Apple in June unveiled iOS 7, its completely redesigned mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Since then, the company has released four beta versions for developers to test. When rolled out to the public, the update will bring a new look to the iPhone’s interface, as well as some new features. Here, we examine what iOS 7 tells us about Apple’s next iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5S or iPhone 6.
New iPhone will be released in autumn
Apple has said that iOS 7 will be coming this autumn, which suggests that a new iPhone will be arriving then too. Last year, Apple previewed iOS 6 during its WWDC keynote, and rolled it out alongside the iPhone 5 in September.
New iPhone will have a better camera
Before iOS 7 was unveiled, we speculated that the new iPhone will probably have some camera improvements, and some reports have suggested that the new camera could have 12-megapixels with low-light shooting and a HDR setting.
Thanks to Apple’s iOS 7 preview, we now know that the new iPhone’s Camera app will be improved. As well as changing the look of the Camera app, Apple has also introduced the ability to swipe between the camera’s shooting formats: still, video, panorama and a new square mode. Plus, there are now filters built-in to the iOS 7 Camera app, including Mono, Chrome, Process, Transfer and Instant.
In addition to the Camera app improvements, Apple has also given the Photos app a revamp, introducing Collections, Moments and Years, which group together your photos and videos based on the time and place that they were taken.
If that’s not enough, iOS 7 also purportedly supports 60 frames per second video shooting, while theiPhone 5’s camera can currently only capture up to 30fps. See: 27 new iOS 7 features you might have missed
New iPhone could have fingerprint sensor beneath Home button
In July, iOS 7 beta 4 was seeded to developers, and contained key evidence to suggest that the new iPhone will have a fingerprint sensor built-in to the Home button.
A folder and text strings spotted within the beta describe the fingerprint sensing process, which would require the user to place their thumbs on the Home button one at a time in order for the iPhone to grant access to the content of the phone.
New iPhone probably won’t have NFC
The introduction of AirDrop in iOS 7 suggests that Apple won’t be bringing NFC to the iPhone any time soon.
Apple’s mobile development chief Craig Federighi poked fun at Android when he announced AirDrop for iOS during the WWDC keynote on Monday. “There’s no need to wander around the room bumping your phone,” he joked, a remark greeted by laughs from Apple developers around the room familiar with Android Bean, a combination of NFC (near field communication) and Bluetooth.
The NFC technology in various new Android phones allows users to swap photos, songs and documents by touching, or nearly touching, two compatible Android phones together.
With AirDrop, there’s no NFC involved, according to Apple’s website, just Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. “Just tap Share, then select the person you want to share with,” Apple‘s website says. “AirDrop does the rest using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. No setup required. And transfers are encrypted, so what you share is highly secure.”
While Apple doesn’t look like it’ll be adopting NFC just yet, it is believed that the technology could come to the iPhone next year.
iPhone 6 will have better battery
New features in iOS 7 such as audio-only FaceTime calls over 4G LTE, automatic updates and an inclinometer, could gobble up quite a lot of battery power. Therefore, Apple will probably give its battery a boost to make up for it. At least, we hope it will.
iPhone 6 could have better speakers
Not only does iOS 7 have a redesigned Music app, there is also a brand new music streaming service included: iTunes Radio. The extra focus on Music could indicate speaker improvements for the iPhone 6.
Plus, the introduction of audio-only FaceTime calls suggests we’ll need better speakers to allow us to hear the caller’s voice more clearly.
In addition to these features, we know for sure that the iPhone 6, as well as other supported iOS devices, will be getting Siri and Maps improvements, Activation Lock, call blocking and much more.
