The iPhone 8 Debut May Be A Bit Late

Though the world has gotten used to getting its first glimpse at the new iPhone in September, it looks like this year the great unveiling will not come until October or November.

According to reports in the Economic Daily News, the iPhone has faced some technical issues on the road to release — suppliers are reportedly having a difficult time perfecting that lamination process for the curved OLED panels and adoption of the 3D-sensing front camera system.

The early fall launch has been typical of the iPhone since the release of the iPhone 5 — prior iPhones went on sale in June.

This story, notably, is a common one that appears every time Apple is set to release a new phone.  However, this time the supporting evidence does include a report from early March that has already said that the iPhone 8 would ship later than September. That report cited production for the 3D front camera as the hold-up.

There is also the relative dearth of leaks out of Foxconn this spring.  Normally, in advance of a big release, pictures of next-gen iPhone cases, schematics and blurry photos start sneaking off the factory floor.

Of course, it is possible that Apple has gotten better at tamping down those leaks — but it is equally possible that the phone is not being mass produced as of yet.  Digitimes has already said iPhone 8 would not go into mass production until September, although fabrication of Apple A11 chips will apparently start rolling this month.

Apple is planning on three phone releases this year — and some industry watchers speculate September will see two more minor upgrades before rolling out with the OLED redesign.

As for what that phone will look like — should it ever make it to market — the iPhone 8 is expected to feature a glass and stainless steel chassis, a 5.8-inch gently-curved edge-to-edge OLED display, a bezel-less front, a 3D depth-sensing front camera, wireless charging, a virtual Home Button with integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor, facial recognition and much more.

There are rumors that all that upgrade will come at a higher than usual cost — some estimate it will be over $1000. Apple is also expected to introduce modest updates to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, dubbed ‘7s’ phones with mainly internal components upgrades, at normal iPhone prices.