Apple are usually a company which does not come up with something absolutely radical when it comes to successive IPhone models but it seems that the company might change tack with the IPhone 7 by offering an 'all glass' phone. The reports first surfaced in Japanese financial publication Nikkei in which it reported that Apple has asked Foxconn to manufacture an all glass IPhone and since then the leak has been picked up by the Western media.
According to a report on FORBES, "The ever reliable Japanese website Nikkei reports Apple is using Foxconn to create an 'all glass' iPhone chassis in what will be the most radical redesign of the smartphone line to date. Unfortunately, however, that redesign will only arrive in 2017 and not with September's' iPhone 7. Digging further into its scoop Nikkei says its source revealed "Foxconn has been trying glass chassis since last year." The move is said to be an attempt by Foxconn to solidify its position as Apple's key iPhone supplier."
The report also went on to speculate on how the all glass phone would be commercially viable considering the fact that it might be prone to damage, "Details on exactly how Apple will make an all glass chassis work without it shattering into a million pieces remain vague. Horng would only say it required "advanced processing technology" and that the chassis would be reinforced by a metal frame. Why would Apple go back to glass with so many potential problems? I suspect wireless charging is one key reason, especially with 2016's iPhone 7 expected to remove the headphone jack making users unable to use Lightning headphones and charge their phones at the same time. While glass also lets signals pass through meaning the end of ugly antenna lines."
