Keeping Android aside, the most anticipated smartphone of the year is probably the next iPhone. As per the latest rumour by Japanese portal Mac Otakara, Apple is expected to name the upcoming iPhone as ‘iPhone Edition’. Note that, this will be a separate high-end variant, apart from the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus. This year, on the occasion of celebrating 10 years of iPhone, Apple is likely to bring something really remarkable for the global smartphone industry Apple has been in the news for a lot of new innovations on the iPhone 8 (or iPhone Edition) which probably will result in a hefty price tag of over $1000. To compare, the base model of the iPhone 7 was launched at $649 last year in September.
To start with, Apple will go for OLED displays this time after banking heavily on the LCD in the past. We are not sure if the OLED panel will be common to all the iPhone variants or just to the iPhone Edition variant. Other than this, the Cupertino-based giant is expected to put the fingerprint scanner on the display, getting rid of the physical home button entirely. As explained before, Apple will make this possible by placing a bunch of interactive pixels along with a supporting chip beneath the display which will be stimulated as soon as you place your finger on that particular area.
On the other hand, the US-based multinational is also working on an interesting 3D camera which the latest reports hint will play a major role in integrating Augmented Reality (AR) to the iPhone ecosystem. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook has gone on record and claimed that the AR is one of the top priorities for Apple and the 3D camera might step forward in that direction. To explain how this 3D technology would actually work, a recent report obtained by Business Insider claimed that this 3D camera will work in two ways – Time of Flight (ToF) and Structured Light.
The Time of Flight (ToF) will emit IR signals to the object in front of it and with the help of the bounce back rate, create a 3D image of the object. So, Apple is highly expected to implement this technology at front. Meanwhile, the Structured Light will essentially create a grid on the object and will then deform into different pieces to make a 3D image. To simplify, the next iPhone might scan your face and put as your favourite gaming character.
Whatever the case maybe, the upcoming iPhone 8 (read iPhone Edition) will surely have a tonne of things going on both in terms of its design and the technology happening underneath. Apple is expected to introduce all the three iPhone variants sometime in Q3 2017 and the iPhone Edition variant is expected to go on sale after the regular iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus.