How did the rumor mill do with the Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus?

Now that the Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus have been introduced, how well did the rumor mill prepare everyone for the 2016 models? One of the first rumors from back in November called for Apple to make the new iPhone units waterproof. That was a perfect call. With an IP67 certification, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus can be submerged in up to 3.2 feet of water for as long as 30-minutes.

The removal of the 3.5mm jack was rumored throughout 2016 and turned out to be completely true. Rumors about the dual cameras on the back of the iPhone 7 Plus were one of those on again, off again rumors. It started as far back as January when reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple would be adding a dual camera setup to the iPhone 7 Plus. As usual, Ming had it right nine months in advance! In May, plates for both phones revealed the larger lens on the iPhone 7 and the dual camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus. A month later, there was talk that the dual cameras were outdue to technical difficulties. But that was quickly reversed and new rumors once again included the two cameras for the phablet. Also in June, investment firm Cowen and Company correctly predicted that the home button would be replaced by a button using 3D Touch.

The phone that never was, the Apple iPhone 7 Pro

As the year began, a report out of China called for a version of the iPhone 7 Plus with 256GB of flash storage and a larger capacity battery. By June 1st, a rumor from research firm Trend Force stated that both versions of the 2016 iPhone would offer consumers as much as 256GB of storage. And sure enough, both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are being offered with 32GB, 128GB and 256GB or native storage. Apple has also said that the just unveiled units have the best battery life of any iPhone ever.

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The two new black color options being offered to iPhone buyers were correctly spotted, although the names were wrong. And it wasn't until late August that rumors about the EarPods were finally correct. The EarPods in the box will feature a Lightning connector with a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter included, for those who want to use the accessory on other devices. Earlier talk centered on a 3.5mm plug on the end of the EarPods, with an adapter in the box that would allow it to work with the Lightning port.

Some features of the new iPhone handsets were kept tightly under lock and key. For example, we heard nothing about stereo speakers, and the hike in the FaceTime camera to 7MP from the current 5MP was also kept quiet by Apple.

We'd give the rumor mill a solid B-. The grade would have been higher except for the continuing back and forth over the dual camera setup, the false rumors involving the Smart Connector and the Apple iPhone Pro. We'd like to give a shout out to KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo, who once again proved that he is the best Apple analyst on the planet. And also deserving of special attention is Evan Blass. In the midst of speculation that called for three iPhone 7 models to be unveiled this year, Blass continued to tell anyone who would listen that Apple would be unveiling just two phones this year, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. And when everyone was expecting a September 23rd launch date, Blass was confident that the pair would be launched on September 16th. In fact, the tipster had perfect calls on the September 7th unveiling date, the September 9th pre-order date, and the September 16th launch date.

Anyone ready to hear the latest on the 2017 iPhones?