The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus [1] are barely a few months old, but that won't stop the rumors from spreading about the 2017 iPhone [2]. 2017 will mark the iPhone's 10th anniversary, which is why speculation about the phones expected then are already here.
The latest rumors, most of which come from a Nikkei Asian Review report, include several details that might make it worth holding off from buying the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
- Three new iPhone models: Not two, but three new iPhones will arrive in 2017. The sizes include: 4.7 inches, 5.5 inches, and one that is 5.5 inches or larger.
- Say hello to curved screens: The reason for a third model? Apple will bring a curved screen to the third one. You can find examples of a curved screen on the Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge [3] and Note 7 [4].
- Finally, the OLED screen: And of course, to make a curved screen reality, Apple would need to switch to OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens [5] — a rumor previously reported by Bloomberg. An executive at Sharp, a Japanese company that is one of Apple's suppliers, confirmed the switch [6] in a new Nikkei Asian Review report.
- The end of the home button: A new report from Bloomberg states that the iPhone in 2017 will no longer have a home button [7], because Apple wants to "focus more heavily on the display."
- A new era of charging: In another leak from an Apple electronic supplier, Foxconn, a source told Nikkei Asian Review that they are testing "wireless charging modules." [8] Whether it will make onto to phone is up to the feature's "yield rate," a way to measure how many good products were in one batch. If the wireless charging "module" has a poor yield rate, Apple could decide to nick the feature.
Of course, we'll need to wait a whole year to see what exactly Apple will create.