The iPhone 8 release will reportedly include a new next-gen camera |
This would mark a major step forward for the smartphone market as a whole, as no other company is able to offer such a design at this time.
But it would also necessitate a significant re-design of many of the phone’s components, with the home button and microphone (needed for phone calls) needing to be relocated.
A new kind of next-gen camera is allegedly being developed in a new partnership between Apple and LG, which will see a new “3D photography” feature enabled.
This will apparently be made possible by combining LG Innotek’s technology with Apple’s dual camera specs from the recent LinX acquisition.
3D Photography would certainly put the iPhone 8 ahead of the curve against rivals such as the Google Pixel Phone and Samsung Galaxy S8.
This could also be Apple’s way of suring up their market share in China, one of the company’s biggest markets.
This is due to the fact that many Chinese developed smart devices have been launched in emerging markets that supply some kind of 3D support.
It’s more likely a new tie-in with the newly released Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, which uses the dual-camera set-up to artificially create a depth effect and could make it possible for Apple to provide this feature in their other phones.
Using data captured by the two 12-megapixel sensors on the iPhone 7 Plus, iOS artificially applies a blurred background while keeping the subject in foreground in sharp focus.
It’s an effect – also known as bokeh – that is traditionally only accomplished with DSLR cameras.
iPhone 7 Plus includes a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with optical image stabilisation, a larger ƒ/1.8 aperture and a new six-element lens enabling brighter, more detailed photos and videos any time of day.
Rumours earlier this month suggest that Apple is also planning to experiment with OLED display technology, as well as curved glass that wraps around the smartphone, for the iPhone 8.
Other sources have said that the next iPhone will will use OLED screen technology instead of IPS LCD screens, with OLED displays allowing for better lighting contrasts as well as improved power management.
Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive reportedly wants the 2017 iPhone “to appear like a single sheet of glass,” as part of a major design shake-up.
Whatever happens, we expect to see the new iPhone released sometime around September 2017.