New drawings of the unannounced iPhone were released this week, showing an iterative improvement in the look of the phone. The antenna lines, which mar an otherwise clear back side near the top and bottom, have been moved to the top and bottom edges of the phone in a curve. This allows the phone’s radios to escape the metal shell as usual, but looks much better.*
*A 9to5Mac poll on the new look reported 40% thought it looked about the same, more than 50% thought it looked better or much better, and less than 10% thought it was worse.
Of course, these drawings aren’t necessarily accurate — and moving the plastic strips isn’t only (or even best) solution to this problem. Apple previously filed a patent for strips that would much more closely match the look of the surrounding metal, and LG actually put that idea into practice on the recently announced LG G5. The Korean company calls ‘micro-dizing’, and the uniform surface of the G5 is a convincing display of its efficacy.
The same drawings shows another change, too. The camera lens appears larger, suggesting a redesigned camera module (potentially with a wider aperture and/or a larger sensor).
According to slightly older rumours, the iPhone 7 will largely look the same as the iPhone 6. It’ll be 1mm thinner, with a flush camera and no headphone jack. Instead, Lightning or Bluetooth headphones will be used. A dual-camera system is also rumoured for at least some models of the iPhone 7 Plus, although this particular rumour is still largely unconfirmed.
What do you think of the iPhone 7’s rumoured look? Does moving the antenna lines to the edge look significantly better than the straight lines we had before? Let us know in the comments below, or write to us on Twitter @mobilefun.