iPhone 7 Rumors: Photo Leak Reveals Design Concept Changes To 3D Touch & Backlight Display

The first ever iPhone 7 photo has leaked, and it’s a doozy. The leaked photos come courtesy of Apple.club.tw, a major online gathering place for Apple fans and iPhone rumor fanatics in Taiwan. The Taiwanese site has a reputation of accurately leaking photos of Apple prototypes according to Mac Rumors, such as the protruding camera lens introduced with the iPhone 6.

Admittedly, the leaked photos don’t show much. But they do show evidence of Apple implementing some major design changes for the iPhone 7. The flex cables for the backlight display and the 3D Touch sensor chip have been flipped on the iPhone 7 compared to where they were situated on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

It’s difficult to extrapolate what this could possibly signify for the iPhone 7, but considering the rumors flying around about Apple ditching the 3.5-mm headphone jack, the switched cable positions could very well have some deeper significance.

According to the rumors, the iPhone 7 will force users to use headphones operating via Lightning cable or Bluetooth. Adding fuel to the flames is the possibility that Apple is developing a Hi-Res audio codec for their Apple Music subscription service that would require the capabilities of a Lightning cable to work.

Set to be September 2016 release date, the iPhone 7 will be the next device in Apple’s stable to have the 3D Touch feature introduced with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The iPad Air 3, which will supposedly be announced this March 2016, will not have 3D Touch capability according to the rumor mill.

Industry analysts such as Ming-Chi Kuo (KGI Securities) have gone as far as practically confirm the iPad Air 3’s lack of 3D Touch, citing the “severe production bottlenecks” issues Apple is currently experiencing within the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus supply chain.