YEAH, WE KNOW. The iPhone 8 is still months away but that hasn’t stopped speculation spilling details about Apple’s next smartphone.
The iPhone 8, tipped by some to arrive as the ‘iPhone Edition’ or ‘iPhone X’ will be Apple’s 10th-anniversary smartphone and looks set to be the first to debut wireless charging tech, a curved AMOLED display, and an unusual vertical dual rear-facing camera. If rumors are to be believed, the so-called ‘Edition’ will launch alongside the less-impressive iPhone 7S and 7S Plus.
We’ve rounded up everything we know about the iPhone 8 so far and will update this article as soon as we hear more.
Rumoured specs
– 5.8in 2.5D OLED edge-to-edge display
– New design with an ‘all-glass’ construction
–Â 71x143x7.4mm
– Wireless charging support
– Apple A11 chip
–Â Rear-facing Touch ID sensor
–Â iOS 11 with improved Siri, P2P payments
– Face-scanning technology
– Vertical dual cameras on rear
– Support for LTE speeds up to 450Mbps
iPhone 8 release date:
Hottest leaks:
- September 2017 launch for iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus
- Slightly later October 2017 date for the all-screen iPhone 8
- Pre-register for iPhone 8
- UK:Â Carphone Warehouse
October or November may be the official release date window. It comes down to how fast can Apple secure OLED displays and embed a fingerprint scanner?
According to one leaker mass production has started though, so we shouldn’t have too long to wait if true and an analyst believes that the rumors of delays are true, but that they won’t have much impact on the launch, with the iPhone 8 still going on sale in September, but in smaller numbers, so there may be stock shortages initially.
iPhone 8 size:
How big will the iPhone 8 screen size be? Rumors for this are all over the place, but everything says it’ll be larger – around 5.8 inches, just like the Galaxy S8.
Don’t worry. We expect a 4.7-inch iPhone 7S and 5.5-inch iPhone 7S Plus, alongside it, but they probably won’t have an all-screen front. Speaking of which, there’s been the talk of axing the physical home button and building the Touch ID fingerprint sensor into the screen itself, a rumor that dates back almost two years. It’s not clear if Apple will get this tech ready in time – so the Touch ID sensor might have to go on the back instead – but the newest rumors suggest Apple engineers are in fact going to pull it off.
3D face-scanning sensor
There’s a good chance that the iPhone 8 won’t have a Touch ID sensor at all, with Apple ditching it for an on-screen home button.
However, it’ll reportedly get new authentication via a 3D facing-scanning sensor that’s said to unlock the phone and make Apple Pay transactions.
Others, including Samsung, have tried to make face unlock a thing, but it hasn’t worked (or been secure) enough to ditch a physical fingerprint pad. But Apple may give it a go with the iPhone 8.
However, according to one source, Apple is having trouble perfecting the software, which could mean the face scanning tech will be built into the iPhone 8, but the feature might only be enabled after launch.
iPhone 8 battery
Hottest leaks:
- Wireless charging – finally
- Fast charging
- Two batteries
Foxconn is reportedly looking into the tech for Apple and, after all, without the headphone jack, Apple is one step closer to being free of cables completely. This is surely the next step, even if there are some doubters about these plans.
