Apple 2017 iPhone to sport new design
Apple's next series of iPhone may have three distinct models with different screen sizes Getty Images

Sometime back a rumour had suggested that the next iPhone series would produce three distinct models – the iPhone 7 standard, iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 7 Pro, and iPhone 7 Plus Premium. A fresh photo leak showing the phones under production lends credibility to the rumour.

While we have known for a while that the iPhone 7 Plus is certain as the Apple had introduced the 6 Plus last year, the iPhone 7 Plus Premium is a new development. Prior to this, we reported that there will be three variants of the iPhone 7 with different storage and RAM sizes. But this report talks about the iPhone 7 series as a whole which may produce three different phones.

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Steve Hemmerstoffer, well-known tipster and writer for the French tech site NoWhereElse tweeted a picture which he says appeared on Weibo a short while ago showing off the bare prototype for the three models. The distinctive part about the three are the screen sizes which is drastically different from the company's last flagship series iPhone 6.

Keeping in congruence with the recently released iPhone 5SE, it seems Apple is doing away with the big screen idea and hence we can see two of the three models having a screen size of what seems like a little under five inches. The third model is slightly bigger with a 5.5in screen which could be the iPhone 7 Plus Premium model that tipsters have so far hinted at.

Apart from this Hemmerstoffer used his second account on Twitter, @OnLeaks, to say that Apple has begun the mass production of the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 at the Pegatron factory. This may be the iPhone 7 standard model which is due for release around the month of September which would make perfect sense for its mass production to start now.

While the iPhone 7 is expected to release this fall, the iPhone 7 Plus and now the rumoured iPhone 7 Plus Premium may only be unveiled next year. The iPhone 7 is rumoured to get radical design changes including removing the headphone jack. The device will run on iOS 10, whose developer version was recently unveiled and the final version will be made public in September, most likely on board the new device itself.