OWNING a smartphone is like having a tiny computer in your pocket, which may be why Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 8 is going to cost as much as the company’s MacBook computer.
The 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone is rumoured to have three different models, with a premium handset expected to be priced just short of the $1600 mark.
If correct, the pricing would make the phone around the same cost as the 128GB MacBook Air, which sells for $1549.00 on Apple’s online store.
Market researcher Daniel Matte said the iPhone 8’s hefty price tag would come from the device’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, which would allow the iPhone to have the same curved screen seen on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge.
“The OLED display will definitely be very expensive,” he told Fox News.
OLED displays have been made famous by LG’s televisions.Source:Supplied
Mr Matte said despite OLED offering better picture than LCD screens — because each pixel produces light individually — Apple will likely only install the technology on its premium model.
“The limited quantities available will definitely require some models to stick with LCDs,” he said.
These sentiments were echoed by DisplayMate Technologies president Raymond Soneira.
“Apple will probably continue with the current LCD models and introduce one or two new premium flagship iPhones with OLED displays,” he said.
Mr Soneira added the premium phone will likely have a 5.8-inch display, which will be slightly bigger than the 5.5-inch display iPhone 7 Plus.
“With a curved screen OLED, the iPhone display will almost certainly be bezel and border free to the outside edges, and fill all or almost all of the entire front view edge-to-edge, with rumours predicting that the home button, fingerprint sensor, ambient light and proximity sensors will be incorporated within the display,” he said.
The iPhone 8 will say goodbye to the white edges, with the entire surface being the screen.Source:Getty Images
In a note obtained by Benzinga, Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski suggested that all versions of the iPhone 8 are tipped to all incorporate augmented reality features.
“The inclusion of 3D sensing functionality is increasingly likely, which could enable a robust augmented reality (AR) feature set that we believe will be a key differentiator for the 10-year anniversary iPhone,” he wrote.
The iPhone 8 is also expected to include wireless charging, unfortunately this feature will reportedly require the purchase of an additional accessory.
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