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Apple Double Leak Delivers iPhone 7 Bad News

This article is more than 7 years old.

Millions anxiously await Apple ’s upcoming iPhone 7, but a pair of new sources revealing its major changes suggest you might be better off focusing on the radical Galaxy Note 7 instead… 

  1. Wall Street Journal Warns Of Disappointment

Firstly, alongside its revelations of an overhauled iPhone 8 in 2017, the Wall Street Journal has reiterated that:

“The biggest planned change in this year’s phones is the removal of the headphone plug, which will make the phone thinner and improve its water resistance, said people familiar with the matter. The Lightning connector will serve double-duty as a port for charging the phone and for connecting headphones, they said.”

Again this is in line with leaks since the start of the year and the removal of the headphone jack is something I predicted way back in June 2014. The change will polarise opinion, even more so given how little else source two suggests we will see:

  1. Mac Otakara Reveals Very Subtle Design Changes

Of course, even in ‘S years’ Apple always makes upgrades but we’ll have to hope they are internal given how familiar respected Japanese blog Mac Otakara says the iPhone 7 will appear on the outside. It notes the only external switches will be as follows:

“[The] iPhone 7 has its proximity sensor on the front changed to the dual specification in addition to the ambient light sensor on the side moving from the left side to the right with a slightly longer receiver.”

On top of this the site notes the iPhone 7 rear camera has become bigger while the iPhone 7 Plus rear camera shifts to a dual lens setup. The lack of any major design overhaul is bad news, but the subtle tweaks also add one further small irritant: 

“iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus cases cannot be used while it's also likely that front LCD protection films etc. cannot be used for the new model.”

Apple's Big iPhone 8 Gamble

Of course for those upgrading from older models like the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S there should still be enough in the iPhone 7 to tempt upgraders, but those with the iPhone 6 or newer increasingly look unlikely to be swayed.

As such, with iPhone sales falling for the first time ever this year, it seems Apple is having something of a time out and hanging everything on the 2017 iPhone 8 (yes, it will jump straight to ‘8’). This will be a complete redesign with an all glass chassis and (very familiar) edgeless display.

The big question is will enough users wait or could Samsung’s grand plans tempt them away...?

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