For a globally-renowned tech luminary like Apple, putting upwards of 60 to 70 million iPhones in the hands of expectant users, year-after-year, is indeed a challenging feat. For starters, the Cupertino-company’s vast and far-reaching supply chain is so complex, and the number of individual components required to construct its flagship handsets are so many, that it’s hard to imagine how the company maintains any amount of secrecy when constructing a new iPhone.
However, some our most die-hard readers will likely know that not much about the iPhone 7 was actually ‘a secret’ at all, when the handset was officially unveiled last Wednesday morning in San Francisco. You’ll know from the many, many rumors that we’d been reporting on for the last year, that iDrop News was (just about) spot on, concerning the many mumblings from the rumor mill that preceded last week’s release event.
Even still, though: while we were very, very close in regards to what the rumor mill had been feeding us for months, Apple’s latest-and-greatest pride and joy didn’t exactly pan out to be what we’d been reporting on, or what many of us were likely hoping for.
All that said, here’s a quick recap of what we thought would be the case, who called it first, and what most of us really wanted to see from Apple this year — which are simply things that we now have to look forward to, quite possibly, come next fall.
What We Were Spot On About and Who Called it First:
- iPhone 7 Plus’ Exclusive dual-lens Camera system, which was first reported by well-connected KGI Securities analyst, Ming Chi Kuo, back in January of this year.
- Kuo was also right about the iPhone 7 Plus’ Exclusive 3 GB of RAM, while the iPhone 7 boasts just 2 GB; the increased storage options for both models — including the base-model 32 GB, 128 GB, and finally, maxing out at 256 GB; as well as Apple’s new Wide Color Retina display.
- Kuo, finally, was also spot on about Apple’s all-new quad-core A10 Fusion SoC, which he originally reported on way back in November of 2015.
- The popular Japanese Blog, Macotokara, was spot on about the inherent removal of the industry-standard 3.5mm headphone jack, the iPhone 7’s new ForceTouch-sensitive home button, as well as the two new shades of black — shots which were originally called back in November, 2015, July, 2016, and during the last few weeks of August, 2016, respectively.
- Mark Gurman, the critically-acclaimed tech-journalist working for Bloomberg, was first to report about Apple’s all-new, truly wireless AirPods, which we began hearing about from him back in January of this year.
- Finally, Taiwan’s historically sketchy Commercial Times was first to report that the iPhone 7 would be both waterproofed, as well as feature a newly redesigned antenna system back in December of 2015 — both of which turned out to be true, surprisingly enough.
What We Were Wrong About:
- While mumblings from constituents of Apple’s Far East supply chain originally suggested that, at the least, Apple was toying with the idea of bringing its proprietary Smart Connector to a supposed ‘iPhone 7 Pro’, we now know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there is no such Pro-grade iPhone 7 variant. Also, the Smart Connector is nowhere to be found.
- Another misfire originated from MacRumors, who was first to report back in February of this year that the iPhone 7 would feature a flat back — with a flush Camera module, which would not protrude from the device. However, you and I both know that ended up not being the case, for better or for worse.
- Though historically accurate, Macotokara was also first to report back in July about a supposed ‘Deep Blue’ color option joining the iPhone 7 family this year. However, while that didn’t pan out to be the case, the site was the first to correct their own claims when it revealed the existence of five color offerings — including two new shades of black — just a month later.
What’s your favorite iPhone 7 feature? Let us know in the comments!