Report: Apple's Next iPhone Coming September 9
Re/code's John Paczkowski is reporting that Apple will hold an iPhone event on September 9. This is presumably when the company will announce the iPhone 6. The event also falls almost exactly one year after the last iPhone event.
Although Paczkowski is one of the most reliable sources of Apple news, we've seen all kinds of conflicting reports about the iPhone 6 launch. So you'll just have to wait and see, like always. And it's also unclear how long we'll have to wait and see before you can actually buy the new device. Nevertheless! Now is a great time to catch up on iPhone rumors.
iPhone 6
In case you've been living in a cave the past six months or so, you should know that Apple isalmost definitely going to be releasing a new iPhone with a bigger screen. It's very possible it will be called the iPhone 6, and some think that Apple will offer the new phone in different sizes, perhaps a 5.5-inch and a 4.7-inch, which would be a slight bump to the current iPhone 5S's a 4-inch screen size. The jury is still out, however, on whether the new iPhone will feature a curved screen, though reliable sources have tweeted images that show just that.
It also remains a mystery whether the new screen will be made of sapphire. Why is that important? A sapphire iPhone would be a tougher iPhone.
Since Apple's last iPhone, the 5S, mostly included under-the-hood upgrades, though, you can definitely expect the iPhone 6 to feature a pretty significant design update. Leaks—again, reliable leaks and lots of them—show a new case that actually looks a lot like the original iPhone with a sleek silver back and curved edges. Most of the leaks show a case with a 5.5-inch screen size.
However, there will be more to the iPhone 6 than a new case and bigger screen. Details on the improvements to the device's guts are a little blurry, though. Though some of the leaks show a logic board that looks roughly the same as those in the current iPhone line, the new phone will almost certainly be upgraded to an more robust A8 processor. Recent reports also say the iPhone 6 will come with near field communication (NFC) technology as well as an upgraded Wi-Fi chip. Some people even think the LTE radio will get an upgrade, and wireless chargingwill become a reality.
A lot of speculation on the hardware is pure speculation. However, improvements in iOS 8 suggest that the camera technology will see upgrades at the very least. Other iOS 8 improvements hint at the possible addition of new hardware to support HealthKit and the suite of fitness tracking features that come with it. Meanwhile, the new Metal game development tool has some people thinking that the iPhone 6 will come with a console-level graphics engine. Apple, at least, says it's ten times better than the existing graphics engine.
iOS 8
Speaking of iOS 8, now is the perfect opportunity to remind you of all the fun new features the new operating system will bring to all iPhones—except iPhone 4 and older, boo hoo.
Whereas the iPhone 6 will feature a lot of design upgrades, iOS 8 is all about the backend. One thing people seem super excited about, again, is the HealthKit API and the corresponding Health app. Together, these two things will bring all of your fitness and health tracking to one place, and maybe even make that data useful.
Speaking of making things more useful, a very exciting new feature called Extensions will finally let apps talk to each other. That means that developers can build apps with specific toolkits for other apps to use, say a Bing translate tool that you can use for any foreign language content. All apps will also be able to use Touch ID, now, which could eliminate the need for usernames and passwords for good on iOS.
The rest of the iOS 8 updates are mostly incremental but inevitably relevant. HandOff will make switching between iOS and OS X devices completely seamless, meaning you can start writing an email on your iPhone and instantly finish on your MacBook Pro. You will also be able to make phone calls and send texts from your Mac.
Meanwhile, notifications will see some improvements, as will Spotlight. Siri will evidently get better, and so will iCloud with the introduction of iCloud Drive. The keyboard will also improve thanks to some Android-inspired features, and you'll finally have the ability to add third party keyboards. Read more about iOS 8 here.
iWatch
Who knows! Apple's definitely thinking about making a smartwatch, and it's been reported that such a device is already in production. Don't expect to see anything at the September event, though.
