The year 2016 is year of 7. Seven is the most discussed number in tech circles, with the launch of Samsung S7 and Note 7 (which have now run into trouble) and the most-awaited iPhone 7 launch, on, you guessed it, September 7.
Apple stockholders, tech pundits, industry insiders and of course eager Apple fans are eagerly awaiting the year’s biggest launch. Rumours surrounding the Apple launches this year include a revamp to the Macbook Air, which is awaiting an upgrade to retina grade screens, along with the more powerful Macbook Pro laptops, and some slim gadgets that would fit inside one’s coat pocket.
There’s been much buzz surrounding the new iPhone, common among them being that Apple is going to do away with the 3.5 mm jack for headphones, and instead insisting on the use of a lightning port based plug in adapter. There’s also talk of the home button being removed.
Expectations around the size of the iPhones remain the same with iPhone 7 and 7 plus to be launched at the standard 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch. There are even rumours that a 6S incremental successor 6SE is set to be launched tomorrow, though most favour a whole new iPhone 7.
Another rumour that has been doing the rounds is that the iPhone 7 will come with dual rear cameras to satisfy the shutterbug in you, though this kind of dual-lens technology is not unique, with the LG G5 featuring dual cameras with both standard and wide rear cameras, the HTC One M8 eye which gives better depth perception and the Huawei P9 which has both colour and black-and-white rear camera sensors for better colour rendition.
In the past two years, Apple has been making incremental improvements on the hardware of all its phones, tablets and laptops with subtle increases in camera specs and processors in its next generation products, while shoring up the iOS operating system across mobile and tablet platforms.
Business being sluggish for Apple with profits taking a marginal dip in Q1 2016 besides an almost stagnant innovations portfolio for over a year, industry expects Apple to come out of the rut, which it usually achieves with a good product launch.
Apple Launch portfolio in the past 3 years
iPhone SE - March 2016
iPhone 6s - September 2015
iPhone 6- September 2014
iPad Pro - November 2015