If Apple will stick to its regular release cycle, the iPhone 7 release date, which will also include the iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone Pro unboxing, will happen no later than September 2016 with the Worldwide Developers Conference in June setting the stage. The event will unveil iOS 10 that in turn will power the next iPhones and iPads.
Here the minimum expectations:
Design revisions
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is already testing three iPhone design prototypes - two are entirely different from the iPhone 6S while a third option closely resembles that of the 6S. Judging from the leaks that recently emerged, it looked that Apple is using the latter version with notable modifications and foremost of which are the elimination of the rear antenna band and the main camera bump due to significant camera upgrades.
The consensus among Apple watchers is that the next iPhone will deliver a cleaner and flatter design and with the general profile further slimmed down.
Key innovations
And coming from the S year, the iPhone 7 is only expected to unpack with loads of innovations or at least enhancements of the features already found on rival smartphones. First on the list would be the rumored dumping of the 3.5mm audio jack and in its place is wireless headset connectivity or a vastly improved iPhone stereo speakers.
Despite the slimmer build, the next iPhone is also rumored to rock a bigger more powerful battery compared to the iPhone 6S. There are talks of an impending shift from Lightning wired connectivity to USB Type-C to expand the possibilities to come with the next iPhone port.
As the return of waterproofing and microSD slot with the Galaxy S7 proved well received, it is likely that Apple will counter by making the iPhone water resistant as well, possibly with higher rating than the IP68 that the S7 had unboxed with. It's unthinkable that the next iPhone will have an expandable memory but Apple will likely provide a higher storage option - up to 256GB as same rumors claim, which could lead to the retirement of the 16GB basic model.
Lastly, supply chain reports have been creating noise on the likelihood of a dual-camera set up for the next iPhone, which according to analysts will be exclusive to the bigger model that will be called as iPhone Pro.
Killer features
The next iPhone killer features are hardcoded with the upcoming iOS 10, fired up by the A10 processing chip. Most often mentioned are the features optimized for higher productivity, which likely are the enhancements of key features unpacked with iOS 9.3. There will be loads of iOS 10 add-ons that Apple will surely reveal using the 2016 WWDC in June, thus providing the buildup point for the iPhone 7 September release date.