Wireless charging is on the way for iPhone 8. Photo / News.com.au
Wireless charging is on the way for iPhone 8. Photo / News.com.au
The removal of the physical home button, a curved OLED display and augmented reality features are just some of the rumours swirling around the release of Apple's iPhone 8.
Only we won't know if any of the rumours hold merit until Apple's annual September event.
At least this is how the tech giant usually likes to handle the release of its flagship smartphones.
So maybe someone should have told this minor detail to one of Apple's iPhone manufacturers, Wistron Corp, which was recently added to Apple's list of suppliers.
The design manufacturing company's chief executive, Robert Hwang, let slip of two features coming to Apple's iPhones during a press conference after his company's annual shareholders meeting,
"Assembly process for the previous generations of [iPhones] have not changed much, though new features like waterproof and wireless charging now require some different testing, and waterproof function will alter the assembly process a bit," he said, reported Nikkei Asian Review.
While Apple's iPhone 7 and 7 Plus already have a IP67 water/dust resistance rating - meaning they can be submerged in one metre of water for 30 minutes - Hwang's comments hint at a more impressive waterproofing.
The real announcement here was the wireless charging, as no previous iteration of the iPhone has included this feature.
Wireless charging has long been hinted at for Apple's forthcoming models, with top analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggesting the iPhone 7S, 7S Plus and iPhone 8 will all have the feature.
This patent appears to show a wireless charging plate, which will charge the phone up when it's placed on top.
In a briefing note obtained by Mac Rumours, he said the phones would use a sheet of graphite to stop them overheating while charging wirelessly.
"While we don't expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation," he wrote.
It is unclear if the iPhone models will ship with a wireless charging plate, but one of the patents filed by Apple in the US demonstrates a charger similar to that used by the Apple Watch.
WHAT ELSE IS RUMOURED?
Having kept an almost identical design of its flagship smartphones since 2014, Apple is set to provide a fresh overhaul for the forthcoming iPhone 8.
The bold new design will include a stainless steel frame between two glass panels, which slightly curve to give the appearance of an iPhone made of one continuous sheet of glass.
Apple's iPhone 8 is expected to have an advanced edge-to-edge 5.8-inch OLED display that will rival the impressive 83 per cent screen-to-body ratio seen on Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8+.
Using final schematics leaked from the manufacturer of Apple's next-generation smartphones, pictures show what the iPhone 8 is going to look like when it's unveiled later this year.
To achieve the 83 per cent screen-to-body ratio, Apple has removed the physical home button from the front of the display.
As the leaked design doesn't include a fingerprint scanner on the rear of the device, it is believed the touch TouchID sensor will be embedded in the display.
The design also shows a new dual-lens camera system that will feature the same optical zoom capability as the iPhone 7 Plus' camera, LED flash and microphone.
Surprisingly, the camera module on the iPhone 8 is oriented vertically, which is likely to do with the internal hardware engineering needed to fit the dual camera, front camera and new 3D infra-red sensors on the smaller device.
However, it could be designed to specifically enable the new augmented reality features Apple is expected to reveal at the event.
While being unveiled this coming September, the release of the iPhone 8 might not come until early 2018 if recent rumours of manufacturing difficulties hold true.
