Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7 must do well to revive the company’s falling revenues and shrinking market share. The latest piece of leak coming out of China claims that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will pack a bigger battery than their predecessors. Unfortunately, the battery size bump won’t be enough to increase the battery life. Remember that battery capacity and battery life are two different things.
The second speaker is the reason behind bigger battery
According to images leaked on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, the iPhone 7 will feature a 1735mAh battery while its bigger sibling will have a 2810mAh battery. By comparison, the current iPhone 6S and 6S Plus come with a 1715mAh and 2750mAh battery. Latest rumors suggest that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will bring incremental improvements rather than a radical design overhaul.
So, why would Apple consider increasing the battery capacity of upcoming iPhones by 1.5% and 2.1%? Since the new iPhones will be only minor upgrades over their predecessors, their power requirements would be similar. But there have been consistent rumors that Apple would ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack and replace it with a second speaker. Obviously, two speakers would suck more battery than one. So Apple may have to increase the battery size slightly.
Will iPhone 7 retain the headphone jack?
Separately, a leaked image of a spare part of the iPhone 7 suggests that the headphone jack could still be there. French publication NoWhereElse.fr has obtained photos of a Lightning cable assembly, which is different from the same part in the current iPhone 6S. The assembly part houses several components including the Lightning port and antenna cables. It also shows a headphone jack on the far left side.
Such leaks should be taken with some skepticism. NoWhereElse noted that the image could well depict a part designed for a counterfeit manufacturer. The iPhone 7 is also said to get rid of the bulging rear camera and ugly antenna bands. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that it will sport a dual-camera setup.
