The iPhone 8 is on track to be announced in September, but its availability after that is reportedly going to be very limited. That’s the bad news coming from Japanese blog Mac Otakara, which believes that Apple is targeting a Q1 fiscal 2018 release timeline.
If true, this means that the iPhone 8 will only make its way to consumers at some point between October and December 2017. This comes from the mouths of various suppliers and accessory makers in Asia. As per their information, the device’s front frame has been dipped only in black. It’ll probably be sold in very few color variations, with white still being unconfirmed.
A Taiwanese supplier claims that there’s no hole within the side power button, reducing the chances of Touch ID making a home there. Mac Otakara thinks that the possibility of an under-display fingerprint scanner is very low.
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The publication instead favors the likelihood of an all-new Face ID. As highlighted by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the technology would combine iris and 3D face scanning. The iPhone 8 will apparently unlock in a natural manner by simply tilting the handset, similar to raise to wake.
Apple’s supposedly made sure the new array of front-facing sensors aren’t visible under normal conditions, but it appears accessory makers will still need to deal with them. The selfie camera seems to have shifted to the right of the receiver from its old position on the left.
Finally, the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and iPhone 7s Plus are all believed to be adopting glass backs in order to facilitate wireless charging. Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba thinks the devices are coming out between September 7 and 9. The latter two could be released on September 17, but the probability of this is low.