Is Apple about to launch the iPhone 7 sooner than you think - and with a 3D camera?

Everything you want to know about the up-coming Apple iPhone launch - which could be sooner than you think...

Apple is planning to surprise the market by bringing forward the launch of its forthcoming iPhone 7, which may include 3D camera technology. That is certainly suggested by reports from Chinese suppliers which indicate that the company is planning an August launch instead of its usual big September releases.

Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News also cites information from Apple's supply-chain in China that the company is planning to bring forward the release date by one month in a bid to surprise the market. It normally gives minimal notice of launches, but its release cycles have become somewhat predictable.

However, Economic Daily News would appear to have run the same story last year, which turned out to be wide of the mark, although its prediction of two size options for the iPhone 6 were more accurate. It has also recently suggested that the iPhone 7 might dispose entirely of the physical home button - although other reports suggest that this is planned for 2017.

More authoritative sources also suggest that the next iPhones will not be dubbed iPhone 7, but will be 6s models instead, suggesting iterative refreshes rather than a major upgrade, which typically happen every two years. Yet, the number of new innovations and ideas being touted for Apple's next release may confound that cycle this time round.

Elsewhere in Asia, display maker AU Optronics has reportedly secured a contract to produce dinky four-inch screens for a new iPhone, which will be marketed as the iPhone Mini, with the larger display iPhones effectively becoming the standard. Pricing is not yet known.

Candid camera

One big innovation Apple is expected to introduce with its next iPhone release is dual rear-facing cameras in order to add depth-sensing technology.

The company has been experimenting for at least five years with such technology, filing a patent in 2010, but has been unable to produce devices of sufficient quality. However, in April 2015, it bought Israeli multi-sensor camera technology company LinX for an estimated $20 million.

LinX's products are not only thinner than rivals, but more importantly include sensors with multiple lenses that can capture several images with the same push of the button.

The pictures are then blended together into a single image. Not only does this enable the camera to focus on multiple different elements, but it can also record such data as distance, both between the camera and the various objects in the picture, as well as between those objects. It can also take the same photograph with different apertures, enabling users to choose the one that offers the best image.

It also makes it possible for users to take 3D pictures - although efforts at 3D imaging in products so far have proved disappointing. For example, last year Dell introduced an Android tablet computer with Intel, the Venue 8 7000, that has a depth-sensing 3D camera, but it hasn't exactly taken the market by storm.

While Apple's LinX acquisition will likely have come too late to incorporate into the forthcoming iPhone release, it comes two years after it bought PrimeSense for a reported $360 million. PrimeSense has worked with Microsoft in the past to help create the 3D imaging technology used in the Kinect, the Xbox games console's movement sensor.

Specialist magazine MacWorld believes that rumours that Apple will offer a dual-lens camera, offering DSLR-like quality are "highly convincing". It continues: "The camera is a key area for every new iPhone and this new camera tech would be something Tim Cook could build a launch presentation around. The effects of the LinX acquisition probably won't be felt for another generation of iPhone, but the company's 3D camera sensors should make an appearance in future iPhones."

It may also increase the megapixel count for the latest range of iPhones. Although Apple has commendably avoided competing in the "megapixel race", in favour of more practical improvements, specialist magazine MacWorld believes that it may increase the megapixel count to as high as 12 megapixels.

Also, an examination of the iOS 9 code indicates that the front-facing camera may be increased to 1080p high-definition resolution.

Next page: Other like new features - and what just ain't happening...

Is Apple about to launch the iPhone 7 sooner than you think - and with a 3D camera?

Everything you want to know about the up-coming Apple iPhone launch - which could be sooner than you think...

Other likely new features include the addition of a new rose gold colour for the phones, and adopting the same 7000 series aluminium that is used for the Apple Watch Sport - and mountain bikes. 700 series aluminium is stronger than standard alloys enabling thinner and lighter weight casings. The alloy is finished with a fine layer of Zirconia beads, to give a satin feel, and coated with an anodised outer layer to resist scratches.

Just ain't happening

Users of the iPhone 6 - or, indeed, any iPhone - will be hoping for better battery life, but Apple head designer Jony Ive tends to prioritise new features and functions instead, and although iOS 9 ought to bring some small improvements here, Apple is expected to prefer slim and sleek design in preference to a fatter battery.

Apple is also not expected to shift iPhone users to USB-C, the latest iteration of the USB standard that was made the only port in the new 12-inch MacBook. With the shift from the 30-pin connector to the current proprietary Lightning bus painful enough when Apple introduced the iPhone 5, it is expected that Apple will hold off on this.

Wireless charging, also, is unlikely because it would make the devices noticeably fatter - and it's not as if it's made much of a market impact with other devices, such as the Nokia/Microsoft Lumia. And 3D screens - another wild suggestion from Economic Daily News, from last November - is completely off the table.

What have we missed and what do you want to see in the next Apple iPhone release? Tell us below!