iPhone 6 to usher in major iOS revamp

Calls for Apple to significantally update the iOS operating system that powers the iPhone will be answered when the next iteration of its smartphone lands later this year, leaks from Infinite Loop suggest.

According to “multiple people who have either seen or have been briefed on the upcoming iOS 7” cited by 9to5Mac, the refreshed platform will sport a rethought user interface that “will be attractive to new iOS users” but won’t frighten off long-time Apple apostles.

Changes we can expect to see in the ‘very, very flat’, pared down UI include less of the cutesy skeumorphism that so riled Ive in the past, but which Scott Forstall insisted on. That means that note-taking apps that take on the look and form of a traditional notebook will be no more.

However, mindful that iOS’s simplicity is what’s made it such a hit with punters, the new software has been conceived so there’s no new learning curve for buyers to embark on. Very much still present and correct, for instance, are the home and lockscreens that have been core to iOS from year dot, but alongside them are rethought icons for native apps and an all-new toolbar.

iOS 7, which is apparently codeamed Innsbruck around Cupertino, is expected to be unveiled to the world at the WWDC gathering of the dev tribes in June.

That month is also rumoured to be marked by the arrival of the iPhone 6, suggesting that Apple could break with recent form and introduce a new handset at the conference.

Source:

9to5Mac