While there is somebody inside Apple working on the next iPhone after the 2017 devices, rumors about those devices don't typically begin until after the year's releases.

The first rumors about the "iPhone 7s" family, and the "iPhone 8" began in November 2016. The first inklings of the iPhone 7 began in November 2015. And so on.

In April of 2016, the first rough sketches and case mockups of the iPhone 7 started appearing, with periodic deflections along the way — but the design ultimately settled very closely to the early leaks.

Apple has taken some measures to prevent as profound leaks in 2017 as we've seen in the past, but corporate secrets are only slightly less prone to leaks than the most fleeting of all — military ones.

The "iPhone 7s" isn't expected to radically change the external design of the iPhone 7. We are starting to see engineering sample diagrams from something purporting to be the iPhone 8 — but like in 2016 the earliest efforts are close, and will refine with time.

But we have to stop short of being 100 percent certain

Nobody outside of Apple itself knows for sure what's planned for the fall. Over the years, though, when the rumor mill starts smoking in the spring, there's invariably some sort of fire in the fall — but it doesn't always go the direction that the smoke suggests it will.

Source: appleinsider