iPhone 7 rumors have me skeptical about upgrading

Recent speculation tells us that Apple may introduce its newest iPhones, oft-rumored to be called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, in the second full week of September. Of course, considering the company’s track record, that’s a pretty safe assumption. It also means that we’ve got just one more full month between now and when the new iPhones are officially official.

And the Rumor Mill can’t seem to get a grasp on what’s going to be announced.

Despite the fact there are still so many reports going back-and-forth about the new iPhones, or maybe directly because off t, I’m still on the fence with these things. I’ve picked up a new iPhone on launch day for the last … three years, or something like that, and I wasn’t expecting to run into a situation where that wouldn’t be the case anytime soon. But here I am, end of July, and I’m not entirely convinced that Apple is going to launch a new iPhone in September that really sways me.

Or my wallet, for that matter.

There are a few things out there in the wild that a lot of people seem to agree on. The first being that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are going to look a lot like the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus — which, in turn, looked identical to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Everyone seems to have settled on the idea that this year’s iPhone launches may as well be called the iPhone 6ss or something, because the new features might be limited in scope, and that the physical design won’t be that big of a departure at all from previous generations.

Indeed, many leaked shells of the upcoming devices, while shady by default, suggest that Apple’s keeping the overall design, but simply moving the antenna bands to the top and bottom edges, moving them out of the way and, almost, out of sight. Considering how upset the antenna bands made people initially with the iPhone 6, and again with the iPhone 6s, that’s probably a smart decision on Apple’s part — especially if they aren’t changing much else.

We also seem to agree that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus won’t feature a 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, Apple will be relying on the Lightning port on the bottom of the handset to take care of that feature, which means a lot of people are going to have to make some changes to the way they listen to music. Specifically, which headphones they use.

And we’ll get back to that here in a moment.

The consensus also agrees that the iPhone 7 Plus, and probably not the iPhone 7, will get a dual-camera system on the back, which will probably take really great photos and offer plenty of additional features for the larger device of the pair. Could one argue that it’s probably possible that Apple could make a dual-camera system work in the 4.7-inch iPhone 7? Maybe. But the Rumor Mill says that’s not going to be the case, so we’re probably just going to have to accept that in the near future.

There are other changes rumored to be coming down the pike. The iPhone 7 Plus could also get 3GB of RAM. And both devices may drop the 16GB option altogether, starting with the 32GB model, offering the 128GB option in the middle, and skyrocketing up to a 256GB variant as the top of the list. Rumor also has it that the prices for these devices, despite their increases in storage for their positions in the lineup, will be similar to what current iPhones are priced at, which would be good news.

So that’s basically it. There’s new changes in iOS 10, and there are probably going to be other new additions when Apple has something to announce in September. But there isn’t going to be anything really “earth shaking” this year, if you believe the rumors, because Apple has a bigger, more significant change coming in 2017 with those iPhone models. Which makes sense, just by default, because it’s the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone next year! So it makes sense that the smartphone that started the smartphone boom would get a significant upgrade in light of the anniversary.

And to get back to the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack. I’ll be honest: I haven’t cared about it at all up until recently, simply because I was assuming that Apple would be including Lightning EarPods right in the box, so that someone could just take the phone out, along with the headphones, and plug ‘em in and get going. But there have been two distinct reports now that suggest Apple is indeed dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack, but is still going to include 3.5mm headphones in the box — along with a dongle to connect to the bottom of the iPhone so you can plug those headphones into the Lightning port, through the dongle.

This better be nonsense. I’m almost willing to look over the fact the iPhone 7 Plus is potentially going to have a significantly better camera over the iPhone 7, but this dongle situation is ridiculous if it’s true, and that’s almost reason enough for me to worry that I might not be upgrading this year. I’m not buying a phone that requires me to have a dongle to plug in headphones.

That’s silly.

So roll all that together, and consider the likelihood that Apple has something great hiding up its sleeve for next year, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe I’ll be skipping the upgrade this year and just waiting for the 2017 iPhone.

Which has me wondering if any of you out there are thinking the same thing. Based on what you’ve heard about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, are you planning on upgrading, or do you think you’ll be waiting for the bigger changes coming to the iPhone(s) next year? Let me know!