Apple has enjoyed plenty of face time (pardon the pun) in the news recently ahead of the iPhone 7 launch. Of course, given the impending launch, Tim Cook would have rathered the headlines didn’t include tax evasion. Rather than bore you with the details of corperate tax, let’s look at the highly anticipated iPhone 7 launch.
iPhone 7 launch models
September 7th sees Apple’s keynote event for the latest iPhone announcement. We’ve looked at some of the rumours in the build up, but what’s looking likely?
Well, firstly, we’ll probably see an iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Rumour has been rife about the the ‘Plus’ will be replaced by ‘Pro’. Other rumours suggest there will be an iPhone 7, a 7 Plus and a 7 Pro. But not much buzz has been around it, so we’re putting this rumour of 3 models on the bench for now. ‘Pro’ replacing the ‘Plus’ is looking good though.
Less is more
Apple’s iPhone 7 is due a redesign. With every new generation of iPhone, we usually see a new design. This has been the norm from the start. It gives those who splashed out on the new model to flaunt their new purchase without openly bragging about it.
With most phones being released these days, less is more in terms of bezel. Bezel is basically the front of your phone that isn’t part of the screen. An edge to edge screen is what people seem to want these days. So expect a narrower model this year, similar to what Sony and Samsung have done.
Innovation
Apple usually steps up its game by coming up with some kind of feature that hasn’t been done before every couple of years. The iPhone 5s brought us the finger print scanner, while the 6s brought up 3D Touch. The S series usually has the innovation, whereas the standard iPhone series has generally worked on design and camera and processor upgrades. But this year, there are strong rumours of big changes.
Au revoir headphone socket
In order to make their phone thinner, Apple are looking to get rid of our headphone jacks and opt to listen to our music via bluetooth headsets. Fair enough, bluetooth headphones aren’t exactly innovation. It’s been around for awhile. But getting rid of the headphone jack is new. Usually, this forces people towards what is a better experience, so let’s wait and see.
Apple is notorious for having awful phone batteries. Having to listen to your music through Bluetooth is not going to help. If they do improve the battery, you’ll probably end up with the same battery life time as your 6s anyway, if not still worse as Bluetooth is a killer on battery. Also, for some reason, it’s just easier finding headphones with a wire. If you have headphones that are connected in some way, fair enough, it may not be much hassle changing over. But if you have 2 little ear pieces to go into each ear, you may want to make yourself a headphone kitty. If you lose one ear piece, the other one isn’t much use to you. And knowing Apple, you’ll be looking at around €30 to replace them.
Rumours do suggest that the lightning port where you charge your phone would be the new point of connection for your headphones. This is also a nuisance. You now are forced to buy standard Apple headphones as no other manufacturers will make these headphones with Apples patented lightning port. So maybe add an extra €10 or €20 onto the price of your headphones. Apple know you now need to buy them and this will be easy money for them. Alternatively, you could opt for a Bluetooth adaptor which is available from Griffin.
Smart connector
Another new feature that has been rumoured, if not almost confirmed if leaked photos are to be believed, is the iPhone 7 having a new smart connector on the back. Not much light has been shed on its use yet. We at Goos3D reckon that if this is real, it could be Apple’s answer the the wireless charging game. But the fact that it is located so low on the phone, it would be difficult to balance the phone on a wireless platform. Although wireless charging hasn’t taken off as well as Samsung had hoped, it wouldn’t be a bad call for Apple as a temporary solution for when your lightning charger goes faulty. And it will go faulty.
Inside the iPhone 7
So let’s go inside the phone and what you can expect for the iPhone 7 launch. As standard, we can probably expect to see a new A10 processor, which Tim Cook is bound to pitch as being their ‘fastest and most powerful processor to date’. Also, we can probably see an upgraded camera – particularly on the Pro/Plus. Leaked images have shown us that there will be a dual camera lens, similar to the Huawei P9. A dual lens is a feature we are excited to see. Apple was criticised for years on its camera quality until they finally upgraded to a 12MP in the 6s.
The one thing we think/hope we should be almost guaranteed to see is a 32GB standard iPhone. This should be confirmed on September 7th as Apple got absolutely slated last year after releasing a 16GB 6s. Should Apple really want to get ahead of the curve, releasing a 64GB standard model could give them a massive boost in market share. But we won’t hold our breath.
Make sure to check back here with us on September 7th and we’ll have the lowdown on all of Apple’s iPhone 7 launch announcements at their keynote and see what they have in store for 2017.
