New iPhone 8 Details Emerge: Is Apple Preparing The Ultimate Smartphone?

New alleged details about the iPhone 8 have emerged. Many of the same websites that correctly predicted Apple forgoing the headphone jack for the iPhone 7 (more on that in a little bit) one year ago are making new predictions, with some based on statements from industry insiders.

CNET believes that the next iPhone could have wireless charging.

“Samsung does it, and Apple is starting to, too. The wireless AirPods headphones may have been just the beginning. Next year’s iPhone could do away with the last physical wire: the Lightning cable needed for charging.”

The article adds that many different reports claim Apple is finally going to take the wireless plunge. But that’s not the only new feature the iPhone 8 could have.

“It’s also being said that the iPhone will become curved. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI Securities has predicted that Apple will introduce a new curved AMOLED display in 2017. That’d be a big change from the LCD screens in today’s iPhones — AMOLED is thinner, lighter, more flexible, and more power efficient.”

Now, Forbes talks about a new patent that Apple has filed that could give us more hints about Apple’s next smartphone.

“This patent describes a technique where touch sensors can be placed around any side of a device allowing for new input sources. The patent also notes that physical buttons (such as the volume controls) could be replaced by these embedded touch sensors,” says Forbes contributor Ewan Spence, who summarizes that Apple could drop the current buttons to turn towards touch-enabled areas on the device for the existing UI.

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, there was a lot of controversy. Even BGR, the most pro-Apple website in the world, didn’t think removing the headphone jack was a good idea.

“Either way, the burden was decidedly on Apple to convince users that they wouldn’t miss the headphone jack. And now that we’re a few days removed from the event, we can calmly ask: did Apple adequately justify its decision to remove the headphone jack? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is resounding no.”

Then came The Verge, which claimed that Apple was being downright hostile to its iPhone customers by removing the headphone jack.

“I am surrounded by wireless speaker systems. (I work at The Verge, after all.) And while they mostly work fine, sometimes they crackle out and fail. It sucks to share a wireless speaker among multiple devices. Bluetooth headphones require me to charge yet another battery. You haven’t known pain until you’ve chosen to use Bluetooth audio in a car instead of an aux jack,” claimed author Nilay Patel, adding that getting rid of a deeply established standard will impact accessibility, and that, at worst, nobody is even asking Apple to remove the headphone jack.

However, according to Business Insider, the removal of the headphone jack has been a non-issue. They quote market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, which points out that the removal of the jack has proven to be a non-issue, especially given that the iPhone 7 was the top-selling phone in the country in the three months ending in October of 2016.

One of the things that is keeping the iPhone 7 series alive is the fact that its closest competitor, the Galaxy Note 7, has been recalled due to an exploding battery. Many believe that if Apple wants to stay relevant in the smartphone industry, they need to make the iPhone 8 a killer smartphone. Judging by early reports, it looks like Apple is going to make that happen.

[Featured Image by Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images]