KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said recently in a research note that Apple’s 2017 iPhone will feature a glass design. The next year’s iPhone is said to be such a huge upgrade that Apple would ditch the ‘S’ moniker and name it iPhone 8. Now a major Apple supplier has confirmed that the iPhone 8 (or whatever Apple chooses to call it) will have a glass design, but only in one model.
There will still be a metal frame around the edges
Catcher Technology is a major casing supplier for the iPhones. Its CEO Allen Horng said as far as he knew, Apple was planning to use glass design only in one model of the 2017 iPhone, reports the Nikkei Asian Review. The Cupertino company is looking to differentiate itself from rivals that have flooded the market with aluminum-bodied smartphones.
Allen Horng’s comment indicates that the tech giant may release one glass-bodied and another aluminum-bodied model. He added that the glass body will have little impact on Catcher Technology’s revenue because the device will still feature a metal frame around the edges. It requires an advanced processing technology. It means the iPhone 8 design will be similar to that of the iPhone 4S.
iPhone 8 to have an edge-to-edge display?
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the share of new iPhone models with aluminum casing will drop from the current 100% to less than 40% by the end of 2017. He has also said that the iPhone 8 will feature an OLED display. Last month, Apple reportedly inked a $2.59 billion deal with Samsung for the supply of 100 million OLED screens over a three-year period.
Earlier this month, John Gruber of Daring Fireball said, citing sources inside Apple, that the iPhone 8 will have no “chin or forehead.” It means the device will have an edge-to-edge display with the home button, front-facing camera, Touch ID sensor, and other sensors all embedded in the display itself. An edge-to-edge display would allow Apple to pack a bigger screen without increasing the phone’s size, or reduce the phone’s size without compromising on the screen size.
