iPhone 8 Details Leaked

iPhone 8 concept. Image credit: Veniamin Geskin

We’re still months away from the press conference at which Tim Cook holds aloft the newly unveiled iPhone and the Apple faithful bow their heads out of respect.

We’re months and 4 weeks away from sidewalks jammed with lawn chairs and sleeping bags as the Red Bull-swilling, tech-addled, iPhone fan-base camp out to be the first to possess the newest, latest, and, hopefully, greatest mobile device in its ten year history.

In the past few weeks, as if on cue, a trickle of leaked sketches and schematics for what has been dubbed the ‘iPhone 8’ are making the rounds of the Internet. 

Being that the leaks are unofficial (because official leaks are generally referred to as Press Releases), the following is largely conjecture based on the analysis and opinions of some folks who have pretty much dedicated their lives to studying and predicting what Apple is going to do next. 

Here is what we think we know: 

This wasn’t contained in any of the leaked materials, but the thinking is that due to the significant design and feature changes, it will be called the iPhone 8. 

As opposed to the iPhone 7S – which, given the fact that it is being released in an odd-numbered year, is how the physics of Apple naming would usually work. This doesn’t mean that they might not go completely off the rails with the naming, and start a whole new trend. Kanye is rumored to be involved. (I just started that rumor).

It appears that Apple is developing two distinct versions of the iPhone 8. This is most likely to hedge their bets in case they run into manufacturing, technological, or supply issues due to some of the funkier features of the new design. Other outlets are guessing that Apple will offer multiple versions of the 8 – a premium model with an OLED, and ‘standard’ 4.7 and 5.5 versions with old fashioned LCD screens.  

Both concepts share the following features:  the elimination of the physical ‘home’ button, a 5.8 inch OLED screen (depending on who you listen to), and a 4mm metal bezel running along the edge of the device.

The more ambitious of the two designs would feature wireless charging, a touch ID pad built directly into the screen, contoured front and back glass, a front-facing camera hidden beneath the screen, and it would have the same measurements as the iPhone 7. For reasons unknown, sketches suggest dual, vertically-aligned, cameras on the back of the device.  Are they for VR? 3D? IDK!

The alternate design (a.k.a. the fallback, the Plan B, the runner up, not your first choice as a Prom date), would be larger than the iPhone 7 (11mm taller x 5mm wider), and the touch sensor would be moved to the back of the device, beneath the Apple logo.  It’s also likely that this model would stick with an aluminum chassis. 

All models are expected to come packed with the A11 chip, which would be a transition to 10-nanometer technology.  The take-away from this is that will be 20% faster and eat 40% less battery than the older 16-nanometer chip. You had me at nanometer. 

The only things you can truly count on in all of this is that the leaks and peeks will keep coming, there are sure to be a few surprises that we won’t know about until the day of, and a whole lot can happen in five months.