It’s been over two years since we saw any significant change in the design of the Apple iPhone. Since the introduction of fresh designs in 2014, Apple has retained almost everything up to now, with the latest entrants being the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
The iPhone 7 was considered a boring device by some iPhone lovers, but surprisingly, the phone is seeing huge demand come its way. In fact, it seems many were impressed with the performance upgrades of the phone alongside the bumped-up battery capacity and most of all, the dual lens camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Three years of no change in the form factor is a long period of time in the smartphone world, especially when looking at what Android OEMs are doing to their flagships. Over the same period, we have seen Samsung make some huge steps in the design of its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series, even though the latter has seen a damaging reputation thanks to the faulty Galaxy Note 7. LG, Sony, HTC, Motorola, Huawei, and Xiaomi have also been making changes to the form factors of their phones, but Apple has remained calm on this matter. Now the wait seems to be ready to close down with the 2017 iPhone, which will likely be known as iPhone 8.
If rumors are to be believed, the 2017 Apple iPhone 8 will come with a complete design overhaul to mark the company’s decade-long stay in the smartphone industry. There has been talk of an edge-to-edge display for the iPhone 8 and to even fuel these rumors, a new Barclays Research report says that the phone will come with a completely new form factor as well.
The analysts are adamant that Apple’s shift to a bezel-less edge-to-edge screen will create more room for display space. This will result in the smaller iPhone 8 carrying a screen size of 5 inches while the larger iPhone 8 Plus will come with a 5.8-inch screen. Despite this increased display size, the two phones will not come with significant changes to their current physical sizes that accommodate 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display panels.
It is thought that some inches of the additional screen size will be curved on the edges of the phones, just like what you see with the Xiaomi Mi MIX. However, unlike the Mi MIX which also carries a bottom bezel, the iPhone 8 may come without any front bezel. This means that the physical home button that usually houses the Touch ID will be no more, instead, these features will be embedded into the front panel alongside the selfie camera and any other sensors.
What do you think about this rumored design overhaul of the Apple iPhone 8? Share your thoughts with us via the comments.