The iPhone 7 is expected to have a number of upgrades, the biggest of which will be a more advanced camera (with two lenses).
However, it is expected to look and feel the same as the current iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with a physical redesign not thought to be in the works until 2017.
One physical change expected in the iPhone 7 is the scrapping of its traditional 3.5mm headphone socket. The idea may be an acknowledgement of the growth in wireless Bluetooth headphones. However, Apple is thought to be ready with a headphone adaptor that plugs into its Lightning power port.
Apple has traditionally been an early mover among hardware companies to drop physical ports, first ditching optical drives for CDs and DVDs and, recently, doing away with USB ports on its lightweight MacBook laptop.
Other upgrades expected in the new iPhone include a doubling of the basic storage to 32GB and a new top-end storage capacity of 256GB.
This should be a welcome development among those who quickly run out of space due to photos clogging up the system.
The new iPhone 7 is also set to be water-resistant to the point of almost being waterproof, according to one analyst, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo.
- Read more: iPhone 7 to replace Space Grey colour with new 'dark black' and 'piano black' shades, expert says
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Because of this, the phone might come with a new "click-less" home button. Instead of clicking, the button will have a 'haptic' (buzzing) feedback sensation to let you know you've tapped it.
Mr Kuo also says that a new glossy "piano black" colour will be introduced.
"We expect the iPhone 7 to come in piano black, dark black, rose gold, gold and silver," he wrote in a note. "Only the piano black model will have a glossy finish. Given high production barriers, large-storage models may have first priority in adopting piano black casing in the initial stage."
Finally, the new handset is expected to come with a significantly more powerful computer chip that brings it closer to laptop speeds.
Apple was unexpectedly handed a boost in projected iPhone 7 sales with the news that arch-rival Samsung has had to recall all of its latest Galaxy Note 7 phones because of a fire hazard.
The move is likely to delay rollout of the Samsung phone by several weeks, handing Apple a critical advantage in the pre-Christmas sales cycle.
Apple will announce the iPhone 7 on Wednesday, September 7th at 6pm Irish time.
