Two days left for the grand unveiling of the latest in smartphone technology from Apple, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Last month, we received reliable information that there would be no iPhone 7 Pro this year. Today we found out that there won’t even be an upgraded iPhone 7S as a follow up to what they did with iPhone 6 last year.
Why No iPhone 7S?
One of the main reasons sources are citing as to why Apple is dumping 7S and 7 Pro variants at this time is that next year is iPhone’s 10th anniversary. Yup, it’s going to ten years since Steve Jobs uttered those unforgettable words:
“An iPod, a phone and an internet communicator. These are not three separate devices. It’s one device. And we are calling it – iPhone.”
Since that time the iPhone has been through 12 more evolutionary steps ending with the iPhone SE. The iPhone 7 is the thirteenth iPhone variant after the original first generation iPhone that Jobs revealed on stage, and don’t say it’s bad luck. Despite the doubts around the acceptance of iPhone 7 in the market this month, the device is expected to sell at least 79 million units around the world.
But with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will come the end of one era for the most revolutionary smartphone in the world. With the new era, however, Apple’s plans are to forever change the look, feel and performance of iPhones with next year’s model – iPhone 8.
So we already know that Apple has decided to do away with the physical home button on iPhone 8, and the entire front panel will be a single sheet of glass from edge to edge and top to bottom. Flawless glass is the only things your eyes will see, except for the earhole, but I fully expect Apple to do away with that as well, and possibly come up with an equally revolutionary idea to place the earhole at the top and direct the sound towards the front of the phone. Let’s see what they do.
The last time Apple experimented with a glass back panel was on the iPhone 4S that came out in 2011. On iPhone 8 it looks like they’re ready to play with glass on the back once again, but the effect is going to be stunning because of single glass panel on the front as well.
No More LCD, only OLED
The other major change on the iPhone 8 will be the disappearance of LCD technology for the screen. Starting with iPhone 8, Apple is expected to drop LCD from its plans and start using OLED technology instead. Their acquisition of LuxVue, a specialist in innovative screen technology, may see iPhone 8 using microLED for the first time.
OLED provides greater color contrast, better depth for dark tones, lower battery consumption and more flexibility.
Battery usage and easy breakage of the current iPhone screens are known to be two of the biggest problems with Apple, but it seems they’re going to be killing both birds with one stone next year.
Long-range Wireless Charging
For iPhone users that typically run heavy applications and use up a lot of battery power during the day, this will be one of the most revolutionary changes they will see on iPhone 8.
We don’t yet know how far that range will be, but knowing Apple’s focus on user experience, it should allow you to be the same room and have your phone charging whenever it drops below a particular level. It’s also very likely that developers are already working on apps that will further enhance your experience with wireless charging, such as timer-based charging, battery level triggers for the charger and so on.
Wireless charging is already available on Samsung’s top-end phones, but the range is limited.
With iPhone 7 being launched a mere two days from now millions of people are waiting eagerly to get their hands on the first batch of phones. It’s bound to be a great product despite the many drawbacks we’ve reported in the past few weeks, but it looks like the real hero of this decade – iPhone 8 – still has to wait a whole year before it can see the light of day.
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