In a video published yesterday, a Sina Weibo user shared their first hands-on look between the iPhone 6S and the upcoming iPhone 7. The new phone looked to be a convincing facsimile of recent leaks, with features like an enlarged rear camera, no 3.5mm port and redrawn antenna lines.
The enlarged rear camera makes for quiet a bulge on the rear of the phone, and its off-centre placement could make the phone rock back and forth while it’s being used on a flat surface. That could be quite an annoyance, but its tiny dimensions should at least make it easier to swallow.
The antenna lines are a more sensible change, offering a clear visual difference between the two (otherwise nearly identical) models and minimising their fairly ugly appearance.
3.5mm will no doubt be the most controversial ‘feature’ of the iPhone 7, particularly if the port is removed without adequately good Bluetooth or Lightning alternatives. We’ve already seen the first Lightning adapters and Bluetooth headphones are a well developed category, but expect some unhappy iPhone users to switch to Android in 2016 and beyond — at least until 3.5mm ports are removed there too.
While you should still take this video with a grain of salt, it does seem that the avalanche of leaks are converging to a single point — usually a sign that they’re fairly accurate. Of course, we’ll have to wait until Tim Cook and other Apple executives take to the stage before anything is truly certain.
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