Over the last week, several stories came to light that give us a clearer picture than ever of this year’s new iPhones. Leaks from supplier Largan and assemblers Wistron all but confirm the inclusion of several rumors features in the upcoming iPhone 8 and its little brothers, the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus.
According to those reports, it looks as though the iPhone 8 will sport a front-facing camera with a “3D sensing module,” capable of advanced facial recognition. Apple has made several acquisitions in the last couple of years that point towards this kind of tech being well developed by the time it reaches users.
It’s looking extremely likely that the iPhone 8 will also include a dual rear camera capable of 3D sensing, and these two combined could spell a big move for Apple in terms of embracing augmented reality (AR). The iPhone 8 also looks set to include an iris scanner as another form of biometric identification alongside TouchID (which, don’t forget, is likely to be embedded in the display.)
Finally, all three handsets – that’s the redesigned iPhone 8, plus the expected iPhone 7S and 7S Plus iterations – are due to use wireless charging in addition to high-speed wired charging via the Lightning port as usual. Based on the information from Wistron, this would be a contact-based system not dissimilar to the Apple Watch, which is placed on a magnetic pad to charge.
Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy 8, already includes these features to some degree or another. It will be interesting to see how Apple’s efforts compare when the new devices are formally revealed in September.
Concept images by AlHasan Husni