A Speculative Look At The iPhone 8; Rumours and Predictions

It’s May which means it’s the season for the iPhone rumour mill to fire into gear before Apple launches any potential new projects in September. The ten year anniversary of the launch of the first iPhone is upon us and the hope is that after a string of utterly ordinary new iPhones over the past few years the iPhone 8 might be here to change the game once again.

Will it? It’s hard to say. Apple is infamously secretive about their new releases. They play one of the best PR games in the smartphone business; testing multiple prototypes at once, never commenting on rumours and simply allowing the hype to build until release day. Alongside that, it’s hard to imagine what Apple possibly could do to shake things up. Smartphones seem as developed they’re going to get. But this is Apple, after all. They may not have made the very first smartphone, but they did make the first smartphone that mattered. They know how to make a splash, so let’s take a look at a few of the rumours about the iPhone 8.

If we’re talking pure aesthetics, the coolest trend in smartphone design right now is curved or edge to edge screens and rumour has it that Apple is finally ready to shed the bezel. Leaked images of one possible prototype show the top and bottom bevels of the iPhone screen entirely stripped away, meaning the entire top surface of the phone is all screen. In this prototype, all the existing functions that currently reside in the bezel spaces will be integrated to the new screen, including the home button and the biometric Touch ID function. Some prototype images have shown the home button moved to the back of the phone, beneath the Apple logo, but this doesn’t seem to fit the aesthetic that Apple has carefully created over the last ten years.

With regards to the display, Samsung is expected to provide Apple with 160 million OLED panels to be used in at least one model of the iPhone 8, likely the premium version of the handset. OLED screens are visually superior to the LCD’s currently in use and provide better power efficiency. But they do have issues with water damage which might influence Apple’s final decision on the released phone.

The size of the handsets doesn’t appear to have changed much, expected to remain in the same range as the iPhone 7 and Plus models. They could be thicker and heavier than current models, but some prototypes show handsets that may be iPhones most slender yet. There is a general agreement that as before, Apple will release two standard models and one premium version. The standard phones will retain the aluminium body and the LCD screens that most iPhones currently have, and the premium model will have the OLED screen and a gorilla glass case not seen since the iPhone 4.

Apple has been experimenting with wireless charging, and what’s interesting is that they have tested it on aluminium body phones as well as glass body devices. This suggests they hope to make wireless charging a standard feature across all their models. This seems likely, and may explain why Apple felt so confident about getting rid of the standard audio jack on their handsets. Many people worried that with the audio jack gone, they wouldn’t be able to use their headphones and charge their iPhone at the same time. But if Apple has been moving towards wireless charging then that concern is addressed. iPhone owners can still use their Lightning Port headphones and may just have to lay their phone on or close to their charge pad to refill the battery.

The battery its self is physically larger, but we won’t know what this means for longevity until it’s in the hands of customers. A larger battery may just be powering the brighter display, but hopefully Apple has listened to customer pleas for better battery life. If not, the wireless charger may be compensation for being unable to go one full day without plugging into a power source.

Of all the rumours we’ve covered today, 3D sensing – which would be integrated to the phone cameras – represents the innovation that is potentially the most exciting. 3D sensing would primarily serve as a security function, enabling facial or iris recognition to unlock your phone. But Apple has spent the last two years buying or making deals with a dozen companies that work on facial recognition and AR/VR technologies. Alongside that, Apple has quietly been working on a VR headset for at least the same amount of time. We may not get to see Apple’s own headset for another year, but it’s not as if we’ll miss it with many other headsets already on the market.

With rumours strongly hinting that the iPhone 8 will have these capabilities, we may be on the verge of an augmented and virtual reality golden age. The new features will allow for enhanced and far more detailed AR and VR functionality, including the ability for the cameras to more accurately integrate your live surroundings to your AR/VR experience.

There’s nothing in the current rumours that really suggest Apple have struck innovation gold with the iPhone 8, but as we already discussed, that’s not a great shock. There’s not a lot of room left for major innovation in the smartphone world – unless someone figures out Star Wars style holographic projection. Instead, Apple has focussed on making existing features better or more fun, or just rising to the demands of their customers with wireless charging, or longer lasting batteries. But as is the Apple way, that focus on making things more exciting will keep them ahead in the market. If they can get ahead in the AR/VR race, and it sounds like they’re trying, maybe the iPhone 8 wont shake the smartphone world to its core, but the 9 or whatever may follow certainly has a fighting chance.

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