I would point out how annoying rumors about new Apple products can be if I wasn’t responsible for writing as many as I’ve read over the years. In fact, I’ve been so bad that I’m guessing I wrote at least ten pieces about the iPhone 8 even as I was writing iPhone 7 rumors before the unveiling of Apple’s newest models last month. But as it’s my job let’s take a look at a design rumor that is making the rounds and is, frankly, not something that I have heard about before.
New report shows a truly breakout design for tenth anniversary iPhone, presumably the iPhone 8
As with any report on Apple rumors, it’s important to take them with a grain of salt lest you be disappointed when either your favorite rumor writer is wrong or when Apple fails to provide a highly-rumored feature that fails to end up in the final product or takes years to materialize. Now, there are different types of rumors. Pure speculation abounds on the Internet, and there is nothing illegal about guessing or writing and about an article that is little more than click bait. Hell, ahead of a new product release, Apple limits the amount of people who know what is going into the final product, likely, to get a bunch of free press and excitement built around a new offering without raising a single finger themselves.
You have blatant speculation based on nothing, rumors which are purported to come from photos from the supply chain, mockups of products by graphic designers are increasingly popular for me and my colleagues/ilk to write about during a lull in other types of rumors and then perhaps the most coveted are those put forward citing prominent Apple insiders that have a track record for knowing what Apple has planned. There are some them out there, perhaps, led by Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities.
So when I talk about Apple’s iPhone 8 let’s be clear that I have absolutely no certainty that that is what it’s going to be called at all. This is especially the case when you consider that if Apple releases a new iPhone next year it will be doing so in a year that represents the tenth anniversary of the iconic device, which has driven Apple’s growth to the biggest in the world based on market capitalization (something that could change on any given day based on other company’s stock performance, namely Alphabet. Exxon has supplanted Apple in the past as well but surely not at present day oil prices).
There is nothing that truly precludes Apple from jumping to the iPhone 10 or iPhone Anniversary, or even iPhone Revolution in a nod to the company building device.
But if it is an iPhone 8 this is what you could have in store for you
Following the lukewarm reception of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus which is essentially no more than the third consecutive release of the iPhone that came before it. Sure, each was more powerful than its predecessor but outside of speed, new finishes, the loss of the 3.5mm headphone jack, waterproofing, and a new iOS out of the box there really hasn’t been a major overhaul of the device that remains loved by millions but the same people that have driven Apple’s growth are getting a little antsy.
Famed aforementioned Insider, Ming-Chi Kuo, has essentially said that the iPhone 8 will most certainly feature an OLED display and warned Apple that if it doesn’t the company might be a little screwed for lack of a better or more vulgar word.
With that OLED display, Kuo suggests that Apple could put the home button and Touch ID in the screen allowing the display to remain the same size while allowing Apple to reduce the size of the device.
Kuo is also calling on Apple to move to glass from aluminum for the back while returning to metal sides unseen since the iPhone 4.
I’m not in the habit of going against Kuo, but others are, and this new report from Robert Soble, a veteran tech blogger at UploadVR thinks Kuo has it wrong.
“The next iPhone will be, I am told, a clear piece of glass (er, Gorilla Glass sandwich with other polycarbonates for being pretty shatter resistant if dropped) with a next-generation OLED screen (I have several sources confirming this),” wrote Soble on Facebook.
“You pop it into a headset which has eye sensors on it, which enables the next iPhone to have a higher apparent frame rate and polygon count than a PC with a Nvidia 1080 card in it,” Soble continued.
It’s quite an extensive post, which I encourage you to read but I’ve added one bit that I found pretty exciting.
The phone itself has a next-generation 3D sensor from Primesense, which Apple bought,” Scoble wrote. “Apple has 600 engineers working in Israel on just the sensor. It’s the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. It’s the first product introduction in Apple’s new amazing headquarters. It’s a big f**king deal and will change this industry deeply.”
Whether he’s right or not should become known in September(?) next.
