Neil Hughes
Whether or not it's based on an accurate design, at least one third-party case manufacturer is already producing a product assuming Apple's upcoming "iPhone 7" will indeed ditch the legacy 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.
Images of the case allegedly designed for Apple's next-generation iPhone were first shared by OnLeaks. The bottom of the case features two identically-sized cutouts, presumably for a dual-speaker design, which has been rumored to take the place of the headphone jack.
The design of the rest of the case is largely as expected. The speaker cutouts are to the left and right of another opening presumably for Apple's Lightning port.
The case once again places the ring/silent switch and volume controls on the left side, with the lock button on the right side. And when viewed from the back, the camera cutout is on the upper left side, though it appears to feature a slightly larger opening than is typical, potentially signaling the next iPhone could feature a larger rear lens — or two lenses.
If Apple does in fact ditch the headphone jack, it's expected to include a new pair of Lightning-connected EarPods in the box with the "iPhone 7." Apple is also rumored to be working on a new set of wireless earbuds — Â truly wireless with separate left and right earpieces — that would be sold separately from the new iPhone.
The "iPhone 7" is expected to be announced in Apple's usual September timeframe, in time for its annual fall launch. The new design is expected to eliminate the rear camera bump found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s series, as well as the antenna lines on the metal case.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
25 Comments
I just hope these 'truly wireless with separate left and right earpieces' doodahs have bult in technology to allow them to be 'found' using very high resolution mapping on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, you know that can distinguish to within 2 inches of where you lost them under the cushions or under the dishwasher or inside the dog! ;)
Ugh! Get real. They're not producing anything yet. How would they even know how thick it is going to be yet. They will make small runs of a multitude of designs in the hope that one of them is correct and they mass produce that version as soon as the design is confirmed. Worst case is they need to fine tune one of the versions they had in the can.
It's a guess, nothing more.
This is an iPhone 6 cases with a wider cutout in one place. It's March. The final dimensions may be known, but are not set in stone yet.
You should have read all the venom and vitriol in the Apple Discussion Forums when the ATV4 was released without an optical audio output. It was literally the end of the world in some user’s opinion. But guess what? That has died down to nothing. The haters got it out of their system, a few probably bought something else but most accepted it and dealt with it. So it will be with the 3.5mm headphone jack IF it goes away. Yes, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, predictions of Apple’s demise, tech blogs will go ballistic, analysts will prognosticate, and... it will all go away in a few weeks. People and bloggers will tire of the issue, readers will skip over the verbose bloviation of those with an axe to grind. Elegant solutions will arise and dongles will sell.