14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has recently confirmed the iPhone 7 name in what was believed to be an “accidental” leak on its official website, thus putting an end to rumors that the company could use a different moniker for this year’s model.
The audio accessories category on Apple’s online store listed several iPhone models in the compatibility section, including the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, only a few hours ahead of the public unveiling of the new generation. The listing has already been removed, but it’s now even clearer than before that Apple will call the new model iPhone 7 and won’t use a variation of iPhone 6.
Leaks that reached the web earlier this year indicated that Apple planned to save the iPhone 7 name for the next-year model, when the company is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.
With the iPhone 7 generation launching this year, the 2017 model is likely to be called “7s” if the company sticks to its traditional release schedule, so using a different name to keep the iPhone 7 brand available for 2017 was part of Apple’s original plans to mark this release in a distinctive way.
iPhone 6SE?
Furthermore, rumor had it that Apple intended to use a variation of the iPhone 6 name for the next generation, and this made sense, given the design of this year’s release. The next iPhone will be very similar in appearance to the iPhone 6 and will only come with small tweaks, such as antenna lines placed at the top and the bottom edges of the phone and new cameras.
Some sources indicated that this year’s model could launch as iPhone 6 SE, a designation that would have also made sense, given the recently released iPhone SE, but it now seems like Apple decided to adopt the iPhone 7 moniker to make a bigger difference between the old and the new models.
The press conference will start in just a few hours, so stay tuned for more information, as last-minute leaks seem to continue showing up from more or less trustworthy sources.