It is during these earliest days of the product lifecycle, with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus still in their relative youth, that the chatter concerning what shall come next is at its most fabulous. Since the day the new models first appeared in stores, Apple diehards have been trawling the Internet in search of the rumors, leaks, and dubious pronouncements made by anonymous supply chain sources.

And yet Apple remains as tightlipped as ever on what the next generation holds. So, what else can one do? Predicting the future of the iPhone has become a full-time, year-round sport, and we present here a curated collection of the most intriguing gossip about Apple’s next big thing.

Announcement and release dates

According to Apple’s traditional cadence, new iPhone models debut in the fall. The 6S and 6S Plus were unveiled on September 9 and hit store shelves on September 25, and we have every reason to expect the next major update to come around the time that kids head back to school in 2016.

Though no official invitations have been made yet, however, the company’s next big event is rumored to be scheduled for March 2016. Given that the Apple Watch would be coming up on its first birthday in April 2016, it’s likely that such an event would be focused on its successor. And while it’s possible we could also see a new iPhone early in 2016, that would more likely be the rumored iPhone 6C — an updated small iPhone to replace the aging iPhone 5S sitting at the bottom of Apple’s current lineup.

Lukas Baxa

Design

For the past several years, Apple’s iPhone updates have followed a predictable cycle: major design changes in even-numbered years, followed by “under the hood” tech upgrades that keep the same basic physical chassis in odd-numbered “S phone” years. For 2016, then, a total redesign is a near certainty — possibly with some dramatic innovations.

Sources including 9to5mac.com report that Apple has developed multiple iPhone 7 prototypes, “all with distinct differences.”

Given the regularity with which folks drop phones in toilets and other bodies of water, could Apple develop a water-resistant or waterproof chassis? (By the way, here’s what to do when it inevitably happens to you.) Other manufacturers have already gone there, of course: Samsung with the Galaxy S5, Sony with its Z5 Premium, and Motorola, with its entry-level Moto G. Still, the fact that Samsung did not make the Galaxy S6 waterproof suggests that it’s not a critical feature for most consumers.

One of the more interesting iPhone 7 predictions involves a move away from the physical home button. As CNET reported earlier, recent iPhone innovations — specifically the pressure-sensitive 3D Touch screen and increasing always-on hands-free functionality of Siri — have diminished the need for it, and that a buttonless iPhone would be a natural move for a company with such a strong preference for clean lines and simple design. That would also allow the large top and bottom bezels to shrink, effectively allowing Apple to squeeze a larger screen into the same size body.

The trick, of course, would be keeping the all-important Touch ID fingerprint sensor somehow integrated into the device.

Display

There is a particularly durable rumor about a sapphire display, which would offer a higher degree of scratch and shatter-resistance than the current models’ Gorilla Glass. In fact, the higher-end Apple Watch models have sapphire displays — as well as OLED technology that provides best-in-class black levels, contrast, and colors on a growing assortment of smartphones (including the Samsung Galaxy S6).

Apple uses LED backlit LCD technology for the current iPhones’ Retina displays, and there has been speculation that Apple will eventually switch to OLED displays, but not until 2018. So, this would likely debut on whatever model succeeds the iPhone 7.

Connections

One of the most most widely speculated upon topics to date involves the connectivity standards the iPhone 7 will support. Rumor has it that Apple may potentially omit the 3.5mm headphone jack, a standard on every preceding iPhone, in favor of an all-in-one Lightning connector. This would accommodate a thinner chassis — perhaps shaving off as much as one millimeter. And there is fact to support this thesis: Philips showed off Lightning-only headphones earlier in 2015, though they apparently have yet to be released.

How about swapping out Lightning for USB Type-C? Despite its growing ubiquity as the standard for other smartphones, tablets and PCs, it feels unlikely. Yes, Apple made USB-C the only connector in its 2015 MacBook revamp, but the company has elsewhere doubled-down on Lightning in the past year, adding it to new Mac accessories, Beats speakers, the iPad Pro‘s Pencil accessory and the new iPhone Smart Battery Case.

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus both come equipped with NFC to enable the contactless Apple Pay system. And yet Apple has yet to support the tap-to-pair capability of other NFC-enabled smartphones, which allow a user to tap a headphone or speaker to pair via Bluetooth. There was chatter about the possibility of enhanced NFC support in iOS 9, but it did not come to pass. Perhaps with the next generation.

Components

The iPhone 6S is a red-hot performer, showing off the improved speed of its new A9, 64-bit dual-core processor, enhanced Wi-Fi antennas, and faster Touch ID sensor. And as each successive iPhone generation is expected to deliver improved speed, we expect to see an A10 chip powering the iPhone 7. Likewise, just as the 6S and 6S Plus got a bump in RAM from 1GB to 2GB, it’s not unreasonable to expect to see an iPhone 7 that comes equipped with 4GB of RAM.

Powering the device is a a proprietary 64-bit A9 chip processor that Apple says offers 70 percent computing performance (CPU) and 90 percent faster graphics performance (GPU).

Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET

In 2014, Apple doubled the top tow tiers of the iPhone from 32GB to 64GB and 64GB to 128GB, but kept pricing the same. (The entry-level model remained at 16GB.) The company kept the same capacities for its 2015 line. Will it finally offer 32GB on the baseline model? Anything’s possible, but getting customers to pay up for the 64GB model may be too much of a profit incentive to give up.

Camera

Many sources reported that there would be a significant step up in quality with the iPhone 6S’s camera. A 10-megapixel camera and a two-lens DSLR-style camera were presented as two distinct possibilities.

And though the 6S upped the standard iPhone’s game with a much improved front-facing camera, only the 6S Plus features optical image stability capabilities that deliver higher quality photos and video in low light environments. Perhaps we will see this enhanced feature trickle down to the non-Plus model with the iPhone 7.

Scroll down for a reverse-chronological look at the latest rumors.

December 8, 2015

iPhone 7: Most-wanted features

With the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus in the rear-view mirror now, it’s time to look ahead and put in our upgrade requests for the next iPhone.

December 3, 2015

Is the iPhone 7 getting rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack?

A report claims Apple will make Lightning its do-everything port for a slimmer iPhone 7.