We tell Apple what the iPhone 7 better have... or else!
It’s likely that Apple’s most high-profile launch this year will take place in April with the Apple Watch. But while that device will get the lion’s share of attention there’s no denying that the most important launch of the year for the company will be the iPhone 7 (or iPhone 6s, there's currently quite a bit of debate about how Apple will proceed with its naming convention). Why? Because it’s Apple’s moneymaker and the company knows it.
At present there are a few potential options for Apple’s iPhone range: 1) it will remain the same and the company will release two handsets inside of Q3; 2) Apple will switch things up and release a handset earlier in the year, perhaps alongside the Apple Watch; or 3) Apple will release two handsets but one will be a reboot of the iPhone 5c, meaning a cheaper, more colourful option to its standard, top of the line iPhone.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been two of Apple’s biggest and most successful iPhone releases to date. Both handsets have sold exceptionally well, surpassing every sales record set by the company in previous years. Globally, both have done very well too, with exceptional sales in China, a growth market for Apple, the UK and the US.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is now official and looking to cause Apple some trouble in 2015 though a handset that is better designed, features vastly improved specs, increased capabilities, new software and 2015-centric features like the Apple Pay-baiting mobile payments platform, Samsung Pay. We’ve seen both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 EDGE and are more than impressed. Samsung appears to have really gone back to the drawing board this time around, and the resulting handsets are perhaps two of the most exciting releases we’ve seen in a very long time.
Later this quarter Apple will debut its first new product line since the iPad. The Apple Watch is a pretty divisive product as well –– no one is really THAT into wearable technology as yet, despite the efforts of Google, Samsung and Motorola. And because of this most market watchers are now looking to Apple once again to ignite consumers interest in the wearables space.
But if you’re an iPhone fan hoping for a totally new form factor, I think you’ll be disappointed. Apple usually hangs onto the body design of an iPhone for two generations. And since the iPhone 6 got a stylish new makeover, it’s likely the iPhone 7 will retain the same look. But that’s not to say the iPhone 7 can’t be a great phone with a ton of new features that will have you eBaying your “archaic” iPhone 6 before you can say “Jony Ive is my god.” With that in mind we’ve put together this wish list of new hardware features we hope will make it into this year’s iPhone.
Sapphire is the second most scratch resistant material next to diamond and it was rumored that a sapphire display was set to make it into the iPhone 6. But then Apple had problems with GT Advanced and the only sapphire that made it onto the iPhone 6 was the glass covering its rear iSight camera. But given that sapphire will be covering the Apple Watch and that its so much more durable than any display any smartphone has ever had we ’re hopeful Apple will finally be adding it to the iPhone 7.
Speaking of displays... we’re also hoping Apple will bring its Force Touch technology to the iPhone 7. The Force Touch display is found on the Apple Watch and it allows the screen to not only detect the number of taps but how hard a person taps. In other words, a Force Touch display can tell the difference between a light tap and a forceful tap. The advantages of this are that developers would be able to use an extra set of new inputs for allowing users to interact with their apps in new ways. For example, imagine a first person shooter being able to tell if you want to launch a grenade or fire a gun by the force of your tap.
Here’s what Apple said about force touch during its Apple Watch launch: “In addition to recognising touch, Apple Watch senses force, adding a new dimension to the user interface. Force Touch uses tiny electrodes around the flexible Retina display to distinguish between a light tap and a deep press, and trigger instant access to a range of contextually specific controls — such as an action menu in Messages, or a mode that allows you to select different watch faces — whenever you want. It’s the most significant new sensing capability since Multi‑Touch.”
This could be THE killer feature of the iPhone 7. Wireless charging has come a long way in the last few years and it would be killer if Apple introduced it on the next iPhone. It’s doubtful that if Apple does add wireless charging to the next iPhone it would use any kind of conduction pad. Instead it would take advantage of true “wi-fi charging” that allows devices to be powered when they are within reach of a base station.
Similarly, Apple has also filed patents around the field of wireless charging. “Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,645,604 for ‘Device orientation based docking functions’ describes a method in which a portable device, such as an iPhone or iPad, can change docking behaviours as a function of its orientation with a host device or position on a wireless inductive charging mat,” reports Apple Insider.
And now that we’re on the topic of charging... wouldn’t it be great it the next iPhone didn’t need to be charged as often? We’re hoping Apple takes advantage of some of the latest battery cell technologies and pushes the average use time of the device to over 12 hours. Being able to wake up in the morning and not have to plug in your iPhone once before getting home would be amazing.
But one thing's for sure: Apple isn't keen on making its iPhones any thicker in order to accomodate a bigger battery cell. In an interview with the Financial Times, Apple's senior vice-president of design Jony Ives, all but rules out compromising the design of the iPhone 6S or 7 in order to accommodate a bigger power pack. "When the issue of the frequent need to recharge the iPhone is raised," the FT says, "[Ive ] answers that it's because it's so light and thin that we use it so much and therefore deplete the battery. With a bigger battery it would be heavier, more cumbersome, less 'compelling'."
I pity the person who buys the entry level iPhone 6. Why? Because it comes with a paltry 16GB of storage space, which is good for almost nothing. Anyone who buys a 16GB iPhone is pretty much going to fill it up once they download a couple apps, a few games, and take a few hundred photos. And if they shoot HD video? Forget about it. Here’s hoping the iPhone 7 starts at a reasonable 32GB of storage for the base model.
RBC Capital’s Doug Freedman believes that RAM demand will significantly increase in the second half of the year, and Micron –– a RAM manufacturer –– stands to benefit most from it, hence his recent bullish claims about the company.
“We think the Street expectation is that the ‘6S’ AAPL smartphone could ship 1.5-2GBs (or more) of DRAM in the smartphone, so not only is [Micron] losing unit volume, they also experience less of the impact from increased content,” he wrote. “AAPL will be at 1GB DRAM/ phone for most of the year as they will sell 6/6+ until late September. We estimate that AAPL could sell 60-70mil “6S” units from October-December. So that means that if AAPL sees a 1 GB increase in DRAM and assuming 95% of units are next-gen , that is 65mil more GBs of DRAM (65mil units x 1 additional GB). Total AAPL content would be 130mil gigabytes of DRAM assuming 2GB/phone. Samsung handling ‘at least half’ would be 65mil gigabytes of DRAM content. The magnitude of the shift does not seem to justify the decrease in stock price.”
Like it or not, selfies are here to stay. Given that, what we’d like to see Apple do in the iPhone 7 is improve the front FaceTime camera to at least make it as good as the rear iSight camera. I mean, lets face it, the front camera is now becoming as useful as the rear one, so bump the iPhone 7’s front camera up to 8MP and maybe even throw a flash on there. But if Apple ever comes out with an Apple Selfie Stick, I’m jumping ship.
There are a ton of Android handset makers (ahem, Samsung and Sony) that are waterproofing their phones. We’d LOVE to see Apple do this to the iPhone 7. No, we don’t expect to be able to go scuba diving with it, but it would be great it we could feel comfortable using it near the pool or even outdoors in the rain without worrying that we’re one drop of H20 away from ruining our £500 phone.
This last one is something that is admittedly also the hardest due to the limited space available in an iPhone. Our smartphones are now the number one camera we use, but when it comes to zooming they suck. The iPhone 6 only offers digital zoom (as do most smartphones). It would be AMAZING if Apple could fit optical zoom into the iPhone 7’s rear camera. I mean hey , if ASUS can do it, why not the boys in Cupertino?
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