We aren’t going to find out what the next iPhone looks like until Apple shows us (probably in September), but that isn’t stopping designers from dreaming up some concepts.
Here’s a pretty bold one that imagines the next Apple smartphone as a mix between a Samsung Galaxy Edge and a Club Cracker. You can check it out in the video below.
This mock-up comes from Mesut G. Designs (via MeltStyle), and it is only 5mm thick — about the size of one of the numbers on a credit card.
It also has two cameras: a 20 MP on the back, and an 8 MP facing the front. Everything we’ve heard suggests that the next version of the iPhone 6 will sport a “mere” 12 megapixel camera, so that feature is unlikely even on the actual iPhone 7. But hey, if we’re dreaming up half-centimeter-thick cases, we might as well go all out.
The screen on the concept takes up the entire front of the phone, which means that the Home button is virtual, and the entire handset is basically a sheet of glass on top of a sheet of metal. And if that has you wondering where the speakers and mic are going to go on this thing that still has to function as a phone, check out those three dots on the back.
That speaker placement is probably the least Apple thing in this whole idea. The company is all about elegance and symmetry, and putting three conspicuous (and uncentered) gaps in its sleek case would probably give Jony Ive an aneurysm.
And speaking of cases, how would those look on this imaginary phone? The speaker holes alone would look weird enough, but I’m hard-pressed to imagine what the Otter Box would look like. Maybe it would just be a sleeve?
Still, this is an interesting enough concept, although I’d really worry about snapping this iPhone in half. And it would also require both the strongest metal and the strongest glass ever made due to its lack of a housing around the breakable bits. Otherwise, Bendgate would become Pocket-full-of-broken-glass-gate in no time.
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
14 responses to “Wafer-thin iPhone 7 concept combines elegance with ugliness”
Evan, what makes you think the iPhone 6s reveal will be in August? That’s great if it is, I just missed the article mentioning the bump up from the usual September launch.
Hi Evan. Not to be impolite, but I don’t think this is newsworthy nor is it interesting as a concept design. It is also poorly rendered and lit.
Agreed. Quality not quantity when it comes to articles.
Boost
Looks awfully bad and not even newsworthy.
I don’t know what’s going on with Cult of Mac, but you guys should calm down on the amount of articles. As someone said here, it should be quality over quantity. I’ve been coming to the site less and less over time just to avoid spam, which is a shame because this used to be my first source for Apple news.
0% elegance, 100% ugliness
Why do you even dignify this?
Firstly that is a god awful iPhone concept. Secondly, is this newsworthy?
Evan Killham and Mesut G. Designs…Go stand in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
“That speaker placement is probably the least Apple thing in this whole idea. The company is all about elegance and symmetry, and putting three conspicuous (and uncentered) gaps in its sleek case would probably give Jony Ive an aneurysm.”
Disagree. Look at the placement of the iPhone 4 iSight camera. The radius of the camera extended into the rounded corner of the phone. Now look at the mess it has become on iPhone 6. Apart from the fact that it sticks out (the phone is anorexic so its bones show), it is no longer positioned in the radius of the rounded corner, and it half cuts through the antenna line.
“Wafer-thin iPhone 7 concept combines elegance with ugliness”
Ah, yet another nonsensical “news” offering. First, “ugliness” is in the eye of the beholder. Second, commenting on the ugliness of a product that is only a concept (probably one of a thousand and with virtually no chance of ever seeing the light of day), is just ridiculous. This is something I’d expect to read on Business Insider, which •specializes• in stupid articles. Alas, the slow-news, dog days of summer bring forth this kind of waste of editorial space.
“Business Insider, which •specializes• in stupid articles.” LOL :-)
I love how butthurt Cult Of Mac are about a concept video that some 3D geek made (who isn’t in any way affiliated with Apple). Your ass hurts so much, it’s as if Tim Cook announced this at a keynote and then shoved his fist in your ass.
I’d be a lot more interested in these concept videos if they were remotely plausible, and not so damned ugly.
I am trying very hard to wrap my head around the concept of “elegantly ugly”. Maybe it’s a failure of imagination on my part. Is it similar to silently cacophonous?