Apple will introduce three iPhone models in 2017 and headlined by a super-thin handset codenamed Ferrari, the latest rumors from China indicated. Not only that the exterior of the device is reengineered on release date but the insides will also have a unique motherboard design.
Freshly leaked documents supposedly hinted that Apple engineers are now working on three handset models that go by the internal names as D20, D21 and D22. The first two devices will be familiar to Apple fans as they are the direct step up from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. BGR said the 2017 sequels will likely take the names iPhone 7S and 7S Plus. The same report pointed to the device schematics first discovered by Chinese-language blog site cnBeta as source of its information.
Essentially, the latest details confirmed the recent forecast issued by reputed Apple watcher Ming-chi Kuo - that for next year the current iPhone flagship models will be replaced not by two but three handset models. As mentioned above, a D22 device is now in the works that likely is the iPhone 8 that has been the subject of wild rumors for some time now.
Per the cnBeta report, the D22 or iPhone 8 will sport an overhauled external and internal build/design as opposed to the D20 (iPhones 7S) and D21 (7 Plus). It is believed that the latter two will mostly carry over the smartphone profile that Apple used with the 2016 iPhones.
As for the iPhone 8, it is likely the all-glass and all-screen handset that is touted to be with a curved AMOLED display panel. But the leaked schematic did not mention the iPhone 8 screen size, which according to Kuo will stretch diagonally by to 5.8-inch but the active touchscreen is only limited to 5.2-inch.
In a related report by WCCFTech, which also picked up the report on the leaked iPhone 8 blueprint, it is said that the next iPhone "motherboard will be divided into two components, connected by a simple soft cable." On one part of the mobo the performance components will be found such as CPU and NAND. The other part will have the connectivity components like the SIM and Wi-Fi chips.
Supposedly, the next iPhone motherboard redesign is for easier maintenance of the device. At the same time, the approach will allow for significant reduction of the device thickness, somehow indicating that Apple wants to impress with a super-slim iPhone 8 that will serve as the tech giant's Anniversary Edition.
When exactly the tenth iPhone instalment from Apple will drop remains unknown but rumors have it that the iPhone is happening between September and October 2017 with the mass production supposedly set to fire up May or June next year.