Apple fanboys hoping for a refreshed iPhone model will have to wait until 2017 with a report Tuesday that the model being released this year will be largely unchanged compared to the previous two models.

The Wall Street Journal claims the next iPhone model will essentially be an iPhone 6ss in that it will keep the existing model’s form factor an appearance, however, will see the much-rumored removal of the headphone jack which will make the phone thinner than previous models.

Interestingly, perhaps driven by the popularity of Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd.’s flagship Galaxy S7, the new model iPhone is believed include water resistance for the first time.

The Lightning connector on the new model is said to serve as both a port for charging the phone and for connecting headphones.

Previous rumors about the next model iPhone have included it having a dual-lens camera, increased battery size, and possibly a 256GB model, although none of that has been mention in the new report; the same screen sizes, 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch, which were first introduced with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are expected to be kept with the new model.

2017 model

Apple has traditionally released new iPhone models on a two-year cycle, with the first year including a redesign, followed by the second year seeing an update to the previous model, with the year following starting the process again.

If the rumors are true it’s the first time since the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008 that Apple has broken this cycle.

That said, the same report claims that Apple is instead working towards a major refresh in 2017 that may include a new iPhone that no longer has a button or even a bezel around the screen at all.

“For years, Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive has expressed a desire for the iPhone to appear like a single sheet of glass” the Wall Street Journal quotes an insider as saying. “The current design ideas for the 2017 iPhones are expected to push the handsets in that direction by eliminating much of the bezel around the display with the OLED screen.”

Apple’s decision to abandon its two-year iPhone product timeline is a courageous move for the company at a time iPhone sales are slowing worldwide, particularly given that a basically refreshed iPhone 6s is hardly going to set the world on fire in terms of sales.

If it’s looking long term a serious refresh in 2017, including potentially a radical design change, will by that stage be desperately needed to breathe life back into Apple’s once colossus smartphone business.

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