Just a few days ahead of the expected unveiling of the new iPhone 6s, the rumor mill is also turning and churning out rumor after rumor about the upcoming iPhone 7, which is not expected to arrive until 2016.
The latest news about the rumored device comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says Apple is planning to make the iPhone 7 thinner than ever.
In a research note sent by Kuo to clients and obtained by Apple Insider, the analyst says the iPhone 7 will have a very slim profile somewhere in the range of 6.1mm and 6.5mm. This would make the device as thin as the iPod Touch and the iPad Air 2, which are both 6.1mm thick. In comparison, the iPhone 6, Apple's thinnest iPhone to date, is 6.9mm thick, while the iPhone 6 Plus is slightly bulkier at 7.1mm.
The news is not surprising, given Apple's liking for extremely thin devices, but just how thin can an iPhone go without compromising on other features, such as battery life, for example, or even a next-generation Force Touch or a higher-resolution display?
Kuo says the iPhone 7's very thin profile will force Apple to stick to its first-generation Force Touch technology, while keeping the display's resolution levels relatively low, compared to the resolutions of other high-end smartphones running on Android.
"Apple and its suppliers have invested heavily in iPhone Force Touch in 2015 and we believe 2016 new models will stick with a similar Force Touch structure as used in 2015," Kuo wrote.
Further, Kuo says the goal to make even thinner smartphones will have Apple continuing to use in-cell displays instead of the same glass-on-glass displays the company used for earlier iPhones. However, Kuo says Apple may go back to glass-on-glass technology in the long run, when manufacturers have developed a new way to create thinner glass-on-glass displays, but in-cell displays is what is on the cards for the iPhone 7.
An earlier report, citing supply chain sources in China, said Apple has sent for glass-on-glass display samples from Corning and Asahi Glass. Glass-on-glass displays are thicker than in-cell displays, but they have a couple of attractive advantages. For one thing, glass-on-glass displays allow Apple to place sensors around and beyond the edge of the display, which opens up the possibility of a bezel-free iPhone. Also, the technology allows Apple to bump up the resolution of its iPhones, which remain at 750 x 1,334 pixels.
The iPhone 7 is expected to harbor a whole new chassis in 2016, but Kuo has mentioned nothing about it. In the meantime, Apple fans are gearing up for the release of the iPhone 6s, which is believed to have a new 12MP rear camera with 4K video recording and 5MP front camera, Force Touch, 7000 series aluminum case and a new rose gold color option to match the same color of the Apple Watch.
