarPods which will probably be similar to the EarPods we already know but will have a Lightning connector instead of the 3.5mm jack.
More excitingly, though, rumours say that Apple is working on AirPods that will be so completely wireless that they won't even have a wire connecting the left bud with the right bud. Instead they will both individually connect with the iPhone 7 over Bluetooth.
iPhone 7 rumours: Waterproof protection
It's possible the new iPhone 7 could be waterproof. In March 2015 a new patent revealed that Apple is investigating ways to make future iPhones waterproof without needing to compromise on the design, a change that never made it into the 6s and 6s Plus. Instead of adding armour to the outside of the iPhone to protect it from water, the method would coat electronic components found inside the iPhone in a protective waterproof material that would prevent them from getting damaged should water find its way in. Clever.
iPhone 7 to 'dry itself by shooting water out of its speakers'
If waterproofing the internals of the iPhone 7 doesn't sound impressive enough to you, the next rumour might. A patent was published on 12 November which suggests that the iPhone 7 could be waterproof - but not by creating a watertight body, or even waterproofing the internals. Instead, the patent suggests that the iPhone could dry itself by pumping water (or any other liquid, for that matter) out of the device via its speaker grills. Pretty cool, eh?
The concept is centred around modules within the speakers that can be made more or less hydrophobic, depending on the electrical charge applied to them. That way, when liquid is detected in the iPhone, the modules would be activated in such a way that it'd move the liquid across them and eventually out of the speaker grills. We love this idea, but we're not holding our breath that this will be featured in the iPhone 7 - maybe the 8 or 9, though.
iPhone 7 rumours: Wireless charging
New reports that emerged at the end of January 2016 suggest Apple is working on wireless charging behind the scenes, but the bad news is this special type of wireless charging that doesn't require users to place the phone on a charging mat isn't expected to arrive until 2017.
It's been rumoured that wireless charging is coming to iPhone for a long time now, but the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus arrived in September with no such feature, disappointing many. One of the reasons the iPhone doesn't currently offer wireless inductive charging is because the technology has never previously worked through aluminium, which the iPhone is made with. But in July, Qualcomm revealed that its latest wireless breakthrough now does work through metal, so it's finally a possibility for Apple.
But Apple reportedly wants to take wireless charging one step further. Bloomberg says thatthe company is "exploring cutting-edge technologies that would allow iPhones and iPads to be powered from further away than the charging mats used with current smartphones."
iPhone 7 rumours: e-SIM
Another touted feature for the latest iPhone that didn't see daylight and may be reserved for the iPhone 7 is that it will have an e-SIM. Recent reports suggest that it could be the end of days for the traditional SIM card, with a possible introduction of a simpler option. An e-SIM is an electronic SIM card which would replace the physical SIMs used today and instead will opt for a virtual embedded equivalent. Rumours suggest that both Apple and Samsung are in talk with the GSMA (organisation that represents the interest of mobile operators) to use a standardised e-SIM in future handsets.
What are the benefits of having an e-SIM? First things first, it'll make switching carriers easy and should allow for more flexible roaming. The idea is that with a standardised e-SIM, you'll be able to make a call and switch operators without having to insert a specific SIM card. This idea translates to roaming too, as it'll be much easier to switch to a local network if you're looking to spend a long period of time in a particular country.
You can also wave goodbye to SIM adaptors! If you've ever had to go from a nano-SIM device to a micro-SIM device, you'll know exactly what we mean.
iPhone 7 with a glasses-free 3D display?
According to Economic Daily News, the iPhone 7 could feature a 3D display - but not just any 3D display, but one that doesn't require the use of those annoying 3D glasses. The website claims that Apple supply chain partner TPK is working on a project that could produce a glasses-free 3D display, though we're not holding out much hope for this as its been done before (remember the LG Optimus 3D?) and has never done well.
iPhone 7 with sidewall display: Apple's answer to the Galaxy Note Edge, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+?
There are some rumours to suggest that the iPhone 7 could have some new design features, though we'd take these rumours with a pinch of salt.
The speculation about a new design stems from an Apple patent that was published in 2015. It describes what Apple calls "sidewall displays," similar to the display found on the Galaxy Note Edge, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+.
Another concept image of an iPhone 7 with an edge-to-edge display emerged in early 2016 from iPhone-Tricks.com. It's a bit out-there and is unlikely to be quite accurate, but it also shows what iOS 10 might look like including an interesting idea that some of the icons could be bigger in a 'widget' style familiar to Android users.
iPhone 7 with a Touch ID display?
Another rumour that was sparked by an Apple patent is that the iPhone 7's Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which is usually situated beneath the Home button, could be built-in to the entire display, eliminating the need for a Home button and making room for a larger display without enlarging the overall size of the smartphone.
These rumours seemed pretty far fetched to begin with, but it might just happen. Sonavation recently announced that its found a way to insert ultrasonic biometric sensors underneath a Gorilla Glass display, with it still being able to read a users fingerprints.
The newly developed tech is "well suited for through-the-glass fingerprinting and specifically architected to deliver advanced security and ease-of-integration into mobile and IoT devices” Sonavation’s CTO Rainer Schmitt said.
The company claims that it can even do one better than the existing Touch ID (and most other fingerprint scanners on the market) by being able to scan fingerprints on a finger that's wet, dirty or oily. Though it's not clear which devices will be the first to feature this new technology, but we assume it'd either be the iPhone or a flagship Android smartphone.
iPhone 7 with flexible OLED display made by Samsung?
All of the above rumours could be made possible thanks to a new flexible OLED, that reports say Samsung Display is currently working on for the iPhone 7 and is set to invest billions in a new factory to keep up with demand and meet Apple's order of up to 45,000 panels per month.
iPhone 7 rumours: Reversible USB charger
Another rumour circulating the web is that the iPhone 7 will come with a new iPhone charger, with a Lightning connector on one end and a new reversible USB connector on the other end.
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