Apple has officially sent out media invitations for a special event in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, September 7. All eyes will shift to this event as we await the unveiling of the next generation iPhone and Apple Watch models.
As with all Apple launches, there have been countless leaks in the last few months. Strangely enough, this time around, it’s the name itself that’s keeping everyone on their seats. While we may already know that Apple will not be making major upgrades to its lineup this year, there has been strong speculation that Apple won’t call it the iPhone 7 as expected.
It was initially rumoured that Apple will call the next iPhone the iPhone 6SE, however launch date now being the ‘7th’ on the invite should kill off all rumours.
The next iPhone is expected to feature camera improvements in both models, with the smaller 4.7-inch offering tipped to get optical image stabilisation, and the larger 5.5-inch offering tipped to sport a dual camera setup. An all new Apple A10 SoC is expected to be used to power both devices, with rumours also stating that the memory will be pushed up to 3GB of RAM.
The base storage variant is also expected to increase from 16GB to 32GB. Alongside the upgraded base storage rumour of the top-end variant being pushed from 128GB to 256GB.
One of the most strongest rumours involve the removal of the 3.5mm audio jack on the next iPhone models, doing away with the current standard for audio connectivity for three reasons:
- Ensuring the next model is very slim
- Ensuring the next model is waterproof (thus has minimal, easy-to-protect ports)
- Allow users to have better audio quality through the Lightning port instead. The Lightning port can also power active noise cancellation in headphones that offer it.
A boost in the display resolution seems very likely as well. The current iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus boast resolutions of 750×1334 pixels and 1080×1920 pixels respectively, while the corresponding iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are expected to feature resolutions of 1080×1920 pixels and 1440×2560 pixels respectively.
A Space Black variant of the new Apple range is set to be unveiled this time around, whilst a Space Blue variant isn’t ruled out either, especially after the removal of the Space Grey colour option.
There’s no word just yet as to when these new Apple models will actually be available in South Africa. However, Apple is expected to make the next iPhone available in its stores in the US from September 16, with carrier availability tipped for September 23 – Strangely enough, it’s the same date as the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in South Africa? Hmm…
