14 DAY TRIAL // It’s all but confirmed: the iPhone 8 will be delayed and won’t hit the shelves together with the iPhone 7s and the 7s Plus, so the bigger question right now is how much Apple actually plans and affords to hold back its new flagship device.
If you’re asking Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, then the iPhone 8 is projected to launch in October the earliest, though full production of the new model isn’t expected to begin until November or even December. In other words, Apple’s plan could come down to presenting the device at its September event, but with sales only beginning one or two months later.
Initial quantities will be super-limited, which means that only a few people will actually get to buy the device, most likely in the United States, while stocks will be increased to maximum capacity by the end of the year. This, in turn, means the sales peak is more likely to be reached in 2018, and analysts predict a strong year for Apple thanks to the new iPhone.
Major upgrades on the iPhone 8
But there’s also something that Huberty said and which everyone in the Apple ecosystem hopes it’s right: even though it might be late to the party, the iPhone 8 has big chances to totally blow your mind, as it’ll come with the biggest feature upgrades in the iPhone history.
“In light of the most meaningful feature and technology upgrades in iPhone’s history — including OLED displays, wireless charging, and 3D sensors for AR — we believe it’s reasonable to assume the new, higher-priced OLED iPhone ships in October rather than September,” the analyst has been quoted as saying.
In addition to the 5.8-inch OLED display, the iPhone 8 is also likely to launch with a fingerprint sensor in the screen (though this is a feature that Apple is still working hard to make possible), wireless charging, fast charging, 3D facial recognition, vertical dual cameras, and narrow bezels similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8.
This is also expected to be the most expensive iPhone in history, with the price tag of the base version to exceed $1,000, according to analysts.