iPhone 8 rumor roundup

For a smartphone that’s not even supposed to ship until at least September, the rumors about the  iPhone 8 (AKA iPhone Edition, iPhone X, iPhone Pro…) are certainly filling the blogosphere this morning. Here’s a quick roundup of all we’ve heard in the past few days:

Touch ID will be embedded in the OLED display

Many of the rumors surrounding the iPhone 8 have recently been filled with breathless exclamations about how the device can’t possibly ship on time and have Touch ID embedded in the OLED display. Some rumors have had the Touch ID sensor moving to the back of the device, while others think that Touch ID will disappear altogether on the new phone with an iris scanner and facial recognition taking its place. 

Now a dummy iPhone 8 allegedly obtained from a Foxconn facility shows no sign of the familiar Home button with integrated Touch ID fingerprint reader, pointing to “proof” that Apple engineers have indeed managed to get a fingerprint reader built into an OLED display. 

The image above, sourced by Benjamin Geskin, shows a design similar to that of the iPhone 4 with a stainless steel frame and glass front/back. Thickness of the alleged device appears to be similar to that of an iPhone 7, and there’s a twin-camera setup on the back, aligned in a vertical orientation rather than horizontal. 

A11 CPU, removable SIM

An alleged schematic showing the layout of the rumored iPhone surfaced on Chinese social media, showing the Touch ID “area” of the new device in the same familiar area, as well as some other interesting circuit board changes brought on by the different orientation of the dual cameras.

The diagram shows an A11 CPU on what appears to be a stacked motherboard, with Wi-Fi and a SIM card reader on another layer of the board. Personally, I’d think that Apple would go to the same non-removable Apple SIM technology used in the iPad Pro, but there may be carrier resistance to a non-removable SIM. 

The battery in the new device is expected to be larger as well; the diagram appears to show an L-shaped battery or possibly two battery packs.