iPhone 7 Plus

Did China Unicom just hint at Deep Blue iPhone 7?

Apple's carrier partner China Unicom may have just hinted subtly that the next iPhone could come in an all-new Deep Blue colorway, as first suggested two months ago by the Japanese blog Mac Otakara.

According to Dutch blog TechTastic.nl, China Unicom on its Facebook page posted an image featuring an iPhone 7-like dual lens camera superimposed on a huge “7” surrounded by four squares that allude to existing Space Gray, Gold and Rose Gold colors, plus the rumored Deep Blue colorway.

Soon after, the carrier removed its post from Facebook.

Sonny Dickson posts nice-looking iPhone 7/Plus photos, but are they genuine?

Noted Australian leakster Sonny Dickson, who made a name for himself by supplying a steady stream of photos showing genuine components for unreleased Apple products, has been pretty silent lately. Silent, but not inactive.

Yesterday, Dickson re-joined the rumor game by tweeting out a pair of quality images that appear to show off a 4.7-inch variant of the iPhone 7 next to its 5.5-inch brethren. Both devices are in Rose Gold and have a tweaked camera design on their backside.

Another hands-on video shows genuine-looking, working Lightning EarPods in action

Apple's official Lightning-based EarPods (that could be marketed under the 'AirPods' moniker, according to a trademark filing) were already filmed on video and depicted on leaked photos. Today, UK-based mobile accessory firm MobileFun posted a hands-on video of its own of what appears to be a wired, Lightning-based edition of the EarPods.

Apple, as you know, is widely expected to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack from its next iPhone in favor of Bluetooth wireless headsets and Lightning-based wired ones, the latter potentially providing lossless digital sound.

Leaked video shows Camera app running on a working iPhone 7 prototype

Earlier this morning, we ran some pretty convincing photographs which appear to picture a functional, powered on iPhone 7 running Apple’s internal testing software, called SwitchBoard. Geekbar, the Chinese team who leaked these photos, has now published on Weibo video evidence to convince naysayers. The fit and finish of the claimed device shown in the photos and on this video screams an Apple product.

Supposedly fully functional iPhone 7 caught on video, its display turned on

We've seen our fair share of iPhone 7 mockups and dummy cases, but these are all based on rumors. Not once in the past did we see images or videos showing a prototype, if not a fully assembled iPhone 7. Well, that may have changed today as French blog NowhereElse.fr re-published photos from a Weibo account of what site owner Steve Hemmerstoffer described as a possibly functional iPhone 7. The images depict a device with Apple-like fit and finish, the display turned on and showing what's unmistakably the iOS interface.

UPDATE: The claimed device has been caught on video, too.

New iPhone 7 mockup shows blue finish, Smart Connector and other features

An earlier report from Japanese blog Macotakara alleged that the next iPhone might bring out a new deep blue color option, later described as being closer to a “dark Space Black,” similar to that used for the Space Black stainless stell Apple Watch.

Be that as it may, a new video from Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy shows off an iPhone 7 mockup with kind of blue-ish, purple-ish tone to it. It’s “a very unusual color for Apple and it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the product line,” says Hilsenteger.

New rumor reaffirms iPhone 7 Plus will have 3GB of RAM

An Apple-designed A10 chip that will power the next iPhone should be outfitted with 3GB of RAM on the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus model, according to previous analyst reports from TrendForce, Deutsche Bank and KGI Securities. DigiTimes has now corroborated these rumors, noting that the mobile DRAM capacity of the next-generation iPhone is “expected to increase to 3GB from 2GB previously”.

Fully functional Lightning EarPods caught on video

Following blurry photos of an alleged Lightning-based edition of the EarPods, Apple's stock iPhone headphones, a new video now gives us a far better look at what appears to be fully functional headphones resembling the EarPods, except they connect into the iPhone's Lightning port.

Published on YouTube channel EverythingApplesPro on Friday and first discovered by French blog iGen.fr, the 60-second clip shows the headphones connected via Lightning to an iPhone running iOS 9. They work as you'd expect, including controlling playback via the in-line Play/Pause and Volume Up and Down buttons.

Purported Mute switch leak reaffirms rumors of Space Black iPhone 7 model

A lot of people seem to be excited for the supposed iPhone 7 variant in Space Black, resembling the Space Black stainless steel Apple Watch or the dramatic Darth Vader-like black-clad appearance of the iPhone 5. Dutch publication TechTastic.nl on Monday published a photo of an alleged Mute switch for the next iPhone.

What's especially interesting about this particular part leak is the part's finish that strongly suggest—assuming the component is genuine—that the next iPhone will in fact be offered in Space Black.

Last month, revenue from U.S. sales of wireless headphones surpassed that of wired ones

If you need the definite proof that Apple's rumored decision to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the next iPhone is based on some actual real-world numbers, here's one. According to the latest stats for the month of June, published Thursday by research firm NPD, revenue from sales of wireless headphones in the United States during the month of June beat that of their wired counterparts. Revenue from wireless headphones accounted for 54 percent of U.S. dollar sales and 17 percent of unit sales in the headphone category.

Genuine-looking iPhone 7 Lightning-to-3.5-mm audio adapter caught on video

As you know, the next iPhone is expected to ditch the 3.5mm analog audio jack for wireless headphones, powered by Bluetooth, and wired ones, driven by Lightning. Now, certain sources are adamant that the handset may ship with a Lightning-to-3.5-mm audio adapter in the box so that folks could continue using their existing audio accessories.

Today, we get another glimpse of the claimed adapter in a set of leaked images and an accompanying high-resolution video. This latest leak came on Thursday via Vietnamese blog Tinhte.vn, which claims to have received the adapter from a Foxconn factory.