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iPhone 7 Update: Reports Suggest How Boring Apple’s New Device Will Be

By Jeremy Winslow
Published on: 06:47 PST, Jun 23, 2016

Well, Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) came and went. An extravagant event taking place in the Cupertino-based company’s backyard of San Francisco, California, WWDC is a week-long affair dedicated to Apple employees, app developers, and, most importantly, the Apple consumer. A press conference is held (and streamed on Apple’s website) where figureheads like CEO Tim Cook and Senior Software Engineering Vice President Craig Federighi get on the stage to discuss the latest happenings and newest “innovations” the company is currently working on. There are live demos of the forthcoming operating system, talks of how much more efficient iOS [insert number here] is over the last generation, montages of new apps and software additions and subtractions, and Chief Design Officer Jony Ive’s stoicism as he gives his famous product analysis. Though primarily a time for software announcements, the occasional refresh (or iteration) in hardware is revealed during these presentations as well. And for a while, there were talks of Apple showing a newly designed Macbook Pro—which, unfortunately, didn’t happen. We’ve known for a while that Apple was not going to show the iPhone 7 during the conference, yet people were persistent — that reveal didn’t happen either. Still, the rumor mill continued to run, wilder than ever. And it seems reports suggest that the next iPhone will be incredibly boring. Sorry, everyone.

As we’ve come to understand, Apple has a two-year phone cycle. During the even years, there is a new, redesigned iPhone that launches in September. During the odd years, there is an iteration of the redesigned iPhone that launches in September. For example: the iPhone 5 launched in September of 2012 featuring a 4-inch display, a marked departure from the standard 3.5-inch displays we’d seen on previous handsets. In September of 2013, the iPhone 5s launched with incremental upgrades, but kept the core design aesthetic: the 4-inch display from its predecessor. By that logic, since we’ve received the iPhone 6s (and 6s Plus) in September of last year, we should see a new, redesigned iPhone in September of this year that separates itself from the current iteration. Well, according to BGR, that won’t be happening. It seems Apple may deter from their routine, opting for a three-year phone cycle instead of a two-year this time around. And the iPhone we will see this year is, essentially, another iPhone 6s (or 6s Plus, depending on your preference. Standard 6s for me.) Sans one important feature: the 3.5mm audio headphone jack.

We’ve previously reported here on the Inquisitr about Apple’s rumored headphone jack and how leaks claim to showcase its permanence. Well, now it seems more leaked images display an iPhone 6s minus the audio headphone jack. As you might expect, people are furious. In fact, according to a BBC vertical, “More than 300,000 people have signed a petition urging Apple not to ditch the headphone socket from the version of the iPhone due for release this autumn.” (That’s quite a lot of signatures.) While this petition is floating around, other people in the cyber- and real- world aren’t too affected by this, claiming that either Apple (or third-party manufacturers) will develop a dongle compatible with Apple’s new standard, so their couple hundred dollar headphones they recently bought are not null and void.

It is difficult to ascertain why Apple is not delivering a completely redesigned iPhone in September of this year. (If the rumors are to be true, of course.) However, many people assume it’s because of the iPhone’s ten-year anniversary, which strikes in 2017. Perhaps the company wants to save its best for then—only time will tell. For now, September is right around the corner.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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