We know the two new Apple devices are going to be called the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. The two phones are going to sport 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch displays. The new Apple A10 SoC is going to have a CPU clocked at 2.4GHz. The models will be available in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB variations. There is a dual camera setup on the back, and a new force sensitive belly button. The devices will be priced between Rs 52,914 for the 32 GB iPhone 7 to Rs 78,933 for the 256 GB iPhone 7 Plus. There is going to be a piano black colour option.
Wait, we know even more, there is going to be a dual speaker grille. It is going to support 4K video recording at 60 fps. There is no longer a 3.5 mm audio jack. There are Lightning EarPods included in every box. The smartphones will be waterproof. Pre-orders will start from September 9, and the device will hit stores on September 23. The iPhone 7 supports wireless charging. For a more detailed breakdown, check out our stories on the leaks and rumours here and here.
So, what is left for Apple to announce at the event? Did Apple just secretly invent leaking as an alternative marketing strategy? Especially, considering the company is known to be quite tight lipped about its products otherwise.
There is absolutely no surprise they can pull, and falling short at this point will only lead to disappointment after all the hype. A comparison to features of current phones in the market by finder.com.au lists all of the above features as a step that Apple simply must take to remain competitive. Access to NFC for device pairing, shatterproof screens and an iris scanner for biometric security are the only features that competing products do have, but are not yet leaked or rumoured to be in the iPhone 7.
If they do pull a surprise, hopefully, it is based on actual functionality. At the 2016 WWDC, Apple pulled a surprise, where ‘alternative medicine’ practitioner, Deepak Chopra was invoked to launch an app. It was that epic moment in human history when Apple ‘invented’ breathing. Apple wanted to remind its users to keep taking in the oxygen, in an effort to think of health beyond fitness. The app is perfectly fine, and actually helpful, but it is the use of a magical thinker to lend credibility to the app that can alienate customers who have always been attracted by the robustness of the design and user testing.
A developer accused Apple of copying the Breathe app. There were similar apps in the App store before breathe, including Deepak Chopra’s “mindfullness coach”, and the much more scientifically tested and marketed, Flowy, an app that has been designed to help tackle anxiety and panic attacks. As long as Apple does not pull a surprise like that, and makes announcements along the lines of the leaks and rumours, the event should be good.