​What will the next iPhone look like?

Rumors of a major design overhaul for the next iPhone

The rumor mill is churning so hard that chatter has already leapfrogged the next iPhone and started obsessing over the one after that.

"We've gotten to the point where we're not even talking about the phone for 2015, we're already talking about the phone for 2016, which we're calling the iPhone 7," CNET's Dan Ackerman told CBS News.

Apple typically has an every-other-year approach to its iPhone updates -- one year there's a big physical change, the next year internal and incremental improvements. The second-generation iPhone 3G, released in 2008, was followed by the 3GS, which looked the same. It was supplanted by the 4, which was followed by the nearly identical 4s in 2011. The next year brought the 5 (and 5c), and in 2013 came the 5s.

By that logic, this fall we should see the iPhone 6s, which will likely have the same form factor as the current models. And leaked photos allegedly showing that the next phone's casing looks just like that of the iPhone 6 support that assumption.

But that hasn't stopped people from wondering what the next big change will be. As the Telegraph reports, some designers have even drawn up their own visions of iPhone 7. A couple of those concepts include a wraparound screen similar to Samsung's Galaxy 6 Edge. Another replaces iPhone's familiar side buttons with the dial from Apple Watch.

Regardless of what may or may not appear next year, the new version expected in the fall will likely borrow at least a little from the Watch (which, incidentally, is coming to Best Buy stores starting next month). Namely: Force Touch, which performs different functions depending on whether you tap or press hard on the screen.

"It's probably going to look mostly the same," said Ackerman. "They may add some of that haptic feedback that you're starting to see in the touchpads on Apple computers" and in the Apple Watch.

At least one analyst has ventured that the addition of Force Touch could be the biggest change in the next iPhone.

f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.