It’s been another busy week or two in Apple news, as the forthcoming iPhone is still the subject of intense rumour, speculation and debate. We received the first iPhone 7 cases earlier this week, and now we’re going to cast a critical eye over the latest rumours.
No Lightning headphones with iPhone 7
According to the latest release from Japanese site Macotakara, the next iPhone won’t come with Lightning headphones. Instead, Apple will merely include the existing 3.5mm in-ear headphones (‘Earpods’) and bundle in a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.
This will ensure that new iPhone users can use their existing 3.5mm headsets with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, rather than receiving a set of (cheap) Lightning in-ear headphones and then needing to stump up money for an adapter themselves if they want to use anything else.
Dual SIM, 3.5mm jack, 256GB storage
Another recent rumour, published by 9to5Mac and originally published on Weibo (‘Chinese Twitter’), disagrees. According to Rock Fix, an iPhone repair shop in Ganzhou, the iPhone 7 will indeed have a 3.5mm jack, giving accessory manufacturers more time to create Lightning audio headphones.
The Rock Fix release also shows photos of a purported dual-SIM tray, a feature never before seen on the iPhone. That would be big for the Chinese market — and many other regions where dual SIM is a much more expected feature than in the UK. Given the importance of the Chinese market to Apple, a dual-SIM variant would make a lot of sense.
As well as photos of the dual-SIM tray, the Rock Fix release also includes shots of the dual-lens rear camera and 256GB of flash storage made by Sandisk. The current highest capacity of the iPhone is 128GB, so a move to a 256GB high-end model would be a pretty significant improvement.
Wrapping up
What do you think of these recent rumours? Let us know in the comments below. You can also write to us on Twitter @mobilefun if you prefer.