Apple’s iPhone 7 is set to be the Cupertino-based company’s most powerful and feature packed iPhone yet. As you might expect from a next-generation device, Apple intends to make sure that the hardware itself is not only cutting-edge, but that it also causes a huge headache for other manufacturers involved in the smartphone space. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the majority of pre-announcement speculation would be focused on the features and hardware, but you’d be wrong. The world seems caught up with the potential for the iPhone 7 to ship without a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the validity of those rumors could be about to be called into question thanks to a new image that has fallen into the public domain.
The image shows an internal Lightning cable assembly that is purported to be an official component from the iPhone 7. There’s no guarantee that this is definitely from within Apple’s supply chain, and that it will definitely make it into the next-generation iPhone, but it appears to differ from the current iPhone 6s assembly enough to suggest that it could potentially form part of an iPhone with redesigned internals.
The assembly itself acts as an internal rig for a number of important components within the smartphone, including the Lightning port that users use to charge and sync the device, as well as the cellular antenna cables. The interesting thing here is that it quite clearly shows the existence of a 3.5mm headphone jack, as can be seen in the image below.
One of the interesting challenges at this stage of the pre-release cycle is trying to identify with a decent degree of accuracy what is actually real and from Apple’s official supply chain partners, and what could be destined for a Chinese manufacturer making a counterfeit version of the hardware to sell locally.
A number of prominent and well-placed analysts with a high-degree of historical success have gone on record in stating their belief that the next iPhone will come without a headphone jack as part of its DNA. We’ve also been privy to internal findings within the iOS codebase that seem to suggest the same thing. Yet this image points firmly in the opposite direction.
The jury is still well and truly out on whether or not the iPhone 7 will come without a headphone jack, and instead rely on the Lightning port and Bluetooth as a means of connecting personal headphones to the device.
(Source: Weibo, Via: Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translate])
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