The rumor mill has been flooded with rumors concerning Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 7, so we put this info head to head with the one-month-old iPhone 6S, in terms of hardware, design, specs, availability and price.

Apple has made an enormous success with its iPhone series that are dominating the first place all across the US and several other parts of the world.

But that doesn’t seem to be enough for the American colossus who, according to the rumour mill, is already working on the next flagship, the iPhone 7 – several other wind whisperers support that there might also be an iPhone 7 Plus as the tradition suggests, but no further information has been disclosed.

However, we stand to question the course of the iPhone’s success and as many others, we believe that it’d be quite exciting to know whether the company’s upcoming addition to the iPhone series will make things better or worse.

So with no further ado, let’s put the iPhone 6S – Apple’s most successful handset – and the rumoured iPhone 7 under the scope to see which one stands as your best option.

Design

Not a lot is known for sure, but there is indeed a plethora of rumors about the iPhone 7’s design. The handset belongs to the point of the cycle that is expected to deliver a fresh design perspective to the series. Some analysts suggest that we might see Apple killing the home button, resulting to a top-to-bottom display, and replacing it with the 3D Touch technology seen on this year’s iPhone.

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As for the materials, using the Series 7000 Aluminium makes sense since it has made the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus stand out for its resistance.

Other out-there rumours talk of a curved display, but that is not considered an option. Apple has invested a lot of resources to achieve such sophisticated screen technologies, so experimenting with a not so positively received feature just to make a turn-around could jeopardize the quality of the final product.

Moreover, there is a patent 9,146,590 that refers to an “electronic device with wrap around display“. And essentially it describes a curved screen that allows for more screen elements to be displayed without making the device significantly bigger.

But that patent could be applied on a further generation or product, since it appears to be behind the iPhone 7 design in the process of development. In other words, this patent will not be completed and ready for production by the moment that the iPhone 7 will be announced.

The iPhone 6S, as you probably already know, belongs to the ninth generation of iPhones and it comes with pretty much the same exterior design as the iPhone 6. Most of the noticeable modifications have been made on the inside, but we’ll circle back to that later.

As mentioned above, its body is made of a 7000 Series aluminium alloy, which is stronger and more durable than the 6000 series used in the previous-generation iPhones. The biggest change on the exterior is probably the extra edition that has a Rose Gold finish.

Display

Our anticipated yet for now “fictional” contestant is rumored to sport a 4.7-inch screen, while it is highly possible that another 5.5-inch device could make an appearance after that, but it would probably be called iPhone 7 Plus – like the 6 Plus and the 6S Plus. Not a lot of details are publicly known regarding the resolution or the display, but it would be fairly reasonable to expect Sapphire technology being implemented in the next iPhone as well.

Apple has already used that type of glass on the Apple Watch so they could be ready to import this material into its smartphone line-up. For the record, the Sapphire glass is considerably more durable than Corning Gorilla Glass so, if that’s the case, then Apple gains one extra point against other upcoming rival flagships such as Samsung’s smartphones.

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However, don’t give up on Corning that fast. The company has responded to the Sapphire technology with an ultra-hardened composite material that, at this point, is known by the name Project Phire. So who’s to say that the two firms won’t end up with a both-ways beneficial deal on the Project Phire?

On the other corner of the ring, the iPhone 6S comes with an IPS LCD 4.7-inch display and a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels which leads to a pixel density of 326 ppi. According to the majority of reviews – both by media and users – the display is not in the list of the 6S’ strong points and admittedly Apple could have done a better job since all other features consist a top tier smartphone.

Performance

A rumor coming from Weibo’s deep sources, talks of an A10 processor that not only will be embodied on the iPhone 7, but it will also consist of six cores, – a huge leap after sticking with dual-core systems-on-a-chip from the iPhone 4s to the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Unfortunately, we can’t give this source the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that jumping from the dual core tradition to a six cores architecture would mean that Apple is entering some deep water territory in terms of resources and expenses. And given that the firm has already bulked capital expenditures scheduled for this fiscal year, it could be a risk not worth taking.

Of course, there is a slight chance that the expenses mentioned above are already included in the company’s report, but such a note would have created a fuss earlier, so don’t count on that.

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Other than that, AppleInsider claims that the upcoming iPhone 7 will feature a 3GB RAM while as many Apple fans and users outcry that the 16GB of storage is highly restrictive for the average user, Apple may at last leave behind this variant and start with a 32GB edition as the first one to go all the way up to 128GB.

Of course, the tech giant seems to be a bit slow on the uptake since other companies -such as Motorola with its Droid Turbo 2 and BlackBerry with its Priv (aka Venice)- have introduced the option to expand up to 2TB on internal space.

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As for the iPhone 6S, it comes equipped with the 64-bit A9 APL0898 processor that is 70 percent faster at CPU tasks and 90 percent faster at GPU tasks than the A8 processor in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. A built-in M9 motion coprocessor enables new features, such as always-on “Hey Siri” functionality. In more details, the A9 is a Dual-core, 1840 MHz, Twister processor working with a PowerVR GT7600 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16B, 64GB and 128GB of internal storage capacity.

None of the two phones has a memory expanding option.

Camera

It took some time for Apple to optimize its iPhones by placing a 12MP camera instead of the 8MP one we’ve been seeing all those years. So we wouldn’t expect the company to increase the megapixels at such fast pace. However, other more advanced camera technologies could occur to all our surprise.

In fact, Apple is pondering on a bold new camera miniaturisation technology based on what it calls a light splitter cube. “The cube splits the incident light into first, second, and third colour components that emerge from the cube through a first face, a second face, and a third face of the cube, respectively,” the patent explains. “First, second, and third image sensors are provided, each being positioned to receive a respective one of the color components that emerge from the first, second, and third faces of the cube.”

If this miniaturization of the existing technology does make an appearance in the iPhone 7, it could lead to improved colour and light capture and reduced blur when the camera moves.

The secondary camera remains a mystery that if not in the near future, will probably be solved upon the phone’s official announcement.

The iPhone 6S is the first in the series to sport a 12MP main shooter with 4K recording and a 5MP front one.

Worst case scenario, both handsets will share the same camera technologies.

Battery

Some of the most intense rumors spread all around the virtual world of the internet about the iPhone 7’s battery, indicate stacked battery cells. This is a technology deployed in the 12-inch MacBook – whereby contoured, layered battery units are stacked inside the chassis in order to take up every possible inch of space in order to squeeze more battery volume inside of it.

Chief Design Officer of Apple, Jony Ive, recently discussed battery life briefly in an interview with the Financial Times’ ‘How to spend it‘ supplement and said:

“Talking of performance, when the issue of the frequent need to recharge the iPhone is raised, [Ive] answers that it’s because it’s so light and thin that we use it so much and therefore deplete the battery. With a bigger battery it would be heavier, more cumbersome, less ‘compelling’.”

Still, let’s not forget that Apple has attained the record for the longest battery life – the record is being held by the iPad tablet, but it’s still worth the mention.

As for the non-removable Li-Po 1715 mAh battery found in the iPhone 6S, there’s not much to say. It’s an overall disappointment when compared to other smartphones whose batteries are 2500mAh at the very least.

And while one could argue that the iPhone 6S still manages to stay alive for an impressive number of hours throughout the day thanks to its internal architecture, that is not quite true as it has 14 hours of 3G talk time whereas the average time for devices is 15 hours. Do the math and the results are for you to judge.

Software

As it turns out, Apple has started releasing one iOS 9.X update after the other and it looks like the company will soon be done with the iOS 9 and move to the iOS 10 that will ostensibly be the operating system the iPhone 7 will run with.

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If that’s not the case, then both of our contestants will run with the same software so there’s not much to compare here.

Pricing and Availability

Rumors seem to agree on the month of release for the iPhone 7 which will be September of 2016. Judging by Apple’s launching policy, Tuesday is the company’s favourite day for that purpose, so our money go either September 6 or September 13.

Price is not given, but according to the company’s high standards and previous pricing strategies, our guess is (approximately) $800, $930 and $1.050 for the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB variant respectively.

The iPhone 6S, on the other hand, is already available for $649, $749 and $849 accordingly.

Have you picked up a variant of the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus? Let us know about your experience with it in the comments below.