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Of course EE's hyping wireless chargers on new iPhone day
EE all but confirming new iPhone features before Apple's had a chance to announce them is turning into a bit of a yearly tradition. This morning, the carrier announced it's now selling Belkin's Qi Wireless Charging Pad for £30 (this is the standard retail price, by the way). Also, EE says other chargers and accessories will, in the coming weeks, be joining the provider's Add to Plan scheme. This lets customers on two-year handset contracts buy accessories and spread the cost over several months by adding a few quid to their monthly bill. Rumor has long had it that wireless charging would make its debut on this year's iPhones, so EE's announcement is no coincidence.
The iPhone 10 years in: Everything that's changed from 2007 to 2017
Few times of the year are as thrilling for gadget buffs as an Apple launch event, and tomorrow the company is expected to pull back the curtain on a trio of new iPhones. While some incredibly specific leaks this weekend might have spoiled the surprise, there's no denying just how important the iPhone is to Apple's business; Apple is the most valuable company in the world thanks mostly to this product line. With new iPhones upon us, we thought we'd take a look back at Apple's history in smartphones to remind ourselves how they've matured into the market-leading machines they are now.
iPhone X may pack a 6-core processor
This weekend's huge iOS 11 leak continues to spill the beans on the iPhone X... and the latest tidbits may be particularly relevant to performance junkies. Twitter user Longhorn has found that the processor in the iPhone X, and likely the step-down iPhone 8 models, will be a six-core chip. It's not clear how many of these will be higher-powered cores versus energy-saving secondary cores (Longhorn suspects only two are high-speed cores), but it looks as if they might all be usable at the same time. That would be a big step up from the A10 Fusion in the iPhone 7, which only allows the high- or low-speed cores to run at any given moment.
The next iPhone creates animated emoji from your facial expressions
You may already know that the next iPhone will use face detection for all kinds of clever tricks, but here's one you probably weren't expecting: customized emoji. The 9to5Mac crew has discovered that leaked "gold master" iOS 11 firmware includes references to 'Animoji,' or 3D emoji that you create using your facial expressions and voice. Pick one of the familiar non-human faces in the emoji library and it'll map your eye, mouth and cheek expressions to that character -- you can make a robot smile or have a dog raise its eyebrows. Even the poo emoji can be animated. This comes across as a gimmick (we can see many people dropping this once the novelty wears off), but it shows what's possible now that Apple has face tracking at its disposal. And there's more to the leak than just emoji.
What to expect from Apple's iPhone event on September 12th
Another September, another iPhone event, right? Well, not exactly. Apple celebrated the iPhone's 10th anniversary earlier this year, and all of the rumors have pointed to a radically new and potentially very expensive smartphone to celebrate that milestone. It's all but certain we'll see this new phone, but that's hardly all that we expect Apple to reveal next Tuesday, at the first event in the company's brand-new headquarters. We could see two additional iPhones, Apple Watch updates, an upgraded Apple TV, details on the forthcoming HomePod speaker and possibly more. Apple often likes to surprise us, after all. Here's what we think Tim Cook and company will bring to the table on Tuesday.
Apple will unveil the next iPhone on September 12th at its new campus
To the surprise of almost no one, Apple has announced it'll be holding its annual iPhone event on Tuesday, September 12th. It'll be the first event hosted at Apple's new "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, California. Sure, Apple didn't say exactly what to expect, but given that the company has introduced a new iPhone around this timeframe for the last six years, it's a pretty safe bet we'll be seeing new mobile phones. That includes the "iPhone 8," a device that's expected to be radically different from its predecessors. Improvements rumored include an edge-to-edge OLED screen, face detection, wireless charging, a virtual home button and an updated dual-camera system.
The iPhone 8 reportedly swaps the home button for gesture controls
The folks over at Bloomberg got their hands on some images of the next iPhone as well as some information from people familiar with the new model. Some of the features confirmed in their report were already known or at least heavily suspected, but there are also some new details about how the phone will function without the home button.
The iPhone 8 may launch in September after all
Earlier this year it was rumored that the iPhone 8 wouldn't get the what's come to be standard September release date, but instead would launch later in the year. However, KGI Securities has a new set of predictions and it looks like the upcoming model might get its September reveal after all. A new report from the company, which is usually pretty spot on with its predictions, says that the iPhone 8 will likely launch alongside the 7s and 7s Plus models.
Leak shows the iPhone 8 is all screen and no home button
Much of the recent talk surrounding the iPhone 8 has focussed on its hardware. Now, courtesy of a new leak, we can go back to speculating its design. The latest image -- via the web's resident handset leaker Evan Blass -- indicates Apple's next flagship will be mostly screen, and very little bezel.
Your face might do more than just unlock the new iPhone
Apple's latest secret leak was from its own documentation -- and it's given plenty for developers to chew over. The latest code snippets shared by Guilherme Rambo and Steve Troughton-Smith offer all kinds of tantalising details that may (almost certainly) come with that new iPhone -- whichever model that may be. Not only are there further suggestions that the physical Home button will be ditched, but according to Troughton-Smith, some pointers inside the firmware for Apple's incoming HomePod suggest that a new iPhone could have a screen with a resolution far beyond that found existing models, as well as mentions of facial expression detection.
Firmware suggests the next iPhone will use infrared face unlock
Ever since our close look at an alleged render of the next iPhone back in May, there have been rumors of 3D face scanning plus a large screen-to-body ratio flying about. Today, we finally bring you some solid evidence about these features, courtesy of -- surprise, surprise -- Apple itself. After digging up new details about the Apple HomePod in its leaked firmware, iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith came across some code that confirm the use of infrared face unlock in BiometricKit for the next iPhone. More interestingly, in the same firmware, fellow developer Guilherme Rambo found an icon that suggests a near-bezel-less design -- one that matches rumored schematics going as far back as late May. For those in doubt, Troughton-Smith assured us that this icon is "specific to D22, the iPhone that has Pearl (Face ID)."
The next iPhone reportedly scans your face instead of your finger
Rumormongers have long claimed that Apple might include face recogition in the next iPhone, but it's apparently much more than a nice-to-have feature... to the point where it might overshadow the Touch ID fingerprint reader. Bloomberg sources understand that the new smartphone will include a depth sensor that can scan your face with uncanny levels of accuracy and speed. It reportedly unlocks your device inside of "a few hundred milliseconds," even if it's laying on flat of a table. Unlike the iris scanner in the Galaxy S8, you wouldn't need to hold the phone close to your face. The 3D is said to improve security, too, by collecting more biometric data than Touch ID and reducing the chances that the scanner would be fooled by a photo.
iPhone 8 renders point to glass back and wireless charging (updated)
Rumor has it that we won't be seeing the next flagship iPhone until much later this year, but we may have just the right thing to keep y'all entertained for the time being. Earlier this week, a reliable source in the accessory industry showed Engadget a highly detailed CAD file of the "iPhone 8's" chassis, which allowed us to generate several renders for publishing. The most obvious takeaway here is the dual camera's new orientation, and that both the microphone plus the flash will be part of the camera bump.
Apple's iPhone 8 might not ship in September
Apple has practically settled into a routine with its flagship iPhone launches: it announces the new model in early September and ships it later that month. You can practically set your clock by it. Well, you might not want to bank on that schedule this year. KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a mostly solid track record when outlining Apple's plans, believes that the long-rumored OLED iPhone won't enter production until October or November. Reportedly, the new model's "significant hardware upgrades" (such as the OLED screen and depth-sensing front camera) are pushing back the release. There could be shortages until Apple refines its manufacturing, too.
'Anniversary' iPhone reportedly crams big screen into smaller device
Apple is prepping up to three iPhones for a possible fall launch, including a flagship stainless steel and curved glass tenth anniversary model, according to Bloomberg's Apple guru Mark Gurman. That jibes very closely with past rumors from Fast Company and others that believe Apple will release two iPhone 7s models along with a pricey high-end version. Unlike others, however, Gurman thinks the new model will not have a curved OLED display, but merely curved glass on the back and front.
Next iPhone might have depth-sensing front camera
It's that time of year, folks. Rumors of what the next iPhone will be like are coming in hot and heavy. Last week, well-connected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo noted that the new handsets would nix the home button for a touch-friendly "function area." Now there's another bit of info. In a KGI Securities report detailed by 9to5Mac, the analyst explains that the upcoming OLED iPhone will feature a "revolutionary" front camera that's capable of sensing 3D space via infrared.
Analyst rumor: iPhone 8 'function area' to replace home button
While we're still months away from finding out exactly what's what with any new iPhone, the rumor mill is already running at full tilt. Following up on earlier reports of a 5.8-inch edgeless OLED-screened device arriving as the "iPhone 8," well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is telling investors more about what its home-button-less front screen could be like. As explained by AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, the analyst notes that this presumed OLED iPhone with its $1,000+ price tag will be similar in size to the current 4.7-inch iPhone. However, instead of the home button, it will include a "function area" that can also display controls for video or games.
Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone could cost over $1,000
To mark 10 years of metal and glass slabs, Apple is expected to debut an ultra high-end version of the iPhone alongside its next scheduled update. According to a report from Fast Company, Tim Cook and company will likely roll out three new phones this year: the incremental iPhone 7S in the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes, as well as a slightly larger, even more expensive 5.8-inch iPhone 8 with an edgeless OLED display and a few completely new features.
Apple is reportedly reinventing the iPhone's fingerprint reader
Future iPhones may revolve around more than just an eye-catching curved display. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who frequently (though not always) has a knack for hardware scoops, believes that Apple is designing a whole new Touch ID fingerprint reader for future iPhones and iPads. In order for Apple to virtually eliminate bezels, it needs a reader that sits under the screen -- and that means a brand new optical sensor. Development is underway, the analyst says, but development is still early enough that the technology might not be ready in time for the 2017 iPhone.
