With summer and the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Worldwide Developer’s Conference approaching, rumors are once again starting to heat up about the next Apple smartphone.
There are a few things we can assume will probably happen.
Apple tends to release major revisions — where the physical design changes — every two years. But 2015 is an in-between year, which means we’re almost certain to see an iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, not an iPhone 7.
While this year’s crop of iPhones are expected to be visually identical to what Apple released in 2014, there are rumblings that this could be one of the biggest “S” releases in company history. The iPhone 6S could be seeing a serious upgrade, and AAPL might be shaking things up in more ways than just hardware.
We’ve put together a list of the biggest iPhone 6S rumors, and if Apple delivers on many of these, the next iPhone is going to be tough to beat.
iPhone 6S Rumors: Force Touch
One of the more interesting new technologies AAPL has introduced recently is Force Touch.
Pressure-sensitive input gives users of the Apple Watch and new MacBooks a new way to interact with their devices. Pushing harder on a trackpad or display is a single touch method for tasks like zooming into a map or seeing more detail about an app.
With Force Touch now being offered in the Apple Watch and many of Apple’s 2015 laptops, it makes sense that the technology makes it to the next iPhone as suggested by the Wall Street Journal.
The big question is whether Force Touch would be limited to Apple’s phablet (which does have several exclusive features), or would also be offered with the iPhone 6S.
iPhone 6S Rumors: A9 CPU, More RAM
It’s not a big leap to say the iPhone 6S will have a new CPU and that it will be the A9. Apple upgrades the silicon in its smartphones and tablets like clockwork.
So expect the next generation of iPhones to be faster. The A9 inside will likely be manufactured by Samsung (OTCMKTS:SSNLF), which appears to have won back its contract as the primary supplier of AAPL mobile chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM).
The bigger news is that Apple Insider thinks AAPL is going to double the RAM in the new iPhone to 2GB from the current 1GB.
Many smartphones running Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG,NASDAQ:GOOGL) Android operating system routinely ship with 3GB of RAM and the Mi Pro from Xiaomi is packing 4GB.
Apple’s CPUs are more memory-efficient, but the company doubled the RAM to 2GB in the iPad Air 2 and the iPhone 6S would undoubtedly benefit from the boost, too.
iPhone 6S Rumors: Big Camera Improvement
Shopping smartphones by specs can be all but impossible, especially when comparing an iPhone against an Android competitor. Numbers can be misleading — that RAM difference between iPhones and Android phones is a perfect example.
Cameras are another area where comparing numbers can be dangerous. Apple iPhones have been using 8MP image sensors for years, while Android competitors routinely ship with 16MP shooters. Apple uses larger pixels for better light sensitivity and iPhones have a reputation for higher-quality photos than most competitors, despite the low sensor resolution.
One of the more compelling iPhone 6S rumors has AAPL boosting that image sensor from 8MP for the first time since 2011.
According to Appleinsider, Sony (NYSE:SNE) has been tapped to supply a 12MP image sensor (with RGBW support for even better low-light performance).
There’s also the possibility that the iPhone 6S could make use of technology developed by LinX — the Israeli company AAPL bought in April — to offer SLR image quality or at least get rid of the protruding camera lens on the current generation iPhones.
iPhone 6S Rumors: Rose Gold
With China now AAPL’s biggest smartphone market, the influence of Chinese consumers is going to be felt more in iPhone design.
The iPhone 6 Plus was at least partially a response to the preference for phablets over traditional smartphones in that market, and if iPhone 6S rumors can be trusted, we could be seeing another development made with China in mind.
Chinese consumer love gold, and there’s a lot of chatter that Apple will respond by adding a Rose Gold color option to last year’s gold, space gray and silver.
Hoping to buy a Rose Gold iPhone 6S that’s actually made of gold, like the Rose Gold Apple Watch? If so, you’d better have very, very deep pockets.
iPhone 6S Rumors: Early Release Date?
AAPL has been consistent with its iPhone release schedule for the past few years, announcing new models in early September and putting them on sale a few weeks later.
But according to MacRumors , an analyst with KGI Securities is predicting Apple will shake things up a little this year by making the iPhone 6S announcement in August.
While this might mean buyers can get a new iPhone 6S in their hands a few weeks earlier than usual, the bigger purpose for AAPL is probably catching competitors off balance.
Whether the new iPhones are announced in August or September as usual, it’s a safe bet that we’ll be looking at long lines and another monster launch weekend for AAPL.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
