THE IPHONE 8
The 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone is rumoured to have three different models, with a premium handset expected to be priced just short of the $1600 mark.
Market researcher Daniel Matte said the iPhone 8’s hefty price tag would come from the device’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, which would allow the iPhone to have the same curved screen seen on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge.
“The OLED display will definitely be very expensive,” he told Fox News.
Mr Matte said despite OLED offering better picture than LCD screens — because each pixel produces light individually — Apple will likely only install the technology on its premium model.
“The limited quantities available will definitely require some models to stick with LCDs,” he said.
In terms of size, the premium phone will likely have a 5.8-inch display, which will be slightly bigger than the 5.5-inch display iPhone 7 Plus and the 4.7-inch iPhone 7.
DisplayMate Technologies president Raymond Soneira said he believes the display of the iPhone 8 will take up the entire screen, with “virtual buttons” taking up a portion of that space.
“With a curved screen OLED, the iPhone display will almost certainly be bezel and border free to the outside edges, and fill all or almost all of the entire front view edge-to-edge, with rumours predicting that the home button, fingerprint sensor, ambient light and proximity sensors will be incorporated within the display,” he said.
Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said sources in Apple’s supply chain have suggested the iPhone 8 will have a better battery life thanks to the adoption of an advanced stacked circuit board.
“As battery material tech isn’t likely to see major breakthroughs in the next 3-5 years, mainboard area can only be reduced via stacked SLP, which makes space for larger battery and extended usage time,” he wrote, reported MacRumors.
Wireless charging is also expected for the device, with Apple tipped to be working with Energous — a company with wireless charging tech capable of up working for distances up to 4.5 metres.
In a note obtained by Benzinga, Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski also suggested that all versions of the iPhone 8 are tipped to all incorporate augmented reality features.
“The inclusion of 3D sensing functionality is increasingly likely, which could enable a robust augmented reality (AR) feature set that we believe will be a key differentiator for the 10-year anniversary iPhone,” he wrote.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S8
Samsung has currently been promoting its 8-point battery check for its upcoming smartphones, with the company putting an emphasis on a commitment to safer devices.
In an attempt to bounce back from the exploding battery drama that caused a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung is tipped to be introducing some big changes to its flagship.
According to Venture Beat , the Galaxy S8 will ship in larger sizes than its predecessors, with 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays instead of the 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch S7 screens.
In addition to increasing the display size, Samsung is believed to be including the curved display on all of its devices — not just on the pricier lager model.
The Galaxy S8 will be powered by Android Nougat and will include new energy efficient processors capable of boosting overall performance by 11 per cent.
Energy efficiency will be needed as the Galaxy S8 will only have 3000mAh and 3500mAh batteries for the 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch designs, respectively.
With internal storage, Samsung is tipped to be offering 64GB as the new baseline, which can be expanded to 256GB via a microSD.
A report from Korea’s ETNews claim Samsung will also ditch the home button in order to
“fill all of the front of the Galaxy S8 with just screen”.
In addition to virtual buttons on the front of the display, Samsung is tipped to have a fingerprint sensor will be on the back of the phone.
The device will see an upgrade to a USB-C charging port and will also keep the 3.5mm headphone jack.
According to two sources speaking to The Guardian, there will be no drastic changes to the camera of the S8, which is expected to offer a similar “duo pixel” camera to last year’s S7.
Samsung will also release its own virtual assistant known as Bixby — a service that plans to rival to Google Assistant and Siri by offering the ability to handle more complex commands.
The company also plans to bring a new accessory for the Galaxy S8, which will allow the S8 to be used as a Android desktop computer by connecting to a monitor, keyboard and other peripherals.
