Apple has already confirmed that it will be holding a launch event on 12th September. Since the company is known for launching new iPhones in September, the unveil event that will be held next week may showcase the speculated smartphones such as iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. A German publication has claimed that the pre-orders of 2017 iPhones will begin on 15th September.
The upcoming launch event will be organized at the newly built Steve Jobs Theater. According to the publication, German carriers are getting ready for 15th September pre-order date. After starting the pre-bookings on the said date, the shipments of the 2017 iPhones and in-store availability is likely to begin on 22nd September.
The iPhone X is heavily pegged to arrive as a special edition smartphone in celebration of the 10th anniversary of iPhones. It will be the first smartphone from Apple to come with an OLED display. The handset is expected to sport a full-screen design with super-slim bezels.
According to KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo who holds a consistent track record of revealing accurate information on forthcoming Apple devices claims that the iPhone X will be a limited-edition phone. Kuo is of the view that the Cupertino company may sell around two to four million units of the OLED iPhone.
Citing reliable sources, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the iPhone X would be coming with a new facial recognition feature. It is pegged to replace the Touch ID feature as the smartphone is unlikely to house a physical home button. Apple had reportedly tried to embed the Touch ID sensor under the display of the iPhone X, but it could not find success in it and it only led to production delays. The new facial recognition feature may not only allow users to unlock the phone but also to authenticate transactions on Apple Pay.
Apple had replaced the physical home button with a solid-state panel on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus phones. A recent Bloomberg report states that instead of the home button, the iPhone X is expected to feature a slim software bar that can be dragged to the center of the display to unlock the phone. Inside an app, the same gesture could be used for to view multitasking interface containing cards for each app. Flicking upwards will close an app and return to the home screen.
The iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are expected to arrive with wireless charging support. The iPhone X is also speculated to feature dual rear cameras. The 64 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB models of the special edition iPhone are speculated to be respectively priced at $999, $1,099 and $1,199.
According to Kuo, the iPhone X will be coming with a costlier price tag because the company is paying a high price of about $120 to $130 for each OLED panel that it receives from Samsung Display. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are expected to house LCD panels that will be supplied by LCD display. The analyst claims that the Cupertino company is paying around $45 to $55 to the South Korean firm for each LCD panel. Hence, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are likely to be cheaper compared to the iPhone X.
Apple is also expected to announce an LTE enabled Apple Watch and a 4K Apple TV at the 12th September launch event.
Source 1, 2, 3
