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.
There are some websites stating that the iPhone 7 will launch this year instead, replacing the iPhone 6. However, we had a similar set of rumours before the iPhone 5S was launched, with people saying that the phone would be the iPhone 6. History, of course, proved that to be wrong and we had the iPhone 5S followed by the iPhone 6. We’re going to stick our heads out and say the same thing will happen here.
While 2016 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.
We won’t see a bigger battery
Don’t expect Apple to install a bigger battery in the iPhone 7, except where chassis space will allow for it. In a rare interview, Sir Jony Ive said that a bigger battery would make the iPhone “less compelling”. His argument goes that the iPhone is so slim and light that people are always using it, draining the battery faster; making it fatter to contain a bigger battery would make the phone less compelling, so that people would use it less.
Our take is that as long as the phone has enough juice to last through a day’s-worth of heavy use, it’s done its job for most people: something that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus acheived. For people that really need more power than this can offer, there are other handsets that are built to last a lot longer, as you can see from our battery test of 2014′s smartphones.
Apple Watch and MacBook Force Touch incoming
Apple first introduced Force Touch technology with the Apple Watch: it’s a pressure-sensitive touchscreen that knows the difference between a soft tap and a hard press. This technology was introduced to increase the number of ways that you could interact with the Watch. However, Apple has also seen scope for the technology on different devices, including the new MacBook, which has Force Touch integrated into its Touchpad. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the iPhone 6S will have this technology.
This makes a lot of sense, as Apple clearly has the ability to integrate Force Touch into a variety of different devices. It also makes plenty of sense that Apple would continue to roll-out Force Touch, with the iPhone 7 a clear contender for the technology. With updates to iOS supporting the hard press, Apple will be able to provide new ways to interact with the iPhone, which Android manufacturers can’t simply replicate.
Waterproof phone in the works
A more resilient and tougher iPhone 7 is something that we all want to see and we may get our wish, with the latest rumours stating that the new handset may be waterproof. A new patent application points to the company using a technique known as Plasma-Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (PACVD) to coat the internal components and make them resistant to moisture. This would mean that the company doesn’t have to make the case completely watertight.
This kind of technique makes sense, as we’ve already seen companies, such as Liquipel (not available in the UK), offer an after-market waterproofing service. Using this technology, your phone is coated in water-repellent material (inside and out), protecting it from water damage. Apple doing the same thing at the factory stage could improve things and, crucially, would definitely not void your warranty.
The Apple SIM could be integrated
One of the rumours doing the rounds for the iPhone 6S, and reported by AppleInsider, is that Apple is going to pre-install its own SIM. First launched with the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, the Apple SIM is a multi-carrier model, which lets the user choose their own contract directly from the device. This would be even more powerful on a handset: imagine being able to switch carriers when you want, or even to get better deals when roaming.
If this technology makes it the iPhone 6S, it would definitely make it to the iPhone 7 and, if there’s enough support, Apple could even integrate the SIM directly into the phone, getting rid of the SIM-card slot completely. There are obstacles to overcome, though.
First, there’s support, with relatively few carriers supporting the Apple SIM (only EE supports it in the UK). Second, some carriers don’t want to support it and see it as Apple intruding on their relationship with customers. Apple’s got a lot of clout, though, and we’d love to see it win this battle and force networks to support the Apple SIM, giving consumers more choice and an easier way of switching networks.
iPhone 7 could get better image stabilisation
While we don’t generally have a lot of time for Apple patent stories that state the latest invention will definitely come to the next handset, this bit of information has legs. With its Mirror Tilt Actuation patent, Apple describes the invention as “an image sensor and a zoom lens assembly including a plurality of movable lens elements arranged to be moved independent of one another”. In other words, it’s a better optical image stabilisation system, with the lens able to keep the path of light through the lens straight, eliminating camera blur.
What’s interesting about this design, is that the lens assembly looks a little like a periscope, as you can see from the image below. Apple already has OIS with the iPhone 6 Plus, but it makes sense that the company want to build on and improve the technology that it has already – the question is, can it make this technology fit inside a smartphone?
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.
