New reports surfaced on the Internet this past weekend reiterating earlier rumors that tech giant Apple plans to do away with the headphone jack on its forthcoming 2016 iteration of the iPhone --- iPhone 7.

Interestingly, however, despite the fact that it has, of late been, widely speculated that Apple will likely give the headphone jack a miss on the iPhone 7 handset, most of the reports have also been asserting that the elimination of the headphone jack will not make the iPhone 7 any thinner than the current-generation iPhone models.

The latest reports about Apple eliminating the headphone jack on its next-generation iPhone 7 handset are chiefly based on the images leaked by a Japanese magazine. According to the magazine's claims, the leaked images of iPhone 7 are authentic.

The magazine has also apparently disclosed that the overall look of iPhone 7 will be quite similar to that of iPhone 6S handset. The iPhone 6S is thicker than the iPhone 6 -- which at 6.9mm is the thinnest Apple iPhone ever - and the increased thickness gives iPhone 6S more sturdiness.

Meanwhile, about Apple's decision to discontinue the headphone jack on iPhone 7, well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple will be breaking away from tradition for this year's iPhone, so that it can introduce some radical design changes to the 2017 iPhone -- iPhone 8 -- which will probably come with an OLED screen without the physical home button.