iPhone 8 release date, specs rumors: Upcoming iPhone will ship the curved, bezel-free design on bigger screens

Jessica Ferrera Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The new iPhone 7 smartphone is displayed inside an Apple Inc. store in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., September 16, 2016. | Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

iPhone 8, or whatever Apple will call its next iPhone product, will seem to experience a major design revamp with reports saying that it will sport a bezel-free, curved edge display.

Last week, MacRumors reported on an "obtained research note" with some interesting tips that spark the speculations of the new design. The Apple-dedicated news source said that the research note was from Barclays research analysts Blayne Curtis, Christopher Hemmelgarn, Thomas O'Malley and Jerry Zhang.

One point on the research note says "Larger and Bezel-less design" with the explanation, "iPhone 8 design didn't sound 100 percent locked down but we believe the move is to a bezel-less design with screen sizes getting larger and curved edges in the original envelope. The iPhone 8 moves to 5" (from 4.7") and the Plus moves to 5.8" (from 5.5")."

MacRumors also mentioned that the Barclays analysts got their report from sources "within Apple's supply chain."

While it has been earlier reported that the next iPhone will feature a full organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen, the report suggests that only the bigger iPhone Plus will sport the said feature. The reports of an iPhone 8 with OLED screen came in after Sharp president Tai Jeng-Wu revealed Apple's plan in front of the students from his alma mater Tatung University. Tai was quoted, "The iPhone has been evolving and now it is switching from LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) to OLED panels."

Apart from the curved, bezel-free display and OLED screen, it looks like Apple is also planning to venture the wireless charging feature. Just this month too, a source familiar with the iPhone 8 plans spilled that Foxconn was making wireless charging modules that is believed to be included as one of the features of the 10th-anniversary iPhone product.

The source told Nikkei Review, "But whether the feature can eventually make it into Apple's updated devices will depend on whether Foxconn can boost the yield rate to a satisfactory level later on."

iPhone 8, or can be called iPhone 7S too, is expected to make its way to the market next year in time for the 10th-year anniversary of one of Apple's most successful product lines, iPhone.