The Next iPhone Is Coming! Here's What to Expect

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by John Biggs 13 hours ago

Summer is almost over. That means cicadas are humming, kids are picking up their back-to-school gear, and our vacations are winding down. That also means there's a new iPhone right around the corner!

Every year, around this time, rumors start to fly about new iPhones. Apple likes to run their events around the beginning of September to coincide with back-to-school season, and that means they usually launch new phones about a month later. This year, according to most tech sites, we can expect to hear about the next iPhone on September 10.

What's predicted about the announcement? Well, first we're probably going to see something like the iPhone 4S -- a souped-up iPhone 5 (that will probably be called the iPhone 5S). Further rumors point to a built-in fingerprint reader on the home button, which would allow you to unlock the phone with a single press and, more importantly, add payment functionality to iOS.

We know that the new iPhone will also run iOS 7, Apple's brand-spanking-new operating system. iOS, for those who haven't gotten a chance to dig, is a stunning -- and jarring -- redesign of the old Apple OS. Gone are the weird leather textures, realistic buttons, and bad maps. Instead you get a screen that looks like something out of Star Trek: buttons fade in and out and are mildly translucent. Your icons look 3D when you move the phone, and instead of swiping all the way to the "left" to find the search menu, you simply drag down from the top of the screen. It will freak some people out.

There are also some rumors that Apple will release something called the iPhone 5C, a cheaper model for the developing world. This model will look more like the iPod Touch than an iPhone and be encased in colorful plastic. If I were a betting man, I'd put all my money on the 5S rumors, however, because a cheaper and more cheaply-made iPhone sounds a little far-fetched.

What else can we expect? A refreshed iPad, possibly, although Apple tends to update those later in the year. And the official launch of iOS 7 for the current crop of iPhones so people can get used to the new interface.

Is any of this certain? Nope. It's actually quite fun to posit just what Apple will do next -- think of it like a good game of Clue -- but, in the end, Apple does what Apple wants to do. 

What do you think the next iPhone will look like? Will you buy one?

Image via Apple

?