Apple will be launching
iPhone 6SE in September instead of the much-rumoured
iPhone 7, so claims a report on German website Apfelpage.de. The report, which cites supply-chain sources in China, claims that Apple has already produced packages with the 'iPhone 6SE' branding.
The reason for the name change is that the upcoming iPhone will be coming with minimal design iterations. So far, Apple gives complete design change to its iPhones every two years. While the 'S' variants largely come with internal changes.
And since last year's models -- iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus -- were 'S' upgrades, users are expecting a design upgrade in iPhones this year.
However, according to analysts, Apple is keeping big bang design changes for next year's
iPhone. As in 2017, Apple will be celebrating 10-th anniversary of its best-selling device. Rumoured to be called iPhone 8, it is expected to feature wireless charging, glass body around metal frame, bezel-free edge-to-edge display and AMOLED 4K screen. There are also rumours about possible use of display for
Touch
ID, which may lead to the elimination of home button.
Apple analyst Tim Bajarin, president of creative strategies, told
USA Today
that Apple will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone in 2017, and the company “historically” uses milestones for new redesigns of its products.
Coming back to this year's iPhone, prominent leaker and VentureBeat reporter Evan Blass recently claimed that Apple will be launching next iPhones on September 16. The iPhones are likely to be released along with the new
iPad, Apple Watch and
iOS
10.
The next line-up of iPhones are expected to be powered by
Apple's A10 processor, come in 2/4GB RAM variants and pack bigger batteries.
Apple is also speculated to ditch the traditional analog 3.5mm headphone socket for Lightning headphones in its next iPhones. While there is no concrete evidence of it yet, experts also believe that
Apple will bundle its regular 3.5mm
EarPods with the upcoming iPhones along with an adapter for free.
There are also speculations about Apple launching not two but three variants of the upcoming iPhone this year. The third variant is said to be the Pro version with beefier specs.