Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve probably heard rumours about an extravagant, ‘bezel-less’ iPhone. This year, the iPhone X is expected to be the materialization of these rumours (it is, after all, Apple’s tenth-anniversary iPhone). There are little surprises to expect at the company’s 12 September keynote, so we’ve rounded up basically the final specs of the next-generation iPhone. The screenThe iPhone X will most likely have a 5.8-inch display with no bezel save for a relatively large notch at the top for the front-facing camera & other components. This puts the X's display more in the mold of Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone than the Galaxy S8 or LG G6. The display will most likely be a high-resolution AMOLED screen, a first for an Apple device. As for Touch ID, the three rumours leading the pack are: a) the Touch ID sensor is embedded into the display, b) the Touch ID sensor is moved to the power button or back of the phone, and c) Apple drops Touch ID. Personally, option C is my least favourite, but it seems the most likely as Apple is experimenting with ‘Face ID’ (iris scanning). [UPDATE: The iOS 11 GM was leaked shortly after this article went to press. It is now almost certain that Touch ID is being ditched in favour of Face ID.] The cameraMing-Chi-Kuo, an analyst for KGI Securities with a solid track record for Apple product rumours, has said that the camera situation on all of Apple’s new phones will go like this; the 4.7-inch iPhone will have one (most likely 12MP) rear camera, the 5.5-inch iPhone will have two rear cameras similar to the 7 Plus of 2016, and finally a ‘OLED iPhone’ with an unspecified size and dual cameras (this is most likely the iPhone X being referred to). He also mentioned that the telefoto lens will have OIS this year. The X's camera arrangement will also reportedly be in a vertical form factor. As for the selfie camera, it’s expected to have 3-D sensing and modeling features for Face ID. The specsThe iPhone X is expected to carry an A11 Fusion Chip. Given the performance of last year’s A10 Fusion, expect this processor to destroy the competition (that being the Snapdragon 835). It’s also expected to have 3 gigabytes of RAM like the iPhone 7 Plus has. The speaker & Taptic Engine are also rumored to be revamped for 2017. In terms of storage, users on Weibo have suggested the iPhone X will come in three storage capacities — 64GB, 256GB, and a monstrous 512GB. Others have speculated that the 8 might have a microSD card, although this is unlikely. Finally, Fast Company says that the handset will have a “far bigger battery” along with improved battery life thanks to the OLED display. Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Apple will implement USB-C fast charging technology while still using the Lightning port. It’s also been suggested that the iPhone X will include long-range wireless charging in a iOS 11.1 update. The priceRumours suggest that following Apple’s 12 September keynote event, the iPhone X (along with a new Apple Watch, a 4K Apple TV, & the iPhone 8) will be on sale 22 September with pre-orders beginning 15 September. It’s also expected that, like last year’s 7 Plus & AirPods, the iPhone X will be on back-order for a long while. In terms of pricing, it’s been made basically certain that the X will be the most expensive iPhone ever with a starting price of $999. In the future, it’s been said that Apple will only ship bezel-less OLED iPhones rather than just the high-end model as early as next year with the iPhone 9. With only two days to go, we’ll just have to wait and see if any of these rumours materialize. [UPDATE: The iOS 11 GM has confirmed that the iPhone 8 is the name of what was called the 7S and that what we called the iPhone 8 will now be called the iPhone X. The new Apple Watch Series 3 has also been confirmed and will certainly have cellular capabilities.] Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal.
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September 2017
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