It's that time of the year again - the last few couple of months before any iPhone release are always filled with rampant speculation, and this year's iPhone 7 release is no different. We take a look at some of the key rumors that have shaped our perspective of Apple's upcoming flagship.
Since the iPhone 3GS, Apple has adopted a "tick-tock" release cycle that has involved a major design overhaul of the iPhone in one year, followed by incremental improvements in the next. With the iPhone 7, this cycle is expected to continue, as a series of major changes are expected to be made.
One such change is the much-ballyhooed removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack, which has been standard on the iPhone since its release, along with, well, every single other multimedia electronic device capable of playing music in the last few decades. This rumor has been circulating for months now, but a recently leaked iPhone 7 case acquired by MacRumors, which was also independently leaked to Forbes, has shown a design that lacks a space for the 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, there appear to be two cutouts for speaker grills. It's not clear whether this means stereo speakers are in the pipeline for the iPhone 7, but it does show that future iPhone users will be using Lightning-based headphones or Bluetooth audio devices for their future listening needs.
The same case leak also indicates a larger camera through its lower and slightly wider camera cutout, suggestive of a bigger sensor, but shooting down rumors that the iPhone 7 would be getting a dual-camera setup akin to the Huawei P9's Leica-designed twin camera setup. The iPhone 7 Plus is rumored to have this setup, though.
It's one thing to have rumors come from "sources close to Apple," but to have two independently designed real-life cases made for use with the final iPhone 7 is far more than a coincidence, and makes a somewhat better point. Of course, it's always helpful to take anything this far out with a grain of salt, but at the same time, with all the rumors converging together into similar reports, we may just have a crystal-clear picture of what the next iPhone will be like. Whether or not it will be the game-changing device that Apple needs to bolster slowing sales is another question entirely, without nearly as good an answer.
