Apple may have just released iOS 10.2 just a few weeks ago, but iOS 10.3 already appears to be looming on the horizon. In a pair of tweets sent out over the weekend — which you might want to take with the requisite grain of salt — noted leaker Sonny Dickson dropped some interesting tidbits about what seems like a very intriguing and forthcoming update to iOS 10.
Per Dickson, Apple plans to release the first beta of iOS 10.3 to developers on January 10. What’s more, iOS 10.3 is said to include a new Theatre mode that will be granted its own unique icon in the Control Center.
iOS 10.3 to feature a new Theatre mode – will include a new popcorn-shaped Control Center icon.
— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) December 30, 2016
Now as for what this rumored ‘Theatre mode’ will be all about, well, that’s anybody’s guess. Still, the name itself has led some to speculate that the alleged popcorn-shaped icon will trigger a specialized phone-mode ideal for environments like movie theaters where discretion is paramount. That said, an iPhone in Theatre mode might be similar to the Do Not Disturb feature already present in iOS, which is to say that the phone would mute all forms of alerts when enabled.
Some have taken this a step further and believe that Theatre mode will finally usher in Apple’s long-rumored Dark Mode. Originally rumored to be part of iOS 10 based on evidence found in the first beta of iOS 10, an official system-wide Dark Mode option has yet to be incorporated into iOS. To this point, Dickson clarified via correspondence with 9to5Mac that his information regarding Theatre mode might “very well might be [an] enhanced version of Dark Mode.”
On a related note, it’s worth pointing out that we saw quite a few Dark Mode concepts emerge over the summer. As evidenced below, most of these concepts were incredibly sleek and certainly have us curious about whatever Apple has up its sleeve for iOS 10.3
