With the iPhone's 10th anniversary set to happen next year, notable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting that Apple will be unveiling a massive redesign of the iconic smartphone not this year for the iPhone 7, but for next year, the 2017 iPhone. Considering Kuo's formidable track record when it comes to predicting the tech giant's upcoming product lineup, the new rumors have gotten iPhone fans interested.
Kuo alleges that among the radical design changes of 2017's iPhone involve the handset's body itself. According to the analyst, next year's iPhone will take a lot of cues from Samsung's flagship model, the Galaxy S7, with Apple's upcoming device featuring a glass and metal frame.
"We expect the 2017 new iPhone model to adopt a structural design similar to that of iPhone 4/ 4s, meaning it will be equipped with glass on both the front and back sides, and a metal frame surrounded the edges," Kuo announced.
Such a step back in design might partially be motivated by the fact that Apple's all-metal form-factor has lost much of its premium appeal during the past few years. After all, with the emergence of affordable and premium-quality mid-range devices, all-metal headsets have ceased to be an exclusive for flagship devices.
The analyst, however, was quick to point out that the glass that is set to be used in the 2017 iPhone would be a vast improvement over the types used in the previous years' iPhone 4 and 4S. In a lot of ways, Apple is allegedly attempting to take the design of the iPhone 4 and 4S to the next level with next year's lineup.
Perhaps what is most interesting in the new set of rumors is the speculation that the 2017 iPhone, or at least a premium variant of the device, would feature OLED technology. Apple has been quite adamant about sticking to traditional high-quality LCD screens to date, but with the device's 10-year anniversary coming next year, moving over to OLED technology would be a pretty logical step forward for Apple.
Apart from the alleged OLED shift, Kuo also listed down a series of features that the upcoming device is set to have. If Kuo's list does indeed prove to be accurate, it would seem like Apple is putting all the bells and whistles it could on the 10th anniversary iPhone.
"The difference is that the new model will likely come with a curved screen and curved glass casing, with other important features including a 5.8-inch AMOLED display, wireless charging, and more biometric recognitions, facial or iris. Given the curved design, the new model may look smaller than an existing 5.5-inch iPhone," Kuo stated.
Of course, only time will tell if this new set of rumors is true. Despite this, fans could at least rest assured that even if only a part of Kou's speculations turn out to be true, Apple fans will definitely be offered a device worthy of the iPhone name for the smartphone's 10th anniversary next year.
