Apple’s iPhone 7 finally gets a release date?

New Delhi: It’s time to mark the date, folks. All that we knew so far was that Apple’s iPhone 7 is supposed to be launched in September this year but to more specific the date of the much awaited smartphone is also leaked out.   According to prominent leaker Evan Blass, Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 7 is set to be announced by the company on Friday, September 16th.  

Just to clarify, this refers to the retail release, not the launch event. To be even more specific, it should happen on Friday, Sept. 16th.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) 23 July 2016

Apple traditionally releases its products on a Fridays and the release during the week of September 12th would mean that the next iPhone would be released on Friday, September 16th, 2016.   It also seems the cat’s out of the bag; ‘cat’ in this case being the hitherto hush-hush prices of the upcoming iPhone 7 and its variants. The Chinese social networking site Weibo is responsible for the dramatic reveal.   It seems that the 32GB variant of the iPhone 7 is expected to be priced at CNY 5288 (INR 52,983), while the 64GB variant of the same may cost CNY 6088 (INR 60,999), and the 256GB version at CNY 7088 (INR 71,018).   As for the iPhone 7 Plus, the 32GB variant may be priced at CNY 6088 (INR 60,999), and the 128GB and 256GB versions are rumoured to be priced at CNY 6888 (INR 69,014), CNY 7888 (INR 79,014) respectively.   Finally, the iPhone 7 Pro is thought to be priced at CNY 7088 (INR 71,018) for the 32GB base variant, CNY 7888 for the 128GB variant (INR 79,014), and CNY 8882 ( INR89,000) for the 256GB variant.   That’s… a lot of big numbers.   However, there’s a chance that prices in India will be lower than in China. Last year, initial sales figures for the iPhone 6 and its variants fell short of estimated numbers due to the high pricing when the phones were launched. So Indian Apple fans can reasonably expect a 5-10K difference in comparison to Chinese prices.   The iPhone 7 will see some interesting changes. Rumour has it that Apple has nixed the headphone jack and the home button. Previous leaks also suggest that the iPhone 7 may come with a waterproof chassis. There are also suggestions of a design overhaul that will see the antenna stripes from the rear of the device being removed.  Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, famous for his iPhone predictions, stated at a call to investors that the iPhone 7 Plus would feature a dual-camera imaging system with optical zoom capabilities.   So, to recap: three variants of the iPhone 7: plain ol’ iPhone 7, slightly more interesting Plus, and probably drool-worthy Pro (this is starting to sound like a high school movie). Each has three varieties that differ in storage capacity (because hierarchy is everything). The higher the storage capacity, the higher the price. (naturally). Prices very high to begin with. Might be lower in India, because we can apparently even tell Apple, “sahi daam batao, bhaiyya!” Some nifty little changes that are at the halfway-to-sure house.   All will be revealed in September, when the phone is actually launched, and Apple puts us out of our misery. Additional information from www.techtree.com