The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still selling well, but rumors regarding the next iteration of the ever popular iPhone series are already flooding in. This is hardly surprising given the overwhelming commercial success of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and already there will be many fans of mobile devices keenly awaiting the iPhone 7, even though it won’t actually be released for at least nine months.
Hajek concept images
Just to whet the appetite of iPhone addicts still further, numerous concept images of this forthcoming smartphone have emerged recently. Many of these have been produced by the designer Martin Hajek, and his latest concept images suggest some interesting parameters to this huge mobile release.
Firstly, Hajek’s impressions of the iPhone 7 is that it will be significantly smaller than its predecessor. It’s always hard to predict smartphone trends; for some time it seemed that there was a mania for ever larger phablets. But the phablet market has retracted slightly of late, which is ironic given that Apple has chosen to release his first ever phablet in 2014.
But the fact that people seem generally less enthusiastic about this larger mobile niche suggest that a smaller iPhone 7 could meet with a favourable reaction. It may be this rationale that has driven the imagination of Hajek.
In order to achieve this more compact design, Hajek suggest that the consumer electronics giant will develop an iPhone which features no side bezels. This will then enable the display sizing from the iPhone 6 to be maintained in its sequel, while are also delivering iPhone fans a lighter, nimbler and physically more attractive device.
The images that Hajek has produced are very much in line with the consensus thinking on how the iPhone 7 might turn out. A previous report by Steven Tweedie of Business Insider suggested that Apple may wish to create a more compact smartphone with the iPhone 7, and general analysis on the subject would seem to support both Tweedie and Hajek’s views.
Bezel-free smartphones
In addition, bezel-less smartphones are becoming increasingly popular with manufacturers. Already there is speculation that this will become a comment feature of the next generation of mobiles, with analysts and Sony followers also predicting that the Sony’s Xperia Z4 will include “ultra-thin” barely visible bezels around its edges. This trend is all part of the push to pack ever greater power into increasingly smaller packages.
Apple is in a very strong position with the iPhone 7 for two central reasons. Firstly, both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been hugely successful for the corporation, and even exceeded Apple sales targets. The lustre and veneer of the iPhone series certainly don’t seem to have been dented thus far. Secondly, the most obvious rival to Apple, Samsung, has been in the doldrums recently, with its profits plummeting 60 percent and the corporate hierarchy of the Korean manufacturer admitting that its approach recently has been somewhat misguided and lacking in innovation.
This makes it much easier for Apple to do something original and take a risk with the iPhone 7. In line with this state of affairs, analysts are already suggesting that the iPhone 7 may have some unique and innovative features, and may even feature a release schedule which we haven’t witnessed previously.
Already rumor mills are suggesting that Apple will reject its usual pattern of releases for the iPhone and instead launch two new iPhones next year. To what extent this is accurate is debatable, and the most likely case scenario would still seem to be a September release for two iPhone 7 models; one of the smartphone and one of the phablet variety.
Protective mechanism patent
But an intriguing report that does seem to have merit is the notion that Apple has filed a patent on a protective mechanism for an electronic device. It is already thought that this could come into effect with the iPhone 7, although it should also be emphasized that Apple raises patents quite regularly, and many of them haven’t even seen the light of day yet. One can never be entirely clear on what the corporation is planning, but it nonetheless makes intriguing news.
According to a recent report by IBTimes, the titanic tech firm may utilize this technology for the first time in the iPhone 7. This may be a reaction to some of the negative publicity that Apple received for the iPhone 6, which suggested that it isn’t the most durable of smartphones. It would seem that Apple intends to ensure that this particular critique cannot be levelled at the iPhone 7.
Other spec rumors of iPhone 7
Elsewhere, it is suggested that Apple will greatly improve the screen resolution of the iPhone series when the iPhone 7 hits the stores. This would not be much of a surprise given the fact that the Samsung Galaxy range is almost without exception considered to provide better displays for smartphone consumers. Apple is lagging behind Samsung in this department, and it may wish to redress the balance with the iPhone 7.
Additionally, there are already some striking rumors about the quality of camera that will be included in the iPhone 7. Some sources have even suggested that this flagship Apple smartphone could include a 21-megapixel snapper. Perhaps this is a little fanciful given that the iPhone 6 only incorporated an 8-megapixel lens, but it seems certain that this will be upgraded significantly.
Another new feature which could see the light of day in the iPhone 7 is wireless charging. This is something that iPhone fans have craved for some time, and given that the technology is now available, the world’s most valuable company would be in a very strong position to implement it.
What is obvious is that the iPhone 7 will be an extremely significant tech release when it finally hits the market. We can expect a great deal of speculation and information to flow out of Apple between now and then, whether it is intended to or not. But the conditions of the smartphone market at the end of 2014 suggest that 2015 will be an equally successful year for Apple and the iPhone series.
