The iPhone 6S was just recently released within the last month, but that hasn’t stopped people from wildly speculating about next year’s inevitable iPhone 7.
What does Apple have in store for the next version of their flagship phone? Find out today in our iPhone 7 rumor roundup.

Waterproofing

Apple has always favored sexy design over practical case design, which is why iPhones have never been dustproof, waterproof, or even water-resistant.
That could change with the iPhone 7. Apple is reportedly working on a brand new design for the 7 – and one big rumor talks about how the iPhone 7 could be totally waterproof.

Wildly enough, that rumor states that the case itself wouldn’t necessarily be waterproof: Apple could use a system that uses electric charges to expel water, keeping water off the valuable electronic insides.
That sounds like a totally made-up rumor someone created by some low-quality website for attention, in my opinion. But hey, I’m not a waterproofing engineer. It could be possible.

Eye Tracking Technology

Samsung devices and other Androids have used some version of eye tracking technology for years. It’s never been a big feature – starting on the Galaxy S4, for example, you could scroll down by moving your eyes down the page (which sometimes worked and sometimes did not).
Apple is reportedly testing eye tracking technology as a groundbreaking new feature on the iPhone 7.

And you just know that as soon as Apple introduces eye tracking technology, the general public will be like “Wow, Apple is so innovative. Why didn’t Android do this?”
Whatever.

Samsung and Apple Get Back Together

Apple started using IPS LCD panels in its iPhone 6, moving away from Samsung’s displays – which it had used in previous iPhones.
The problem with moving away from Samsung displays is that Samsung makes really good displays – arguably, the best displays in the mobile world.
With the iPhone 7, Apple might return to the glory days of Samsung displays, choosing to go with OLED this time.
The Apple Watch, by the way, uses a display sourced by LG and Samsung and it’s been wildly praised as one of the best parts of the device. Apple’s displays have never looked bad, but it’s hard to beat Samsung’s level of quality.

4 Inch Screen or 4 Inch iPhone 7 Model

Out of all the rumors about the iPhone 7, this is probably the most surprising. However, the rumor comes from a good source (9to5Mac.com), which cites an industry insider saying that Apple is “still working on a refreshed 4-inch iPhone model”, and that phone “resembles an upgraded iPhone 5S”.

Apple turned away a lot of its customers when it switched to bigger screens. Releasing a premium 4 inch model could win back some of those customers.
The 4 inch model wouldn’t necessarily be the iPhone 7 – instead, it could be an iPhone 7 Mini or a similarly-named model.
That same industry insider reports that the 4 inch phone would ditch features like 3D touch and would reduce RAM from 2GB to 1GB (the iPhone 7 is reported to have 3G of RAM).
What would Apple call this phone? An iPhone 7 Lite? An iPhone 7 Kids Model? Does this phone even exist at all?

iPhone 7 Release Date

Out of all the rumors about the iPhone 7, this is probably the easiest one to figure out: the iPhone 7 will be released in September 2016, just like every other iPhone has also been released in September.
To put that date in perspective, the iPhone 6S was released on September 9 this year. Expect the iPhone 7 to be announced around the same time as the Apple Watch 2.
If I was a betting man, I’d say that the iPhone 7 was being announced on the first Tuesday of September 2016 – September 6. Tim Cook will take the stage and call it the most important smartphone ever made.
I think I’ll win that bet.