iPhone 8 release date rumours UK

iPhone 8 specs and new features: Source predicts fingerprint sensors on side of iPhone 8, and curved plastic OLED screen

The iPhone 8 rumour mill is heating up. We predict the iPhone 8 release date, UK price, tech specs, new features and more. Latest: a source close to Apple predicts that the iPhone 8 will have a curved plastic OLED screen and may have side-mounted Touch ID; and a noted blogger says the iPhone 8 redesign will be "a big f**king deal and will change this industry deeply"

When will the new iPhone 8 be released in the UK, and how different will it be from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus? (Or will the next generation of Apple smartphones be called the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus?) And what tech specs and new features should we expect from Apple's new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus?

The iPhone 8 rumour mill is heating up, a month after the launch of the iPhone 7. Apple unveiled the new iPhone 7 alongside its bigger sibling the iPhone 7 Plus during a special event on 7 September, but we're already looking ahead to the next generation. In this article we round up all the rumours about the iPhone 8: the iPhone 8's UK release date (and onsale date), iPhone 8 UK price, iPhone 8 specs and new features. There's a lot to cover, so let's get started.

For advice on the current iPhone range, read our iPhone buying guide and best cheap iPhone deals UK. Or, if you'd like to look even further into the future (covering tech developments that come perilously close to the realms of science-fiction), read iPhone 9 and beyond: From graphene to motion charging.

Updated, 20 December 2016, with reports of plastic screens and 'new sensing technologies' that could move Touch ID to the side of the iPhone 8; on 14 Dec, with predictions of a red iPhone 8; on 7 Dec, with new evidence that suggests Donald Trump might just succeed in getting iPhone 8 manufacture moved to the US; on 29 Nov, to discuss growing evidence for wireless charging; on 22 Nov, with further augmented reality news (including a new Apple patent for augmented reality maps); and on 25 Oct, with a report that predicts the iPhone 8's redesign will be "a big f**king deal"

iPhone 8 release date rumours UK | iPhone 8 specs: Release date

Some pundits have predicted that the iPhone 7 will sell comparatively poorly because of its perceived lack of major new features and design changes (on a relative scale, of course - it'll still outsell its main rivals many times over). But, they say, everything will change in 2017, when the iPhone 8 blows everyone away with a wide and radical range of enhancements.

Pundits are increasingly looking ahead to 2017 for a big iPhone launch. Making predictions about the upcoming performance of Apple stock, analysts at Credit Suisse have forecast that the iPhone 8, to be released on the iPhone's 10-year anniversary in 2017 (skipping the 'S' generation in recognition of its major updates) will feature "significant innovations" such as a full-glass OLED screen, new and upgraded haptic feedback features, wireless charging and numerous major specs improvements including the camera and processor.

Kulbinder Garcha, one of the company's analysts, was sufficiently confident about the iPhone 8's performance to predict sales of 250 million units in fiscal 2018 (despite launching in the calendar year 2017, the iPhone 8's sales will be reported in 2018), compared to 215 million in 2017.

Garcha may be confident, but we're not so sure. Going three years between substantive updates to what remains by far its most profitable line in order to make a big launch match a big anniversary feels like a strange and risky strategy for Apple (we don't subscribe to Nikkei's theory that the company will follow a three-year cycle from now on), and with the Android sector pushing boundaries in a lot of ways this would inevitably result in accusations of stagnation - even more so than now.

iPhone 8 release date rumours: Analysts predict 'decade of uncertainty' after iPhone 8

But what happens after the blockbusting launch of the iPhone 8 (or Tenth Anniversary iPhone)? It might not get pretty, if some researchers are to be believed.

One analyst, Andrew Uerkwitz, has predicted that the 2017 iPhone refresh will be the company's "last growth hurrah", before spiralling into a "decade-long malaise" as the market turns increasingly to lower-cost and second-hand phones. "The risks to the company have never been greater," Uerkwitz said to MarketWatch.

Monness Crespi Hardt analyst James Cakmak echoed Uerkwitz's sentiments. "Apple won't have it easy again for a while, if ever," he said.

iPhone 8 release date rumours: Apple's release schedule

Before we think about new features you should expect in the iPhones of the future, let's talk about the likely release date schedule. Apple's latest batch of smartphones, the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, were released in the autumn of 2016. (Read more: iPhone 7 review and iPhone 7 Plus review.)

After that point it gets harder to predict. Based on the past few years of Apple launches, the generation after that logically ought to be an S update: the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus, launched together in autumn 2017 (with the potential of an iPhone SE 2 in spring of 2017, or moved back to launch with them in the autumn). The iPhone 8 - as well as the iPhone 8 Plus - would then finally be unveiled in September 2018.

• Sept 2016: iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• Mar 2017: iPhone SE 2
• Sept 2017: iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus
• Mar 2018: iPhone SE 3
• Sept 2018: iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

But it may not be that simple.

iPhone 8 release date rumours: The end of the iPhone 'S' convention

It's possible that Apple won't continue the S generation strategy for much longer.

Many of us have pointed out that this 'tick-tock' system is a risky policy, tacitly acknowledging that iPhone generations alternate between major and minor updates - to be especially harsh, you could say worthwhile and superfluous updates. When the average user hears that the new iPhone hasn't even been considered worthy of a full version number upgrade, they'll be put off from spending money on the new offering. Not to mention that an S update is more confusing for buyers: iPhone 6 followed by iPhone 7 would have been clear and easy to understand; but it's less obvious which out of the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus and 6s Plus is the more advanced model.

On this principle, therefore, we could see the iPhone 7 in autumn 2016 and the iPhone 8 the year after. At this point, nobody knows - but as soon as we hear more, we'll update this article.

And in October 2016 a little extra weight was added to the 'iPhone 8 in 2017' theory. According to Business Insider, an Apple employee in Israel who solders components spoke to them about the next iPhone and referred to it as the iPhone 8 "unprompted in our conversation". The sourced added that the iPhone 8 would be "different" from the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, and have a better camera - neither of which are particularly out-there predictions.

iPhone 8 release date rumours: Can Donald Trump persuade Apple to build iPhones in the US?

Donald Trump spent much of his recent presidential campaign complaining about Apple and its offshore manufacturing operations, and promising he would make the company build its iPhones in the US. (The only major Apple product currently made on American shores is the Mac Pro.) Now, as President-Elect Trump, he's trying to make his promises a reality.

Speaking to the New York Times, Trump claimed to have spoken on the phone with Tim Cook - implying, indeed, that Cook initiated the call - and reached what sounds like a degree of understanding you might not expect from two men with such different temperaments and political leanings.

"I got a call from Tim Cook at Apple, and I said, 'Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you're making your product right here.' He said, 'I understand that.'"

Source: macworld