Rumors that the iPhone 7 will be a snooze-worthy update have been seemingly confirmed today by The Wall Street Journal, which claims Apple plans to break from its traditional pattern of redesigning its flagship device every year.
This year’s iPhone will come with plenty of minor upgrades, but according to the new report, some iPhone 7 features that Apple hoped to integrate just weren’t ready for a 2016 rollout.
During a meeting with an Apple executive last month, a China-based engineer asked why this year’s iPhone didn’t get a major design change. “The answer, one person at the meeting recalled, was that the new technology in the pipeline will take time to implement,” reports the Journal.
The publication’s sources confirm that Apple will ditch the headphone jack with the iPhone 7, leaving the Lightning connector to pull double-duty as a charging port and connection for headphones and other accessories. (A recent rumor suggested Apple will include a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter to ease the transition.)
Other iPhone 7 features we might see
Apple may also add a dual-lens camera to the iPhone 7 Plus this year, which would be a huge upgrade for photography fans, bringing the iPhone one step closer to DSLR-quality images and adding some neat 3-D imaging tech on as well.
The WSJ says Apple hoped to implement a curved screen into the iPhone 7 but the technology wasn’t ready. The company supposedly hopes to integrate big new features next year, though, for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.
The iPhone 7 is expected to be unveiled in early fall. Other features will likely include a simplified rear casing design with fewer antenna lines, an improved processor, a second speaker and a blue color option.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
11 responses to “iPhone 7 will be boring, according to WSJ”
As much as i love Apple, the iPhone has been boring for a few years now.
Bad Apple!!!!! Release features before they’re ready!!! We want them now!!! I don’t care if they’re half baked, look at Samsung, they ship new features, all the time, whether they’re ready or not!!!
I guess it doesn’t occur to most people that the majority of people don’t use an iPhone, and many switch to iOS each year with the trend accelerating. The iPhone is not boring, the form factor is mature. iOS 10 will freshen up the experience. Besides, if that blue is an option, I’m ditching my iPhone 6S+ for the blue option with dual camera. The resale values are so high it’s not much money to switch.
Yep. Deep blue, I’m in.
This will surely boost sales
Of course, the headline could say “iPhone 7 will have the same great features that people love, with additional enhancements”, but that doesn’t seem to occur to journalists or the WSJ. The iPhone is a GREAT phone/music player/pocket computer, etc. Just because it doesn’t completely redesign itself every year, doesn’t mean it’s boring. This is the whine of small children on summer holidays complaining “I’m bored”, and expect their parents to provide something for them to do. Change for change sake is NOT a good business model. I think Apple’s gradual incremental changes with technology that is well developed and well implemented is a far better strategy.
It’s baked into our species DNA to act differently towards something if it looks new to us. Looking ‘cute’ for instance is an evolutionary survival trait. So in technology, this means that people are generally ‘stupid’ enough to believe that if it looks different, it is different. We are visually and emotionally connected to the characteristics of objects, so even if the iPhone 7 had an 8K screen, a 1TB SSD, and shot lasers at your enemies – but – looked like the iPhone 3G, people would begrudgingly upgrade because they’ve already formed an emotional connection to that form factor. The same works in reverse. If Apple releases a brand-new looking iPhone 7 with the guts of the iPhone 6S, people will flock to upgrade because they haven’t previously formed an emotional connection to that form factor. So, you can’t really blame people for having this trait, but you can certainly exploit it for financial gain.
Same with the spurious headlines “iPhones sales crash to 200 million, down from 202 million last year.”
Followed by “Apple will not grow at 16% this year.”
That Samsung S7 and the Note 6 look better by the Second.
phones are boring. get over it. its a downward curve of newness.
LOL at the posters here criticizing Apple for not releasing products that aren’t ready. You deserve to be on Android…good riddance.