Apple iPhone 7 launch: here’s what to expect

We know it’ll be faster obviously. We know the camera will be better (why would it be worse?). But what do we really know about the iPhone 7 handsets?

We sift through the rumours and leaks to figure out what to expect from the iPhone 7 ahead of tomorrow’s reveal…

No headphone jack

This has been a heavy rumour for almost a year now, if not more. Numerous sources claim that Apple is ditching the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 in favour of using the Lightning connector.

It’s been claimed that Apple will ship an adapter in the box so people can still use their legacy headphones and peripherals on the new handset though. There are a few upsides to ditching an earphone jack though, such as having audio hardware inside the peripheral rather than inside the phone (and having a smaller phone as a result), but is this really worthwhile?

Let’s put it this way: I’ll be more surprised if Apple keeps the headphone jack.

Dual cameras on the bigger model (or both?)

Recent leaks allege that Apple will be using a traditional camera setup on the standard iPhone 7, but a dual-camera setup on the Plus model. There are plenty of reasons to use a dual-camera arrangement, such as faux aperture adjustment, refocusing and better zoom.

I’ll be more surprised if Apple keeps the headphone jack on the iPhone 7

Will Apple really stick to dual cameras on the bigger model only though? Huawei has shown that both sizes can pack dual lens arrangements, with the P9 and P9 Plus. But reports indeed point to dual cameras on the Plus variant only. Still, if the standard size iPhone packs a quality single lens shooter on par with the Samsung Galaxy S7, there’ll be no need to complain.

32GB of base storage

Another oft-reported rumour is that Apple will be ditching 16GB models as the base storage model. Instead of 16GB iPhones being the cheapest, the company is set to make 32GB models the starting point and cheapest option.

This is a long overdue move, as Apple has trumpeted the virtues of the cloud for years. But when 4K and even full HD recordings take up a ton of space (as well as today’s humongous games), the cloud simply makes no sense. Unless you have a speedy fibre connection, I suppose.

A10 processor

Another spec that’s virtually guaranteed to happen this year is the processor upgrade, moving to the A10 chip. Apple’s well known for delivering on this front, whipping the competition into submission – at least in terms of single-core performance.

Rumours claim that the A10 chip is going to be manufactured on a 10nm process, which would make the chip smaller and more energy-efficient. If confirmed, Apple would once again beat Qualcomm to the punch, as the Snapdragon manufacturer is only preparing for 10nm chips next year. ARM is also set to bring 10nm chips in numbers next year, so Apple might just beat two of the industry’s biggest names to the process.

It wouldn’t be the first time Apple beat the industry to a chip innovation either, as they were the first to slap a 64-bit chip inside a phone back in 2013 (the iPhone 5S).

No changes on the display front?

If there’s one thing Apple doesn’t change very often, it’s the screen. And we haven’t heard any talk of increased resolutions or larger displays this year.

So expect the same 750×1334 and 1080×1920 resolutions for the standard iPhone and Plus model respectively. Of course, Apple will probably tweak other aspects of the display, such as colour accuracy and thickness. Part of a switch to OLED technology, perhaps?

Water-resistant design?

It’s a little known fact that Apple’s current crop of iPhones have some level of water-resistance built in. So we’re not surprised to hear rumours of water-resistance being more than a hidden feature this year.

Would water-resistance as a stated feature be worth all the trouble though? After all, Sony distanced itself from marketing its recent smartphones as water-resistant… Perhaps hoping to prevent people taking unnecessary risks with their phone?

Removed antenna lines? The home button gets 3D Touch?

Another notable claim was that Apple would be removing the antenna lines on the back of the iPhone, or rather, moving them to a different location. The iPhone 4 and 4S featured antennae that ran around the rim of the phone, but this wasn’t the most ideal arrangement, leading to AntennaGate.

The second notable rumour is that Apple will be replacing the physical home button with a capacitive 3D Touch-enabled key. This would make sense as failing home buttons are definitely a problem for some people.

New speaker arrangement?

The iPhone’s speaker setup pales in comparison to the old HTC One’s front-facing speakers, but French publication nowhereelse.fr claims that the new iPhone 7 will up the ante in a big way.

In fact, the publication claims that Apple will opt for a quad-speaker arrangement (partly seen in their picture above), making for quite the punch in theory. However, other sources are claiming two speakers, still making for an improvement over previous models.

Visit our regularly updated iPhone 7 rumour/leak page for more comprehensive coverage