About iphone 8
This week’s (sep 8 2017) Apple Loop includes the new features in the iPhone 8, the shocking price of Apple’s smartphone, the new handset’s limited availability, why the real winner is the iPhone 7S, Apple Watch’s new mission, iPad usurping the MacBook, a new case for your AirPods, and why James Bond’s Sony smartphone may be doomed.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days.
The Only iPhone 8 Feature That Is Genuinely New
The new color of Blush Gold may be something Apple highlights, but it’s the technology that sells a smartphone, not the shade. The iPhone 8 is going to pick up a number of new features to iOS users, but many of them are familiar to Android users… with one exception. I’ve taken a look at feature list for the new iPhone here.
Apple does a masterful job in integrating these technologies into the iOS-powered platform but let’s be clear polish is not always progress. It’s simply making sure that you are offering the same features as the competition. I’d argue that’s there’s only one new technology that can possibly elevate the iPhone 8, and that’s augmented reality.
The entry-level 64 GB model of the iPhone 8 is expected to come in at $999 plus tax, a mid-tier 256 GB model at $1099, and a top tier 512 GB of $1199. While that’s a new line-up for an iPhone it does match the iPad Pro choices. Apple loves repeating patterns, so this is another nod towards the iPhone 8 being the ‘Pro’ smartphone in the portfolio.
As always, Apple has maintained a $100 separation between the storage tiers, which leads to the curious situation of the first storage increase of 192 GB costing the same as the second increase of 256 GB. Presumably, Apple would not be so crass as to say ‘buy another 192 GB, get a bonus 64 GB for free’ but the thought is there.
But Where Will The iPhone 8 Be Hiding?
The bigger question over the iPhone 8 will be if anyone can buy it. Throughout the year there have been questions over the release date of the iPhone 8 balanced against the available stock levels. As the launch date appears, the delays in R&D and production earlier in the year are catching up with Apple and the iPhone 8 could well be supply constrained for much of 2017.
[Apple analyst Ming-Chi] Kuo lays the blame on Samsung’s OLED panels. He claims Samsung was unable to create an OLED panel with favourable scan-through performance for the fingerprint sensor to operate effectively. Apple was not prepared to copy Samsung by putting the sensor on the back or, like Sony, in the power button so it scrapped Touch ID on the iPhone 8’s completely and will gamble on Face ID handling everything instead.
But Samsung’s OLED is far from the only culprit here. Previous reports have cited the introduction of fast charging and wireless charging, among others, as adding significant additional cost and complexity to the iPhone 8’s assembly.
The Real Action Is With The 7S And 7S Plus
As well as the iPhone 8 (or will it be the iPhone X?) Apple will also be launching the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus… the handsets that are the genuine ‘next iteration’ from Cupertino. Gordon Kelly takes a closer look to remind us that the iPhone 8 is not the successor:
The confusion stems from one of the few areas where questions still remain about 2018’s new iPhones, their names. Based on previous patterns 2017 should be an ‘S year’ but as it involves a redesign the assumption is Apple has jumped straight to ‘iPhone 8’. That’s wrong and, again, not in the way people may predict.
So far the common consensus is the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be succeeded by new incremental upgrades called the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus with the iPhone 8 actually the new flagship standing above the Plus range.
Apple Watch Gets In Shape
Alongside the three new iPhones, Tim Cook and his team are expected to reveal the third edition of the Apple Watch. There’s more evidence this week of the renewed focus on fitness and lifestyle tracking in Cupertino’s wearable. It comes from Ben Court’s guided tour of Apple’s Performance Lab and his time with Jay Blahnik, Apple’s director of fitness:
While you breathe and work and sweat, the machines just get smarter. New software knows when you’re more active and when you’re slacking off, and it can adjust the frequency and intensity of activity cues accordingly. The watch sets daily goals and gives you both gentle and urgent reminders. For example, toward the end of the day it’ll tell you how far you need to walk to close the “move” ring. Voice dictation, a scribble screen, and preset phrases make sharing your achievements easy. Apple is streamlining the “game-ifying” and socializing of healthy habits.
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