iPhone 8 latest- price, features, specifications

We round up rumours of the iPhone 8 release date, UK price, tech specs, new features and more. Latest: Multiple sources predict that the iPhone 8 will miss its expected September launch, due to delays related to its new 3D camera, and could be called 'iPhone Edition'

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 especially as 2017 is the 10th anniversary of the launch of the iPhone and as a result there are high hopes for the next model.

Apple unveiled the new iPhone 7 alongside its bigger sibling the iPhone 7 Plus during a special event in September 2016, so we're now 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 on sale date), iPhone 8 UK price, iPhone 8 specs and new features. There's a lot to cover, so let's get started. (We also look at the rumours surrounding the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus here.)

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.

Recent updates

• Rumours point to new branding for late-2017 iPhone: iPhone Edition, or iPhone X
• Multiple sources suggest the iPhone 8 launch may face months of delays - perhaps even arriving after Christmas
• Lovely concept illustrations: mockups by AlHasan Husni show bezel-free curved screen, while Gabor Balogh focuses on augmented reality and the new function area
• The iPhone 8 will feature a curved OLED screen like the Samsung Galaxy Edge, apparently (but another researcher has contradicted this)
• Rumours that Lightning port will be replaced by USB-C (while others predictfast-charging via the existing Lightning port)
• Ming Chi Kuo predicts that the iPhone 8's screen will have a function area for virtual buttons, like the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar...
• ...as well as a monstrous screen pixel density of 521 pixels per inch, and a major increase in battery capacity
• The iPhone 8's lowest storage option will be 64GB (with 256GB as the alternative)
• Wireless charging rumours spread as Apple joins Wireless Power Consortium...
• ...but analysts predict wireless charging will require a separate accessory
• Possibility that there will be no physical buttons at all
• iPhone 8 expected to break thousand-dollar barrier for first time
• New predictions that Touch ID will be built into the iPhone 8's display and will be joined by a new security feature: facial recognition.

When will the iPhone 8 be released?

The iPhone 8 is likely to be released in September 2017, but there are whispers of a delay.

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.) Apple always releases new iPhones in September, and we assume this year will be the same.

Delays

Logic and history both point to September, then, but multiple sources are suggesting that Apple may miss its usual date with smartphone destiny.

 

Digitimes has predicted that "production for the new OLED iPhone is unlikely to start until September due to the redesigned fingerprint ID solution", and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stated that there will not be time to implement the expected new 3D camera system unless Apple pushes back the launch date of the new iPhones: "Unless production of the OLED iPhone (expected to begin in September) gets pushed back, there is virtually no time to make changes to the 3D camera system." (Both via Business Insider.)

It's also believed that the expected 3D camera scanner is presenting production difficulties. ST Microelectronics, the company tipped to make this component for Apple, are - according to SlashGear's sources - struggling to hit volume targets and have requested additional time.

"That would mesh with earlier rumours that Apple won't even start mass producing the iPhone 8 until September," says the site, "the very month the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus are scheduled to launch. Depending on the yield rate for the revolutionary iPhone, we probably don't expect to see it in the market until a month or two later."

It's unclear at this point if the reported "small fire" at ST Microelectronics' manufacturing plant is going to be a factor in all this.