With just six weeks left before Apple will unveil its flagship iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, ne leaked images and photos are claiming that, rather than shipping with Lightning-based EarPods as previously speculated, the devices will come with a Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack dongle.
According to Business Insider, Deutsche Bank has issued a research note that corroborates several previously rumored features coming in Apple's this year's iPhone refresh. According to the report, the German bank is in possession of new information about the iPhone since it reportedly made supply chain checks.
Deutsche Bank's research note suggests that the upcoming 4.7-inch model of the iPhone device will come with an improved camera featuring optical image stabilization. The larger 5.5-inch iPhone model will come with 3 GB of RAM and a dual-lens camera.
According to MacRumors, both iPhone models will come with a touch-sensitive home button, "professional class" waterproofing, a new darker color, improved sound and no headphone jack. But the most interesting part of the Deutsche Bank's research note is its claim that, rather than Lightning-based EarPods as previously speculated, the iPhone 7 will come with a Lightning-to-audio dongle in the box.
The dongle would have to contain a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) in order to work with existing headphones. This would be a pretty clunky adapter, unless Apple is coming with a smaller design than the existing ones.
According to 9To5Mac, including a Lightning-to-headphones dongle seems like an odd decision. It is like Apple is admitting that the market would not be ready to give up the analog headphones. Not always supply chain sources are a reliable source of information and it is still unknown if this rumor will prove true.
Other rumored features include a slightly larger battery, repositioned antenna bands, a faster TSMC-built Apple A10 processor, faster Wi-Fi and LTE and a minimum 32 GB of base storage. The launching of the Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is expected this fall, in September.
