The iPhone 7 has been headlining rumor articles for quite some time now, just a few days after the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were launched, actually. There’s always hype when it comes to future Apple products and I already discussed the implications, consequences and structures of rumors in an article last month. This time, we’re going to leave prejudice about rumors aside for a bit, and talk about what the iPhone 7 will be like, eventually. Apple hasn’t come forward with official information about the iPhone 7 or the alleged iPhone 6S, so this piece is going to be about what was leaked so far and from what we can draw inspiration in order to gain some insight on the workings of Apple.

Apple will definitely launch a flagship this year, a statement which isn’t debated that much online, as the company is unlikely to skip a year when it comes to smartphone releases. Especially since the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus managed to sell in record numbers in the first few weeks after their official release. The more interesting part about the future Apple flagship is that it might not come alone. By that we mean that the number of rumors surrounding the iPhone 7 AND the iPhone 6S has grown significantly in the past few weeks. That being said, there are various media outlets confident that an alleged iPhone 6S would be the first Apple smartphone to see the light of day this year.

The iPhone 6S will supposedly be an upgraded version of the previous two iPhone 6 units, and rumors say it might be launched as early as April, alongside the new Apple Watch. While it’s rather unlikely for Apple to launch a new flagship six months after they launched two, we can’t deny that the number of rumors around the April release date point towards the philosophy of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. Consequently, if an iPhone 6S is indeed planned for an April launch, as an accompanying gadget to the Apple Watch, we don’t expect it to be much different than the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. With regard to the timeline, we only expect two major improvements to surface on the iPhone 6S, if it is launched as early as April: a bigger battery and more RAM.

Apple fans have been rather vocal about the small battery and small amount of RAM in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and that’s the most likely flaw Apple would address if the company were to launch a smartphone so soon after the initial release of the 2014 flagship smartphones. iOS 8.2 will definitely be launched when the Apple Watch is revealed, as the software update will contain optimization for devices so that they can interact with the new smart watch correctly and without problems. Otherwise, we are only sure that the Apple Watch will be launched in April. If an iPhone 6S surfaces at the keynote event, we don’t expect surprises.

On to the iPhone 7, the more hyped device of the year. The iPhone 7 will supposedly be launched in September or October 2015. The company hasn’t discussed the flagship yet, so we can’t be sure about its name, but we do like to follow a numbering sequence generally, so iPhone 7 seems like a suitable name for the next Apple flagship smartphone. One of the best sources of inspiration when it comes to guessing (because that’s what everybody’s doing right now) what the iPhone 7 design, specs and display will end up looking like are patents filed by Apple in the past. Leaks are few at the moment, because the smartphone doesn’t even seem to have entered production, which means there’s no way one would be able to snatch some spy-shots of the iPhone 7 from factories and manufacturing centers.

We’ve sorted through various patent filings from Apple and picket out a few that might be relevant to the iPhone 7 design, specs and special features. Before talking about these patents and what they might mean for the iPhone 7, we should get a few things out of the way. Since we’re talking about an Apple product, we can predict a few things that will definitely characterize the iPhone 7. For starters, TouchID is a must on the iPhone 7, although it will most likely end up being a much improved biometric sensor with added security features. The fingerprint sensor on Apple smartphones and now tablets is crucial to the company and its fans, as it offers a secure way of accessing one’s gadgets, as well as data stored on them, online or making online payments and payments through Apple Pay. Identification through biometric sensors is no longer a concept of science-fiction, as the most on-hand devices in our home, our smartphones, already offer that possibility.

The iPhone 6S will most likely be a smaller upgrade

Another thing I don’t think needs discussing is software. Most likely, the iPhone 7 will also mark the launch of iOS 9 or something similar from Apple. Addressing what features the new operating system from Apple should or shouldn’t include once it is released will be covered in a different article later on, when we find out more about what Apple is planning in the software department. iPhone 7 specs will most likely omit a microSD card slot, as usual, but an NFC chip is sure to be included. When talking about the NFC chip in the iPhone 7, we should mention that Apple will probably open up the feature to developers by the time the handset is launched, as the company did the same with TouchID. The Lightning port will also be present on the iPhone 7, unquestionably actually. Now on to what we don’t know.

Apple filed numerous patents for features that we haven’t seen materializing in their products, such as sidewall displays, configurable buttons, force-touch (will be there in the Apple Watch), curved display, flexible display and body, facial recognition technology, joystick in the home button, super-resolution photos, 3D photos, interchangeable lenses, TouchID display, attack detection mode, refocusable photos, pull gesture, haptic feedback and many more. Out of these, some might seem far-fetched for current technology, but they are intricately detailed in the filings, so we might see them show up in Apple devices in the future. We’ve selected a few of these patents that might be relevant to the iPhone 7 so that we can get an idea of what Tim Cook and co. could be planning for the future.

Patents filed by Apple last year suggest that the iPhone 7 display will be similar to the one on the Galaxy Note Edge or to the concept Xiaomi Arch device we’ve seen online. The company filed “sidewall display” patents which detail how a device would have edge displays on both sides. Adding that to the iPhone 7 would make it more expensive, to be fair, but it would certainly be interesting to see how Apple would make use of that display. In the patent filing, the company suggests various uses, most of them similar to what we can do with the Galaxy Note Edge display and talks about developers creating applications for the sidewall display. While we don’t know if the patent was filed with the iPhone 7 or any smartphone in mind for that matter, we do think it is a likely feature to appear in the next Apple flagship.  With sidewall displays on the iPhone 7, one could control music, check apps, access apps, view weather and social media information, unlock the phone, get notifications and many more, depending on what app developers can come up with.

iPhone 7 concept with sidewall display from Michael Shanks

Next up, the iPhone 7 could embrace the new trend when it comes to curved displays, as seen on the LG G Flex, LG G Flex 2 and Samsung Galaxy Round. While these curved phones aren’t as popular as regular flagships, they do come with a few ergonomic benefits as well as durability improvements. With the recent #Bendgate scandal surrounding the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple implementing a self-healing technology in the iPhone 7, similar to that on the LG G Flex 2 could lead to an extremely popular device. Durability is always key to a smartphone, as replacing your phone every year isn’t very cost-effective. If the iPhone 7 design would include a curved body and a self-healing panel on the back, we expect people to jump at the occasion of having an Apple phone that they won’t destroy as easily as they do regular smartphones. Imagine the number of tests that would show up on Youtube! That alone makes the prospect of a curved iPhone 7 interesting to say the least.

Flexibility is something many smartphone makers are talking about, too. A flexible iPhone 7 (and iPhone in general) has been the talk of the town for a few years now, but technology is finally arriving to a point where a flexible display, battery and body are actually close to being possible. Samsung and LG have both been working on flexible displays and batteries, so we don’t see why Apple would miss out on this. Having a flexible iPhone 7 would benefit users massively, depending on the degree of flexibility and durability of the materials and technology used to create the phone. You could actually shape the iPhone 7 to fit in your palm or a hidden pocket in your jacket or purse, but you could also use the flexibility of the phone in specially designed apps and games, for example. The degree of flexibility that is possible with smartphones is limited, though, so we don’t expect much if the iPhone 7 turns out to be flexible, bendable and shapeable. Maybe we would be able to shape it as much as to create a stand out of itself, but we’re not sure much more would be possible at this time. But you never know!

Programmable, customizable buttons are also pretty popular among technology and smartphone enthusiasts, since everybody is looking to have technology that gives them the possibility of customizing their devices to suit them perfectly. If you don’t use your volume buttons to activate the camera when the phone is sleeping, you would certainly rejoice in the possibility of adding a different function to replace that, for example launching a game or a certain application. Or just a different camera application than the one programmed would be enough customization. At the same time, patents filed by Apple talk about buttons that have touch sensors embedded in them. If that technology were to be implemented in the iPhone 7, the buttons would be able to tell the difference between skin and other materials, thus preventing accidental presses of buttons when the iPhone 7 is in your pocket or somewhere else.

TouchID could be replaced in the iPhone 7 with a fingerprint sensor embedded within the display. With that in mind, you would be able to use the basic functions that are available with TouchID directly on the iPhone 7 display/screen. Embedding the fingerprint sensor into the iPhone 7 display would open up a few other possibilities when it comes to the design of the phone. If you were able to use the screen instead of TouchID by activating an app or some kind of feature, then there would no longer be a need for a physical home button. Instead, Apple could replace the home button with a joystick or remove it altogether, so that the iPhone 7 in its entirety could benefit from a design overhaul. Imagine having a flexible iPhone 7 with no physical buttons and no bezels! That would be the biggest hit of the year, we’re sure.

One neat feature we might see in the iPhone 7 is something called Mobile emergency attack and failsafe detection. That means that the iPhone 7 could be able to detect when a user in danger or is experiencing an emergency situation and call for help automatically without user intervention. Much like various security apps, users would be able to designate emergency numbers that the iPhone 7 would be able to call when it detects that the user has been involved in a car crash, shootout or some other dangerous situation. The emergency call or text would be able to send location data that would be crucial to emergency services in finding the owner that is in trouble.

The iPhone 7 could come with quite a few camera enhancements, judging by various patents filed by Apple. The iPhone 7 camera would be able to make use of optical image stabilization in order to create so called super-resolution photos. The technology that would be used is pretty simple, as the camera would take shots at different angles and then stitch them together to create these photos. The feature isn’t new and certain developers have already made applications that function on similar principles. Still, it would be nice to see the iPhone 7 camera come with such a native feature. At the same time, Apple could be taking pointers from the HTC One M8 and introducing a refocusing feature in the iPhone 7, which would be a nice and simple addition to the iOS camera.

These were all the patents filed by Apple that we found relevant to the iPhone 7 design, display and features, but there’s no guarantee that any of them will be used in the manufacturing of the new flagship. Still, they provide us with insight on what Tim Cook and co. are planning for the future. Since most of these patents are based on existing technologies, we don’t see them just fading away into patent files. If the company doesn’t use them in the iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 design, they are sure to use them in other future devices. Besides the patents, we can also base assumptions on various rumors and leaks that have surfaced online.

Who knows what the iPhone 7 will look like in the end?

One very requested and rumored feature of the iPhone 7 is wireless charging, and we see the implementation of the technology as a distinct possibility for the future Apple flagship. Many are also talking about a bigger battery and a display that would be just perfect for one-handed use, measuring exactly 5 inches. Now we can’t speak for everyone when it comes to smartphone size and display preference, but a 5 inch display embedded in a smaller form would be an improvement indeed. An upgraded processor manufactured by Samsung is also said to be included in the iPhone 7, and the smartphone will definitely come with more RAM memory.

What do you expect from the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 7 if they both turn out to be real? Would you prefer a thicker body and a bigger battery instead of a thin phone? Would you enjoy having a joystick on the iPhone 7 or would you go for the bezelless look? Do you think Apple will give in and unlock the NFC chip in the iPhone 7 or do you think it will take the company more time to do so? Do you think Apple will launch both the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 7 this year or will they limit themselves to one new smartphone? If you already own the iPhone 6  or 6 Plus, what features would determine you to upgrade if Apple were to launch the iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 as soon as we predict? Feel free to sound off in the comments below, your opinions and comments are always appreciated!