Is
Here’s the breakdown.
The biggest news comes from KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo (widely regarded as “the best Apple analyst on the planet”) who confirms four significant changes in a report leaked to MacRumors:
- Three (not two) premium 2017 iPhone models will be launched, including a new flagship 5.8-inch model
- All three new models will switch to glass unibody chassis
- Wireless charging will be introduced across the range (thanks to the conductivity in their glass chassis)
- LCD screens replaced by thinner, brighter, more efficient OLED panels
Kuo also says he expects that these changes, the most significant since the introduction of the iPhone 6, will rejuvenate the range and break sales records set by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (120M units) in 2014.
Adding gas to this flame is the Wall Street Journal which also confirms Kuo’s claim that OLED is a shoe-in for the new phones and adds that they will take a leaf out of Samsung’s book:
- The OLED screens in the 2017 iPhones (though possibly only the 5.8-inch model) will be curved with a so-called ‘Edgeless display’
Next up the ever reliable 9to5Mac (via Macotakara) takes the redesign revelations even further:
- Apple will remove the iPhone’s iconic home button in 2017 - a change that will first be shown off on new iPads introduced during the first quarter
- The loss of the home button will result in dramatically thinner bezels allowing Apple to reduce the size of the 2017 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones while introducing a 5.8-inch model that will be no bigger than the current 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus
Breaking Down The Key Points
Needless to say there’s a lot to take in here, but some of it is also very familiar. The OLED switch and ‘All glass’ designs have produced enough smoke to seriously suggest there’s fire here. And Kuo and the WSJ have both previously gone on record earlier in the year to say Apple was toying with the idea of a curved ‘Edgeless’ display.
Meanwhile LG confirmed as far back as May that it has developed a commercially viable fingerprint sensor technology which could be directly integrated into a smartphone display. So ditching the home button is clearly viable, whether Apple is specifically using LG’s technology or has developed an alternative in-house.
And finally there’s no doubt whatsoever that the iPhone range is overdue a significant redesign after three generations of virtually identical exterior designs. It is time to excite users again after multiple successive quarters of sales decline and the company is said to be testing up to 10 different prototypes simultaneously as it looks to nail the 2017 (and 10th anniversary) iPhone design.
So will it all be worth it? Right now it is impossible to say, but with Apple so laser focused that it has already cancelled one new iPhone the odds look good…
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