Apple has produced a resoundingly successful product release yet again with the iPhone 6, and the consumer electronics giant must be particularly pleased with the way that the smartphone has performed in the marketplace. But attention is already shifting to the next generation iPhone, with the iPhone 7 expected to be released around September this year.
Most analysts believe that given the success of the iPhone 6 that Apple is highly unlikely to significantly divert from the approach that it took with that handset in terms of release schedule. But many new features are already expected or at least rumored by the Apple-following community.
Killer camera
One of the most significant of these is the suggestion that the iPhone 7 will embrace dual-lens technology in its camera. This has been reported by many credible sources including Apple Insider, and it presents the enticing possibility that Apple will include a camera of almost professional standard in its next smartphone. This would certainly raise the bar in terms of what smartphone cameras’ photographic capabilities are, but enough sources have suggested that Apple is seriously contemplating this to make it a distinct possibility.
Not only will this provide picture capturing technology of the utmost quality, but it is also suggested that Apple fans will be able to experience optical zoom features. This will be a first for the iPhone series, and if both of these rumors are realised then there is no doubt that the iPhone 7 will be by far the best ever iPhone for taking photographs.
The rumored technology will also enable better quality images to be captured in low-light conditions, as the dual-lens construction of the camera will enable the snapper to take in more light. Although this rumor has yet to be established concretely, it is also worth pointing out that the news has apparently emanated from supply chain sources in Taiwan, so should certainly be taken seriously.
Gaming joystick
Video games have, of course, already become massive business, and one of the interesting developments in recent years has been a smartphone-based niche of gaming which has been entirely separate from traditional sources. Rumors which have emerged recently suggest that Apple is taking this element of the iPhone extremely seriously. While this may not come as a huge surprise given the commercial value of mobile gaming, the fact that it intends to incorporate something entirely new into the design of the iPhone 7 will be of more intrigue.
The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application from Apple that features a Home button which can also be utilized as a gaming joystick. This has been reported by the website Patently Apple, and since picked up by numerous sources.
According to information which has been obtained, the next generation Home button in the iPhone series will be multi-modular, with the first mode essentially providing standard functionality, while the second one will convert it to a gaming-based controller. It is also reported that the Home button will pop out when a user of the iPhone 7, or whichever device is benefiting from the patented technology, exerts significant pressure on the button.
In information related with the patent, it is emphasized by Apple that the new advanced Home button will enable players to receive feedback from the device. This is not currently possible through touch controls available in existing iPhone models, and would suggest something similar to the DualShock functionality included in the PlayStation 4.
Battering RAM
Apple has always relied on a combination of proprietary hardware and software to drive the processing speed of the iPhone series, and this has stood the range of smartphones in outstanding stead. After all, this is by far the most successful smartphone in the world today, and the sales of Apple devices remain extremely robust.
However, supply chain leaks suggest that Apple will double the RAM available in the iPhone 7 from the previous generation, ensuring that the next-generation iPhone benefits from 2GB of installed RAM. This will also help contribute to improving battery life for the device; something of a perpetual annoyance in the iPhone series.
Apple Watch Link-Up
One big area of difference between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 will be that the next generation iPhone will significantly collaborate with the forthcoming Apple Watch. Of course, it is hardly fair to expect the iPhone 6 to achieve this considering it hasn’t even been released yet! But if the Apple Watch is a significant success then this could be seen as a big plus point for the iPhone 7.
There hasn’t really been much in the way of details as to how this might operate, but with the Apple Watch expected to place a particular emphasis on health-related functionality, it is probable that the iPhone 7 will also be tailored to the budding athlete.
Facial recognition
Although TouchID improvements are expected in this next generation iPhone, it has also been suggested that the iPhone 7 may incorporate facial recognition technology. This would mainly be implemented as a security feature. This rumor is not exactly new, indeed it has been proposed for some time that Apple may consider this, but it could finally come to fruition with the iPhone 7. Apple has already filed a patent for “Personal computing device control using face detection and recognition” in 2013.
Build redesign
Finally, the iPhone series has always been praised for the immense quality of its design and build, and Apple doesn’t like to stand still for too long in this department. Thus, the general trend of rumors related to the iPhone 7 suggest that the device may be designed significantly differently from previous models.
Central to this could be the inclusion of Sapphire Glass in the iPhone 7, which was a strongly rumored feature of the iPhone 6 which turned out to be a red herring. Other possible design features which would differ from the iPhone 6 include the notion that Apple will produce at least one model of the iPhone 7 with a curved display.
