This time of year, rumors and leaks begin to run wild over the next iteration of Apple's smartphone, which could either be called the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, if Apple honors its usual naming conventions, or the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus -- if Apple wants to avoid the awkward tongue twister that would have its 2015 phablet pronounced  "six-ess-plus." So we'll go with the iPhone 7 for now.

Rumor Report

Early Production & Force Touch Seemingly Guaranteed

So what once was a dream of Apple fans who love the idea of the Apple Watch's Force Touch screen adding dimensionality and depth to the iPhone 7 is looking like its moved from the realm of possibility to probability.

And it all happened with one seemingly well-sourced Bloomberg Business report last week. In it, Tim Culpan -- backed by the time-honored "people with knowledge of the matter" wrote unequivocally, "Apple is bringing Force Touch... to the iPhone at least two years after it started working with suppliers to perfect the pressure-sensitive displays."

He also mentioned that production was already starting on the iPhone (7? Interestingly, Culpan's "people" didn't give him the name of this year's iPhone). This is a bit earlier than usual, but it is apparently because the timing of the Force Touch iPhones could be a bit more fluid, depending on the Force Touch display manufacturers.

With Force Touch, expect the iPhone to include different functions depending on the strength of screen taps -- something that no other smartphone manufacturer has even attempted to innovate on.

7000 Series Aluminum Build

According to BGR, Apple suppliers have hinted that another Apple Watch innovation could be coming to the iPhone 7: 7000 Series aluminum.

It's the custom, strengthened material that keeps the Apple Watch Sport from dings, dents, and bending, which as we learned last year with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus's "Bendgate," could be an asset for Apple's next iPhone.

However, this rumor would seemingly go against the Bloomberg report, whose sources claimed that not much was changing about the overall build and design of the iPhone 7 compared to the iPhone 6.

Duo Camera (Done Right)?

Rumors are still flying around about the possibility of a dual-sensor rear camera, like the HTC One's now-abandoned "duo camera."

While HTC used its dual-sensor camera to create Lytro-style snapshots -- meaning pictures with multiple focus layers embedded in the image, so you can focus the shot however you want after you've taken the picture -- Apple is rumored to be working on it to open the iPhone's photography features up to a much larger range of applications.

That would be a good, even necessary, thing, since the original purpose of a dual-sensor camera was accomplished through code in Google's Camera app, a couple years after HTC first introduced the hardware-based feature.

This rumor, however persistent, still could run up against the most substantiated claims about the iPhone 7 made in the Bloomberg report, so we'll have to label it a 'maybe' until further notice.