2017 is a special year for Apple – it marks the 10th year anniversary of its runaway success, the iPhone. The iPhone has dominated the market and is the benchmark that a number of flagship phones are compared against. Consider the number of devices that have been tagged as the “iPhone killer” year after year, and you’ll see how much of a giant the phone has come to be.
The lack of a headphone jack was a major disappointment in the iPhone 7. However, it still sold enough phones to bump it back up to being the biggest smartphone dealer globally, according to Strategy Analytics.
Is The iPhone Killer A New iPhone?
As Apple claims every new iPhone to be, the iPhone 8 will also be the revolutionary phone of the year. But this time, we’re expecting an actual revolutionary product as the company haven’t done much with last two iPhones. Earlier, rumour has it that the iPhone 8 is supposed to come with a curved OLED display made famous by the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
Now, the latest on the gossip vine says that instead, the device will feature a flat display like the LG G6. The LG G6 has its display as its main selling point, claiming to offer a more cinema-like experience with its aspect ratio that is extra-wide. Going by the G6, the iPhone looks set to have extremely narrow bezels, and an 18:9 aspect ratio whereas iPhones in the past (except the 4 and 4s) have had 16:9 aspect ratios.
IHS Markit analyst told the website MacRumors that he anticipates that “…Apple will adopt a flat implementation of OLED design on their special iPhone model, which is analogous to the current 2.5D glass design. Much like the recently announced LG G6, we anticipate a touchscreen with a new longer aspect ratio design to take advantage of a higher coverage area of the iPhone in its entirety. This new design language is expected to become the trend for 2017, as we all anticipate Samsung’s reveal later this month.”
This could mean that Apple is setting up a much higher sales target and wrench the market further away from Samsung, one of its largest competitors.
Anticipating Anticipation
In terms of production, a report by BlueFin Research Partners says that Apple will start production of the phone in June. This could translate to an earlier launch of the iPhone, a break from historical tradition in terms of release dates for the iPhone.
Could Apple be looking to launch the anniversary edition phone on the same day it was launched by Steve Jobs ten years ago? Guess we’ll all have to wait for June 29th to find out! Another point to note in the report is that the new iPhone might not be called the iPhone 8 but the iPhone X.
“It all comes down to the bottom line. The numbers never lie.”
Finally, we come to pricing. FastCompany said that a “source with knowledge of Apple’s plans” had told them that the latest iPhone would be the most expensive to date, with the price tag crossing $1,000 mark.
The unnamed source added that the phone would also get a memory upgrade. The upgrade, along with the bigger display, helps make sense of the bank-breaking price tag.
So the question that remains to be asked – will the hype be enough to match Apple’s sales targets despite the high price tag? Looking at the intense frenzy about the new phone, it certainly seems so.
The viability of the price tag in markets like India, Africa, and China remains under discussion. However, nostalgia and Steve Job’s top-notch legacy have never disappointed the company till now, and there is no reason to believe it will now.