New Venue
Next week will mark the first time Apple will open the gates for members of the media of its sumptuous and brand-new headquarters — Apple Park — in Cupertino. The event will appropriately take place at the Steve Jobs Theater at 10 a.m. PDT. You can tune in live on Apple’s website through Microsoft Edge if you’re on Windows or Safari otherwise.
Three Variants
As part of the anniversary, Apple is expected to launch three iPhone variants, unlike the usual duo tradition. This will include two iPhone 8 variants — iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus and a third which will be called iPhone X according to the recently leaked golden master version of iOS 11.
LTE Apple Watch 3
The event will be largely dominated by the iPhone. However, Apple will be also announcing upgrades for its Apple Watch as well. Following the industry trend, Apple is planning to add a LTE-capable smartwatch to the portfolio. Apple Watch 3, as you’d expect, will be able to function without your phone and come with a much better battery life. It’s also possible that there will be an another variant which will compromise cellular connectivity for a cheaper price tag.
Apple TV 5
Along with new watches and smartphones, Apple TV 5 will be showcased as well. While there will be a slew of under-the-hood hardware improvements, the headlining trait will be its ability to stream 4K content. Considering the old saying — with great resolution comes great power — it’s safe to assume that it will be powered by an upgraded processor.
AirPods
It’s been a year since Apple hopped the wireless bandwagon and launched AirPods for bolstering those efforts. As per the GM leak, the new AirPods will feature minor hardware bumps and the only noticeable change will that the charging status LED has been relocated from inside the case to its exterior.
All-Glass Builds
The new iPhones are expected to flaunt an all-glass build instead of Aluminium, similar to their iPhone 4 series. Changes on the overall design front will be quite minimal, unfortunately. It will still follow the generic industrial aesthetic with rounded corners Apple has perfected over the past years. That can be a good or bad thing depending on how long you’ve been using iPhones.
Face ID
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) September 9, 2017 One of the most talked aspects of the upcoming iPhone is facial recognition or as Apple likes to call it – Face ID. It will essentially allow you to unlock your phone by merely looking at the front camera. However, the company has reportedly added infrared sensors as well so that it can work in dimly lit scenarios. Obviously, you will need that since the iPhone X is expected to entirely ditch the fingerprint sensor.
3D Sensors
The new iPhones will also come with a few additional sensors on the front to know when you’re looking at the screen allowing the device to mute notifications and saving your colleagues from that annoying ding. In addition to that, these components will let you make use of some advanced 3D facial recognition tricks.
Animated Emojis
Speaking of sensors, let’s talk about emojis. Yes, the new iPhone will utilize these for mapping your face’s expressions onto animated emojis. For instance, if you act surprised during the process, the dog emoji will also behave similarly. These will be most probably termed as “Animoji”.
OLED Display
After years of shipping phones with LCD panels, Apple will be switching to OLED with the eighth-gen iPhones. There have been talks of delays due to their high demand, however, a more recent leak mentioned that the company is on the scheduled track. While the majority of analysts have stated this will be limited to the iPhone X, there’s still a possibility of it being available on the iPhone 8.
True Tone
The company’s True Tone display technology will be arriving on phones as well this year. True Tone was first introduced with the 9.7-inch iPad Pro in 2016 and it is capable of dynamically altering the screen’s color temperatures based on the room’s ambiance.
Bezel-less
The iPhone X will feature an almost bezel-less display with a top chin for accommodating the sensors, earpiece, and the front-facing camera. While it will be certainly the cornerstone for this new smartphone, developers will need to adjust their applications before you can completely benefit from that.
No Home Button
With the new edge-to-edge display, Apple will be also bidding adieu to the home button on the iPhone X. Instead, the company is expected to announce a under-display taptic engine. Details for this feature are relatively scarce right now, though.
Wireless Charging
After years of existence on Android phones, wireless charging will be finally making its way to iPhones. Fortunately, Apple won’t be employing a proprietary system here. Although the standards might differ, we’ll have to wait for the official launch for any further information.
A11 Chip
To handle the influx of more AR-enabled apps and games, the new iPhones will run on the company’s latest A11 chip. Manufactured by TSMC, the new chipset is designed using a 10-nanometer process which should make it a lot more efficient than the current 16-nanometer A10 Fusion used in the iPhone 7. The A11 chip was leaked in pictures as well a couple of weeks ago.
‘Blush Gold’ Color
Apple will announce a new color option called ‘Blush Gold’ with the new iPhones. The shade, more or less, resembles copper with a subtle dash of gold. However, it’s currently unknown whether it will cost a dimes extra.
The Price
One of the most controversial factors about the upcoming iPhone X is its price. It’s expected to start from $1000 for the base variant and will go all the way up to $1500 for the higher end model.
