iPhone 7S Plus pictured with glass back may hint at wireless charging

Most iPhone leaks this year have been focused on the top-end iPhone 8, but we’re expecting a pair of other, more affordable handsets to launch alongside it, known for now as the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus, and a dummy version of the latter of them has just been caught on camera.

Images sent to 9to5Mac by known leaker Sonny Dickson show a phone with a shiny glass back, in place of the metal one found on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

It’s a change that’s also seemingly allowed Apple to ditch the antenna bands, as a signal can pass through glass, so there’s no need for them.

It’s also easier to charge wirelessly through a glass chassis than an aluminum one, and wireless charging has long been rumored for all three upcoming iPhone models, so a move to glass would make sense.

New material, same design

Those changes aside, this iPhone 7S Plus dummy doesn’t look much different to the iPhone 7 Plus. The overall shape looks much the same and it has a metal frame, a dual-lens camera and seemingly the same selection of ports and buttons.

The 7S Plus isn’t shown from the front but we wouldn’t expect much change there either – the iPhone 8 is rumored to be ditching the home button in favor of building the fingerprint scanner into the screen, but that change isn’t likely to filter down to the lower-end models, and the display itself will probably stay at 5.5 inches.

Although we’re only seeing the iPhone 7S Plus (or whatever it ends up being called) here, it’s likely that the iPhone 7S will have the same glass design, but probably just with a single lens camera, given that the iPhone 7 only has one rear snapper.

All should become clear soon, as all of this year’s iPhone models are likely to be announced in September.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.