Cowon's next iAudio player may be a complete rethink of the X5 it replaces, if a reported set of prototype photos is found to be accurate. Like the smaller Cowon D2, the all-black X7 (not yet pictured here) would be dominated by a touchscreen interface with only a few menu and shortcut buttons along the side as tangible controls; the device may also be so thin as to use flash memory rather than the hard disk associated with the iAudio X5 but would still use Cowon's proprietary docking connector.

While the imagery is still disputed and may change if legitimate, the style and information surrounding the images suggest its origins at Cowon and point to a release sometime within the next few months.