The upcoming iPhone 8 will be marking the company’s 10 year anniversary since they launched the phone series. Before that, Apple mainly used to make computers and iPods. For a while now, there have been pictures floating around claiming to be a representation of the iPhone 8, the pictures show a phone with no bezels whatsoever on all four sides of the screen as seen in the image below. Currently, no other phone has been able to achieve such an engineering feat, only the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix come close. Needless to say, Apple fans have been eagerly waiting for this phone but according to new details released by analysts at JP Morgan Chase, the actual iPhone 8 will not be so ambitious.
The new report states that the phone will indeed still have bezels, it will have a design similar to the Galaxy S8. This means that the top and bottom will have bezels but the sides will not. This effectively takes away the wow factor of this device. Also, Apple will be releasing two other phones in addition to the iPhone 8, they will be iPhone 7S and the 7S Plus. These two will retain the same design basics that the company has recycled since the iPhone 6 was launched in 2014. The only difference will be glass rear casing instead of the metal chasis of the current iPhones. This change of materials is said to help Apple implement wireless charging.
The iPhone 4 and 4S also had a glass back, but the design backfired for Apple due to antenna gate issues- if the phone was held in a certain way, it would lose network reception- also, the glass was prone to breaking easily. Samsung has perfected the making of glass phones – thanks to their investment in Corning, the company that makes Gorilla Glass- will Apple be able to keep up, or will the mistakes of their past haunt them?
On a positive note, the report says that the iPhone 8 will have an L shaped battery that will be 30% bigger in capacity compared to the current 7 Plus. The dual camera will also remain intact. These new changes will attract an increase in production costs of around $75-80. This will translate to a retail price north of $1000 for the iPhone 8. As a consolation, the report suggests that Apple will package AirPods with every purchase. Media houses seem to see this last part as wishful thinking, giving away AirPods would cut down the profit margins significantly and Apple is not accustomed to that.
