In 2014, we were lucky enough for Apple to launch not just its best iPhone yet, but its two best smartphones, with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. As good as it was to finally have some proper choice in the line-up, the truth is that the phones just whet our appetites for what the company could do next. It should come as no surprise that we're now in full-on rumour mode, sifting through all of the information to find out what the company has in store.
In this article, we're focussing on the iPhone 7, which will be a big change from the existing handsets and have all of the new technology. Given Apple's usual release schedules, we'll see an updated version of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus this year, but not a phone with a brand-new design. That means that it's most likely that we won't see the iPhone 7 until 2016; for this year's launches, read our iPhone 6S rumours.
While that sounds like a long time away, the truth is that the iPhone 7 is where all of Apple's new technology will be going. Following it from now will help us understand better what the company is developing and how its products are likely to evolve.
iPhone 7 release date
If there's been one reliable thing about Apple's iPhone launches, it's that they happen just once a year. Not so this year, if you believe a report from StableyTimes, which claims that this year Apple will stagger its launches, releasing both new handsets. According to 'sources close to the supply chain' talking to the site, Apple wants to release the iPhone 6S to coincide with the launch of the Apple Watch, in order to give a boost in sales.
According to the logic behind this statement, more and more mobile contracts are letting people upgrade more regularly, giving Apple an opportunity to launch handsets every six months, and sell more in the process. To hit that schedule, it would mean that the iPhone 6S would be a minor upgrade to the iPhone 6, with a new flagship iPhone 7 launched at the end of the year. It would also let the company keep up with Samsung, which releases far more phones throughout the year.
There's a certain amount of logic to that, but this doesn't seem to strike true with us. If anything, Apple would seem to want to launch the Apple Watch separately to any new iPhones, in order to give its new product more attention. Secondly, Sony has stuck to a six-monthly cycle with its Xperia range, with the Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 launched just six months apart. While the Z3 is the superior product, mostly from a design perspective, the big problem is that there's actually little difference inside between the two models. Simply put, a six-monthly release schedule doesn't give a company enough time to make significant changes and runs the risk of stagnation and people becoming bored with the product. Secondly, with new product every six months, the temptation is there for people to keep putting off their purchase, knowing that a newer and better phone is due soon.
Instead, we imagine that Apple will stick to what it usually does: launch the 6S in September, with the new models having upgraded internals, but keeping the same bodies. That will mean that the iPhone 7 will launch in 2016; there's a slim possibility that it will launch in Spring 2016 (six months after the iPhone 6S), but we think that the iPhone 7 will launch in September 2016.
iPhone 7 - sapphire glass may not be used
Sapphire glass was one of the things that we were hoping would make it into the iPhone 6. This incredibly tough material (second only to diamonds), was said to make the glass front of the phone virtually indestructible. So where is it? It turns out that there are quite a few complexities to solve before we'll see such big panels.
For starters, sapphire glass is extremely scratch-resistant, but it can be shattered. This is the reason why Apple is not using sapphire glass in the Sport version of the Watch; the other editions do have sapphire glass. Corning, the manufacturers of Gorilla Glass, recently cited this exact problem in a report on CNet.
"We told you last year that sapphire was great for scratch performance but didn't fare well when dropped," said James Clappin, president of Corning Glass Technologies. "So, we created a product that offers the same superior damage resistance and drop performance of Gorilla Glass 4 with scratch resistance that approaches sapphire."
It also turns out that supply was a problem, particularly when the glass panels need to be big enough to cover the phones. On top of that the company that everybody thought was going to be the big sapphire supplier for Apple, GT Advanced Technologies, filed for Bankruptcy Court Protection Under Chapter 11 on the 6th October 2014.
That doesn't mean that it's game-over for the technology, as Focus Taiwan has reported that manufacturer Foxconn is rapidly building a new display factory purely for handling Apple's iPhone orders. The company has apparently signed a deal with the Zhengzhou city government in Henan Province, China, to develop a 133-hectare factory right next to an existing iPhone 6 factory. The report also suggests the factory will be producing sapphire glass displays. The factory may not have time to ramp up production for the iPhone 6S, but we'll hopefully at least see it for the iPhone 7.
iPhone 7 camera
Another rumour doing the rounds is that the iPhone 7 will have a pair of upgraded rear camera sensors to give the biggest jump in picture quality ever seen on a smartphone. Daring Fireball's John Gruber said on his The Talk Show podcast that "a birdie of a birdie" told him that Apple is working on a two-lens camera system for future iPhones.
Although he didn't mention any specific technical details, he did postulate that the upgrade would mean a massive leap forward in terms of image quality, bringing the smartphone on par with some digital SLR cameras. Apple certainly wouldn't be the first company to use twin camera sensors, although the Duo Camera found in the HTC One (M8) was used to measure depth information and create depth of field effects rather than boost image quality.
It has been suggested Apple's approach may mirror that of small tech startup Corephotonics, which uses a dual-lens camera system with two different focal lengths. One sensor is used for wide-angle images and the other is used for close-up and macro shooting. The two focal lengths would negate the degrading effects of digital zoom and could still be used for 3D spatial measurements because the lens offset is a known entity. Apple holds a range of camera-related patents, including post-capture refocusing, interchangeable lens modules and external lens attachments; the dual-lens system could be an evolution of one of these.
Apple may also increase the resolution of its camera. A report in the Taipei Times quotes analyst Jeff Pu as saying that the iPhone 6S won't have a better camera, as the major sensor manufacturer doesn't have enough capacity. Although there's little evidence to this, and Apple rarely seems to have the supply issues that are quoted, sticking with the 8-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 6S makes sense, as the handset is already built for this. With the iPhone 7 and a completely new design, there's room to experiment, so a 13-megapixel plus sensor (some are saying 20-megapixels) could happen. We wouldn't expect the highest resolution possible, though, as Apple tends to focus on the image quality, rather than the headline figure.
Touch ID also getting better
Touch ID has been a big success for Apple, and its functionality has expanded, so that the fingerprint sensor can now be used inside apps, and to authenticate payments using Apple Pay (US only at the moment). KGI Analyst Ming Chi Kuo, reported on by 9to5Mac, has said that there's a new Touch ID sensor coming in 2015 that will make the technology more reliable and secure, aiding the mass adoption of Apple Pay. While we'll likely see the new sensor in the iPhone 6S, you can bet that a further refinement and improvement is likely to come to the iPhone 7 in 2016.
Will we see iOS 10?
Apple has focussed on rolling out yearly version updates for its iOS operating system, and we're likely to see iOS 9 launched this year with the iPhone 6S. Rumour has it at this point that this version of the operating system isn't going to be new features and major changes, but an opportunity for Apple to iron out bugs and increase stability. That means that iOS 10 is likely to come in 2016 with the iPhone 7 and it will be a bigger change, introducing new features. Of course, we're a little too early on that one to work out what Apple will do, but we should get some insight when Apple announces iOS 9 this year, most likely at its WWDC conference in June.
iPhone 7 - 2GB RAM could be standard
Although Apple's iOS is extremely well optimised, the fact that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both only have 1GB of RAM could start to be a limiting factor. More RAM means larger and more complicated apps can be run while switching between open apps should be faster and slicker. As a result, moving to 2GB of RAM for the next iPhone makes a lot of sense, which is what Apple is planning to do, says TechNews in Taiwan. Apple has already moved to 2GB of RAM on the iPad Air 2, so it would make sense that it would do the same thing for its flagship mobile devices.
iPhone 7 - USB Type-C charger
Rumour has it that Apple's ready to introduce a new 2A charger (up from the 1A charger provided with the current range), for faster charging, but will also switch to the new USB Type-C standard. This is designed to address one of the major bugbears with the current Type-A connector: it can only be plugged in one way round. The new Type-C design is reversible, so the USB connector can be plugged in either way up, making inserting cables into USB ports less fiddly. With the reversible Lightning connector on the other end, charging your iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 would certainly be less fiddly.
USB Type-C has also been reduced in size, which could make the charger smaller, too. The only problem is that USB Type-C isn't backwards compatible with the Type-A connector, so you'd need to use an adaptor cable if you wanted to use a new Lightning cable with your own third-party charger. Check out the video below to see what the new cable and charger could look like.
iPhone 7 - OLED screen
One of the big changes for the iPhone 7 is that Apple could switch away from IPS panels to OLED displays. According to Chinese site MacX.cn the iPhone 7 will have a 5in OLED display rather than an LCD panel. MacX's leaks have been a fairly reliable in the past, and it goes on to report that a number of differently sized OLED screens have been requested by Foxconn (who manufacture Apple's iPhones) in time for 2016 or 2017.
According to its sources, there could potentially be a future 5in iPhone with a pixel density of 440 pixels-per-inch (PPI), implying it would have a Full HD 1,920x1,080 resolution. This would offer improved sharpness over the current iPhone 6 display, which has a 4.7in panel and a pixel density of 326PPI. However, given the time frame for these OLED screens could be as far as two years away, we think it's unlikely that Apple's next iPhone for 2015 will have one of these displays.
Apple looks set to use an OLED panel for the Apple Watch, which would help improve battery life and contrast, making the display easier to see in daylight. If Apple's staring to use the technology for one device, it follows that it would start to use the technology for a different product, too. It's possible that the iPhone 7 will use an OLED display manufactured by multiple panel manufacturers, including Universal Display, says Barrons.com. From research the site has seen, it looks as though AMOLED panel manufacturing will increase over the next year, giving Apple access to the volumes it would require for a new high-end smartphone. We'll keep an eye on this one, but an AMOLED screen could be just what Apple needs in order to boost its phones' battery life and display quality.
iPhone 7 - design concepts
There tend to be a lot of iPhone images sent around, but if there's one guy we trust to deliver the goods, it's Martin Hajek. Renowned for his high-quality, photo-realistic mock-ups, his designs put flesh and bones on the rumours and give a good idea of what to expect. His designs don't always match up to the final product, but he is working off words and rumours rather than final images; what you get is a better idea of how the new information could be realised. Anyway, that's enough of us blabbing on, check out the work he did with Business Insider, coming up with a design that shows how the iPhone 7 could look if Apple goes for edge-to-edge glass.
