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Report: iPhone 7 to feature noise-canceling headphone tech, waterproof design, wireless charging

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We’re still a while away from the launch of the iPhone 7, but rumors have been running rampant recently concerning the design and features of Apple’s next flagship device. Fast Company has now published a new report in which it corroborates many earlier rumors regarding the iPhone 7, as well as offering up a few more details and tidbits.

First, the report claims that Apple will indeed drop the 3.5mm headphone jack on the device in favor of an all-encompassing Lightning port. This means that users will use the Lightning port for listening to wired headphones. This is a move that  has been rumored in the past several times, with Apple’s goal presumably being to make the iPhone 7 even thinner than the current iPhone 6s.

Furthermore, the report adds that the audio system used in the iPhone 7 will feature new noise-canceling technology from U.K. audio company Wolfson Microelectronics. This tech will be built into the phone as well as into the headphones that are plugged into it. Apple is expected make a strong push for companies that make Lightning-enabled headphones to implement the new noise-canceling technology, the report claims. Although, there will be a licensing fee to do so.

Fast Company says, however, that the EarPods included with the iPhone likely won’t adopt the noise-canceling technology, but Apple rather will sell a more expensive version of Lightning-connected EarPods separately that offer the technology.

The report goes onto claim that the iPhone 7 will support wireless charging, a first for the iPhone. It’s unclear what technology Apple will use to do so, but the report seems to suggest that it could be similar to the inductive charging technology used to charge the Apple Watch.

Finally, Fast Company reports that the iPhone 7 will feature a waterproof design, corroborating a report from late last year that suggested the same. Today’s report notes, however, that Apple is known for pulling features from new phones late in the developmental process, so it’s possible that wireless charging and/or waterproof capabilities could be pulled before the device is publicly unveiled.

It should be noted that Sullivan, the Fast Company writer behind this report, doesn’t have the cleanest track record when it comes to Apple. In 2014, he incorrectly reported that Apple was working with Swiss watchmaker Swatch in building an “iWatch.”

Earlier today, a patent filed by Apple hinted at the possibility of a twin-camera system making an appearance alongside the iPhone 7. Other past iPhone 7 rumors have claimed that Apple is testing a new casing material for the device, with Apple ditching the metallic frame found on the iPhone 6s. Other reports have suggested that the iPhone 7 Plus will feature a 256GB storage option, as well as a larger battery.

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Comments

  1. michaelg379 - 8 years ago

    I wish almost more than being waterproof, the iPhone is smudge and dustproof

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Smudge and dust proof would be quite the trick, especially smudge proof haha. How do you eliminate the deposition of human oils and sweat on the glass?

      • michaelg379 - 8 years ago

        No idea! But that’s what Apple’s millions of dollars for R&D can be used for figuring out :)

      • #BabyDylan (@djbystedt) - 8 years ago

        Oleophobic coatings already exist on the iPhone’s glass. These coatings break down and wear off over time. The coatings break the surface tension in the oils, making it easier for them to evaporate from the surface. The trick is making the coatings long laster without decreasing image quality.

    • r00fus1 - 8 years ago

      Uh… is the oleophobic coating that’s been on iPhones since the 3GS not good enough for you?
      Or are you using a screen protector – most smudgy iPhones I see have bad screen (non oleophobic) protectors.

      • michaelg379 - 8 years ago

        The oleophobic coating is fine – In the past I have used zagg invisible shield screen protectors which do seem to actually show less finger prints than with no screen protector

        On my iPhone 6s Plus I don’t have a screen protector and what bothers me particularity is dirt/dust particle that can accumulate around the circumference of the Touch ID sensor. It’s a little hard to just wipe them off with a cleaning cloth rather that with the rest of the flat screen

    • srgmac - 8 years ago

      The waterproofing alone is definitely something I am willing to hold out on just to wait for it — I still have the 5S and I can already upgrade any time I want…but my 5S really isn’t that bad of a phone, it’s still very fast, the camera is great, etc…I see no reason to upgrade to the 6S if the 7 will be waterproof. As for wireless charging, I’ll believe that when I see it…Apple has poo-pooed wireless charging so many times, calling it useless etc…But, Phil Schiller also called NFC useless when the 5S came out, only to eat his words 1 yr later when Apple Pay debuted which is based on NFC (lol).

      • b (@therealdesib) - 8 years ago

        Will be interesting to see what happens for sure. I agree re: wireless charging. Something many people don’t realize about the iPhone 6s is it is water resistant, the phone can be submerged in some cases for up to an hour before permanent damage occurs. Apple just doesn’t advertise it because it isn’t “water proof” and it was result with a whole cascade of issues, but even taking apart an iPhone 6s you can see Apple made it significantly more water resistant than any iPhone before. Perhaps “testing out” if you will how to protect the internals for the subsequent iPhone generation.

  2. applegetridofsimandjack - 8 years ago

    Please don’t tell me it will be samsung like wireless charging because the way they do it doesn’t have any advantages. Still have to think about putting your phone for charge (on some special surface) so the problem isn’t solved.

    • William - 8 years ago

      You can’t use the phone (comfortably) at the same time as it’s charging, because you can’t pick it up off the charging surface, and even if you don’t need to use the phone, the inductive charging will always be less efficient than using a cable. So I can’t really see the advantage – unless perhaps for restaurants and coffee shops where they don’t want people to be plugging into wall sockets for some reason – except you still need sockets to power the charging pads, and you have the installation cost to cable everything up and fix the pads in place, so again, how does wireless charging help anyone really?

      • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

        There is no advantage only disadvantages. I thought Apple was smart. If they add wireless charging it will be really embarrassing. The only thing that will do is take up more incredibly important internal space. They’ll probably have to shrink the battery to do it.

      • twelve01 - 8 years ago

        o0 – I wouldn’t assume Apple is doing the same way. If they’ve shown anything over the years, it’s been thier ability to address issues with novel solutions.

      • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

        @twelve I know they make things better, but there is only one useful kind of wireless charging for a tablet or smartphone and that is wireless charging at a range of at least 1 meter from the charging base, and there is absolutely no chance Apple can fit that into an iPhone yet. Maybe in 5 years there will be wireless charging at a meter or more, using wifi signals, but I seriously doubt the technology is there yet.

        As William mentioned current wireless charging is only hurting the overall abilities of the device, because wireless charging offers only power, and much less than wired, it also has to be sat in a specific spot, and therefore it cannot be used whilst charging, which most people do. So the only thing you get from it is the convince of simply laying it down instead of plugging a cord into it, which is no convenience really, and the negatives as mentioned are that it will still have to have a lightning port for data, and it cannot be used when it’s wirelessly charging. Finally, it has a massive negative in that it takes up internal space inside the device and that is the most important aspect of the phone.

        It makes perfect sense to do in a watch because you need to have no ports or as few as possible on a watch and because you don’t use a watch while it is charging.

      • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

        You will find that many companies have policies regarding using non company cables in their wall outlets because they want only cables which they have tested to be fault free and the correct voltage – tested by their own in-house IT staff. This definitely applies for schools and colleges in England when using laptops

    • dberti22 - 8 years ago

      I agree there’s no real advantage. If Apple’s recent product releases confirm anything, it’s that they don’t really want to implement wireless charging. Just look at the new Magic Mouse. If they made the charging port on the bottom like that so you can’t even use it while it’s charging, then I really doubt that they would have a charging pad for anything else because they would’ve made one for the Magic Mouse! I mean because that port placement on the mouse is even worse than having an induction charging pad then they had to think that that port placement was a better idea.

      I think they will wait until a new technology comes out where you can charge using wifi or something, we shall see.

    • #BabyDylan (@djbystedt) - 8 years ago

      I think Apple could implement both. I’m sure that Wireless OTA charging would be quite slow. However, still better than nothing. And for times when you’re heading out and need to quickly top up your phone, you could place it on the mat for a Wireless Quick charge while you get ready.

      Honestly, I rather have fast charge via a cable – where I can get 80% in 20 minutes, or some variant of that, then Wireless charging. Although, if stores and malls get on board with this – and there are some enterprise Wireless OTA charges available – in the same way they did with WiFi – I don’t know if I’d ever have to plug my phone in again…

  3. William - 8 years ago

    I keep seeing the use of the Lightning port for audio (mostly) justified on the grounds that losing the headphone jack will allow the phone to be thinner, however I don’t see how they can make the phone any thinner without the rear-facing camera protruding even further – is there anything to suggest the camera assembly could be made any more compact than it already is?

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Absolutely. Dual-array camera system offers a significant reduction in camera module thickness. The iPhone 7 could be thinner and still remove the camera bump. However, I don’t believe removing the headphone jack was to make the device thinner. That’s BS. The real reason was for internal space in width and length, not its depth. It very well may not be a limiting factor in making the iPhone thinner as it is now… It’s like if you’re going to claim it’s about making the device thinner, then show us that the headphone jack has a current depth that disallows then to make the device thinner. You could argue they could have more space to thin the battery and make it longer, but it would hardly get any length gain because the lightning port takes up substantial space anyway.

      • #BabyDylan (@djbystedt) - 8 years ago

        Well, and the rumours of removing the SIM tray give credence to that too. Apple has always been a pioneer of amazing board design. They last flexed their muscle with the new MacBook. I think they’re pushing to expand the battery capacity as much as possible in the next iPhone. We may even see terraced, or multiple batteries depending on the 7s design.

  4. robkow86 - 8 years ago

    I think the best feature for the iPhone 7 would be a 32 GB base model.

    • Avieshek (@avieshek) - 8 years ago

      With 256GB in the game, even 64GB is lame
      It’s time for 64GB to be the low end, with all that 4K, live photos, HDR, dual-camera setup etc

  5. alfredprunesquallor - 8 years ago

    Yawwwwwwn…

  6. twalkerp (@twalkerp) - 8 years ago

    It is really interesting that the day Cirrus announces bad guidance that this news comes out (that Cirrus is developing new component). I really do think Cirrus leaked this info and is very much legit. Apple will receive a lot of flack for this change but as long as they don’t waste that extra space I will be happy. Personally, I want thicker iPhone or same with more battery. Screw thin. The iPhone 6 is too thin and too slick and requires a case…which is lame. I would upgrade just for the satisfactory feel of a phone that I can hold in my hand again.

    Also, I think induction charging is the lamest feature. I like my 10ft cable where I can read my phone and charge. If I have to put my phone on a device to charge…and I can’t use it….that is bad design. I don’t want to be sitting on my bed waiting for my phone to charge on my nightstand.

    Waterproof? sure. why not. One less thing to worry about.

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Absolutely nailed it on the uselessness of wireless charging.

      Wireless charging as it is in consumer products today, is worthless. It will be great when the teams working on the wifi signal based wireless charging from a long range can get that into mass produced devices, but that isn’t soon I’m sure.

    • r00fus1 - 8 years ago

      I would be fine with a thinner phone (as opposed to same size + bigger battery) if Apple would f*(&&*ing go about licensing battery case manufacturers to allow use the lighting port, so I can permanently keep my battery case on and not have to deal with crufty microusb.

      • nelmat - 8 years ago

        Battery case manufacturers are allowed to license the lighting connector – it’s their choice not to pay the fees and make a better product.

  7. o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

    You understand that’s the main purpose of this site right?

  8. applenthusiast - 8 years ago

    Why drop the 3.5mm jack in favor of the Lightning port instead of USB-C? I’m confused. At the MacBook unveiling USB-C was going to be the new industry standard. I truly hope that we can move away from this proprietary tech and have a consistent port across all devices (lol yes an overly eutopian idea).

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Here’s the thing, USB-C is cool, maybe it’s great, but maybe it is too big for an iPhone or iPad. The most important part about the iPhone is its internal space. The lightning port already takes up significant internal space, which is why I don’t know why they don’t go to the smart connector which takes up no internal space, but I’m not an engineer at Apple so that explains that.

      This is a question of internal space in general, not just the thickness of it. For example if Apple removed the lightning port and the headphone jack, the battery could be about a 1/2″ longer, which would be an enormous increase in capacity. Alternatively, the top and bottom bezels could be reduced to the minimum (just before the curved corners of the device).

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      MFI will ruin Lightning headphones and will be pretty much dormant like AirPlay and HomeKit devices. Those devices have been very slow to market. The fees charged and having to have authentication chips make it very prohibitive for accessory companies to build products.

    • In case you haven’t been paying attention to CES 2016, USB-C will be huge.

    • Avieshek (@avieshek) - 8 years ago

      USB-C is a nested socket, not a female socket. Lightning is a female socket, both are reversible plugs. The USB-C pin blade inside the socket is almost as large as the male Lightning plug, which makes the USB-C socket thicker, and take up more real-estate inside the device housing the socket, as well as making the plug a bit larger than a simpler male lightning plug.

  9. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    I hope ditching the phone jack gets us stereo sound on iPhones and iPads.

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Stereo sound on an iPhone is not at all worth it. There should be one speaker, always. Another speaker offers something that is far far less useful than what could be done with that lost internal space.

      • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

        I would prefer smaller bezels, but would not complain about getting stereo sound. Ditching the phone jack and moving to an embedded SIM would still allow you to gain battery capacity and also add another speaker.

      • kijijigod - 8 years ago

        DOWN DOWN Bezels!

  10. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Unless you are ditching I/o ports conductive charging has no benefits. Until near-field magnetic resonance) technology develops more I don’t see a reason for Apple to do wireless charging. The Apple Watch isn’t wireless its conductive and is only there to help with waterproofing if they are Keeping the lightning port any inductive charging is a waste of time.

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      Conductive charging is also slow!

      I don’t think all the people clamoring for “wireless” charging understand how slow many of these technologies are. How long do you want to wait for your phone to charge?

  11. davidt4n - 8 years ago

    I think it would only be splashproof rather than waterproof. Apple will never give something ‘greatest’ at the beginning of new feature.

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      It will have a water resistance rating. It can’t be waterproof because there’s no way to stop heavy water pressure on certain ports that will remain. I’m talking meters deep water pressure though, so essentially waterproof. They’ve been increasing water resistance, the iPhone 6S is significantly more water resistant than previous generations, so this isn’t even the first they’ve done to increase water resistance.

      I do want to note that water resistance is not an important feature, and it would be low on the list of priorities of course. However, if they can do it without compromising, great.

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      Correct!
      It will not be called “waterproof”. It will get a rating like the watch. The tech media should know better than to use the term “waterproof”.

  12. RP - 8 years ago

    Get rid of it. Another less hole for water to get in from.

  13. if this report is true, about the wireless charging, eliminating the headphone jack, and about the water proofing, Apple should just get rid of all the ports, and include a wireless charging base and wireless headphone with the purchase of the iPhone!

    • RP - 8 years ago

      I personally never connect the phone to anything but the charger and headphones so I would be ok with that.
      Not only that, the charging lightning cord has failed me me than any micro usb on any phone ever. So if wireless charging worked well then bring that on.

      Now really thinking about it, with all the failed charging cords I have lying around, and all the times friends asked to borrow mine for the same reason, God save us if we need to depend on the shoddy cord for headphones too.

  14. good riddance to the headphone jack, on one condition. An adapter. Think of the USB-Micro female to Lightning male blade adapters on the end of USB A to Micro-B cables, to make a dual-purpose cable… make a 3.5mm headphone jack female port, DAC and lightning interface chip and a Lightning blade, with a little tether. Cinch the tether to the end of the analog headphone cable, and convert analog 3.5mm headphones to Lightning headphones. Done and done. Barely bigger than the Apple Pencil lightning cable (female to female) adapter, with a short retention tether.

    All that real estate gets outsourced from inside the phone… allowing re-organization and space efficiency, and not a big water-vulnerable hole.

    Lightning female ports, unlike USB-C, don’t have a center blade, and the contacts may be able to be plated, and the port sealed against water and dust intrusion, as well as the internal components seal coated, and the enclosure sealed as much as possible. Plus, Apple is reportedly working on a ‘healing’ polymer barrier to cover the lightning port, and re-seal when the socket is removed.

    Bluetooth interface with cooperating devices, WiFi and Cellular internet cloud sync and data access, and inductive or radiant wireless charging would significantly minimize the need for physical conductive data transfer in most cases anyway, but the Lightning port would still offer it, as well as access to adapters, likely new USB3 adapters like iPad Pro.

    Apple may have over-simplified the MacBook with only one port, but iPhones are not Mac OS devices, and are largely un-tethered. Wireless headphones and wireless charging make it almost complete, save some exceptions for specific use cases.

    It doesn’t need to be thinner, but simpler, more robust and impervious to dust and moisture, and entirely digital is fine, with the availability of an external adapter for analog legacy headphones. As long as the thing doesn’t bend or break, or easily shatter.

  15. rnc - 8 years ago

    The report comes from one of the biggest Apple Bulls***, from sites that HATE Apple, like Fast Company and Venture Beat.

  16. Avieshek (@avieshek) - 8 years ago

    Is it called inductive charging or conductive charging?

    (But ofcourse not wireless charging, a moniker started by Samsung, ‘m waiting for Hitachi to reveal it’s research on real literal term of wireless charging i.e. Near-field magnetic resonance based technology)
    #Misleading_Samsung

  17. kacperro97 - 8 years ago

    Stop hating wireless charging it’s a good thing, no-one is says you need to use it. Real big problem is losing the headphone jack, you will have to take the adapter everywhere with you and you can’t listen to music while charging

    • nelmat - 8 years ago

      Why can’t you listen to music while charging? Apple will go wireless for headphones – you’ll see BT ‘Beats’ earbuds in the box. Failing that, the current docks all feature separate lighting and audio ports, so another way to listen while charging. Additionally I’m sure there will be an adapter – which will be zero issue as you keep that connected to the earphones, not the iPhone.

    • Why would you need to take an adapter everywhere separately? A few bucks for the materials, and the lightning/DAC chip inside, with a tight fitting 3.5mm jack, and maybe a short little cable tether to cinch to the headphone cord… You buy it and install it on your headphone cable. It goes with your headphones wherever they go, with no need to be separated from your headphones. Even if you plug the headphones into another device, the tether would keep it with the end of the headphone cord.

      It doesn’t become a separate device, it becomes an addition to your legacy headphones, if you prefer to keep your legacy headphones, rather than upgrading to lightning or bluetooth wireless headphones.

      That isn’t even as strict as some previous times that Apple has left past legacy ports in the past on devices.

      The 3.5mm hole is not the only space it would save… the headphone jack takes up the surrounding space around that hole, and that is space that can be outsourced to an external adapter, something like the Apple Pencil’s female-to-female lightning adapter that allows the pencil to charge from the cable, rather than the iPad’s port and battery. That is a small adapter in a physical sense, but a significant fraction of the internal volume and thickness criteria of a smart phone, and a debris, dust, and water intrusion point.

      Outsource the 3.5mm analog jack… the phone internals could be re-arranged, more efficient, and all digital. a small external adapter makes more sense for optional usage, rather than mandatory inclusion.

  18. uniszuurmond - 8 years ago

    The wireless charging is necessary to drop rhe audio jack, as it allows the phone to charge while listening to music throug the Lightning port. If no earphones are plugged in, Lightning power is still an option.

  19. maierpk - 8 years ago

    Nice, if they will ditch headphone jack I’ll give windows Phone a go…
    I’m so tired of misdesigned products (e.g. new MacBook, Apple Watch, …) with no additional use for me as a customer. Even OSX got some serious flaws within the last iterations in terms of stability.

    Don’t get me wrong – I used to be addicted to Apple products for quite a long time! But after Tim taking over the whole thing and Jonny leaving the company, I just see “me2” releases and some of them so ugly, it’s a shame (smart iPhone cover anyone?)…

    Microsoft on the other hand did quite a great job in the last year. Since Nadella took over, this huge company behaved like a small Valley startup with aligning their strategy to users needs. Isn’t it huge how even the biggest companies depend on the decisions of one guy?

    Anyway, I hate the Idea of changing my eco system, but it seems like Apple might not have the products for me in the future…

  20. ericesque - 8 years ago

    Guys! Guys! iPhone 7 will have ALL THE FEATURES!

  21. Robert - 8 years ago

    The only thing new in this piece is the bit about noise cancelling. This is interesting and Apple may have something.

    However, I’m highly skeptical about 3rd party headphone manufacturers being able to utilize a noise cancelling chip in the iPhone. Noise cancelling is a system that includes well placed microphones etc. It is not easy to get right. We could end up with a situation where the noise cancelling works well with Apple headphones but some 3rd party products that claim to support it will be sub par. Apple will want to protect the consumer experience.

    • Are they talking about noise canceling of audio output, or noise canceling for microphone audio input, such as recording audio with video, or actually, say… talking on the phone?

      It seems like audio playback noise cancellation would be handled by the headphones themselves… but it would be possible that iPhone would listen to it’s microphone for ambient sound, invert the wave-form, and mix that signal into the audio output to it’s speakers, external speakers, lightning or wireless headphones.

      It might not be very effective through the iPhone’s internal speaker, but otherwise it might work to reduce, if not eliminate the ear-perceived ambient noise by cancelling the wave forms.

      The further away the phone’s microphone is from the user’s ears, the less effective it would be with the sonic differences in timing and intensity at an acoustically different location.

    • Avieshek (@avieshek) - 8 years ago

      If u read other sites, the one with the noise-cancelling earbuds will be sold separately from Apple as an add-on, optional & premium feature

  22. cor_du_j - 8 years ago

    All of this sounds nice but—battery life, battery life, battery life.

  23. Paul Schram - 8 years ago

    All I know is that the removal of the headphone jack really pisses me off. I just bought $400 headphones. I’ve always used headphones, not earbuds. Wireless headphones, and bluetooth headphones are terrible for sound. I just pray that if they do get rid of the jack, that they at least will allow an adapter to plug in my current headphones.

  24. mansoorbeck - 8 years ago

    I think they are using the wisdom and knowledge from the Apple Watch wireless charging.

  25. PMZanetti - 8 years ago

    Unless Apple has finally nailed Solar recharging, or has invented something totally like ‘your wifi now charges your phone’…then NO we are not going to see them add wireless charging akin to the gimmick being used by other gimmick makers.

  26. alfredprunesquallor - 8 years ago

    I swear, with all the useless barnacles Apple is sticking on the phone, the 6 may be the last one I ever b

  27. I’d prefer better battery life to a thinner phone.

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

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