Apple’s iPhone 11 (AKA: The iPhone XI) will get a release date in a few months. But what will it be like!?
Apple’s moving forward with its FACE ID technology in 2018, bringing it to all of its incoming iPad and iPhone releases.
The face-scanning technology is currently only available on the iPhone X, but that will all change as we move through the new year.
Face ID alternatives are now coming inside Android phones too, and this trend will continue as we move through 2018. Ditto Android phones with notches. In fact, Notches for Android phones are so here to stay that Google has even referenced “notches” inside Android P’s source code.
I don’t particularly like Face ID or the Notch on the iPhone X, neither things really do it for me, so why this many Android phone makers are copying it remains to be seen. I don’t think anyone saw the Notch on the iPhone X and thought: Oh, I wish my phone had one of them!
I’m pretty sure if Apple attached a chicken wing to its iPhone XI plenty of Android phone makers would follow suit later on in the year, never questioning why this feature was implemented in the first or whether or not it was a good idea.
Apple has apparently inked a deal with LG that will secure it a steady supply of FACE ID units for its new iPad and iPhone releases during 2018. This means all iPhones – even the entry-level model – will pack in the technology.
Samsung has confirmed that it will be reducing its investment in OLED during 2018. And the reason? Lower than expected iPhone X demand.
“Samsung Electronics is to slash production at its OLED panel plant in response to customer Apple’s decision to reduce the output of the iPhone X following weak demand,” notes Asia Nikkei.
It added: “Samsung Display now plans to manufacture organic light-emitting diode panels for 20 million or fewer iPhones at the South Chungcheong site in the January-March quarter. The initial goal was to supply panels for 45 million to 50 million iPhones.”
It will also be the first time face-scanning has been used on an iPad, though which model it will appear on first remains to be seen – it could well be kept as an exclusive feature on Apple’s flagship iPad Pro line of devices.
Apple now has two, key suppliers for its face-scanning technology: LG Innotek and Finisar. The recent deal with LG comes off the back of the company’s $821 million investment in new production facilities that will allow it to create more units for the iPhone maker.
Tim Cook is also said to have brokered the deal with LG. This is significant for many reasons, but mostly because Mr Cook seldom handles deals personally, normally leaving it to high-ranking execs to sort out – guess this one must have been an important one!
Apple will release three iPhone models in 2018, and they will all look like the iPhone X, with two of them featuring OLED panels and one an LCD unit. With respect to the iPad, Apple is tipped to once again redesign the unit, making it slimmer and more display-focussed (meaning slimmer bezels).
There are also plenty of rumors about the second coming of the iPhone SE. This handset will apparently be based on iPhone 7 specifications, feature a 4in display, and come in two storage versions: 32GB and 128GB.
Nothing has been confirmed as yet, though rumors suggest the iPhone SE 2 could launch at the end of Q1 – so, around March/April time. Apple’s 2018 Plans: THREE iPhone X Style Phones?!
Earlier in the month, we heard a rumor that Apple’s 2018 plans would extend to two smartphones with OLED displays in the style of the iPhone X. The theory went that the firm would return to its two-handset-per-launch policy, with this year’s triple being an exception, and it was thought we’d basically see an iPhone XI and an iPhone XI Plus both with OLED screens.
Now though, according to a new rumor, Apple has plans for THREE iPhone X-style devices for launch inside 2018. Funny thing is, both the former story and this new one come from the same guy, prominent KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo; a man with a track record you don’t want to bet against. Clearly, he’s uncovered some new details on top of the previous revelation that now indicate a third iPhone X-style phone in the works at Apple’s R&D.
But here’s the kicker, the third device, although similarly styled, will use a TFT LCD panel, NOT OLED like the other two.
Kuo’s report, picked up by Macrumors, actually illustrates the three handsets expected from his findings and shows that each includes more-or-less the same design as the iPhone X, including the large, near bezel-free display implementation, and the controversial “notch” at the top.
That means all three will also lack a fingerprint scanner, meaning logically all three will use the front-facing TrueDepth camera and Face ID biometric security in place of Touch ID.
The main handset, which we’ll call the iPhone XI, has a 5.8in OLED display at 458ppi. Then there’s the 6.5in iPhone XI Plus, also with OLED and at 480-500ppi. Finally, the third device is a 6.1in TFT LCD at 320-330ppi. Could this be a new iPhone SE?
Kuo asserts that the two OLED phones will indeed have the same internal specs and these will be premium-grade – essentially these are the flagship models. The third model will be lower specced and pegged as an “entry-level” iPhone, with an expected RRP in the region of $649-$749. Yeah…entry level.
None of this is official yet, of course, but again, Kuo has an impeccable track record so it’s quite likely he is onto something here. Of course, it is probably early enough in the development cycle that Apple could change its plans, but if this does happen we’d expect Kuo to publish a follow-up report saying as much. iPhone XI Plus Model LEAKED: No Hope For iPhone SE 2 In 2018
Hope for a 4in iPhone? Apparently not, if you believe the rumor mill consensus that’s forming right now.
Broadly speaking, Apple’s plans for late 2018 don’t include anything smaller than a 5.8in display and while a “budget” model is apparently on the cards, it’s far from the iPhone SE size at a whopping 6.1in.
According to a new report from analysts at BlueFin, Apple’s 2018 plans include phasing out the existing iPhone SE and last year’s iPhone X, in favor of focusing on the much-rumored trio of new devices in the 5.8in, 6.1in, and 6.5in display sizes.
This basically suggests that unless the affordable model from that trio is dubbed the iPhone SE, the SE brand is basically dead.
“The iPhone 11 Plus should satisfy those unhappy with the iPhone X due to size concerns, while the iPhone 9 device should satisfy more budget-conscious buyers and the aforementioned extension of the iPhone 8 model builds will round out a fairly extensive line-up. We continue to hear that upgrade activity over the past,” said BlueFin’s report.
However, a new report from 9to5Mac claims that the 6.1in LCD iPhone could launch as much as a month later than the OLED-based models due to some problems Apple is having with the LCD screen technology. Assuming this is true, this would place the 6.1in iPhone release sometime in October.
Another report has emerged reiterating the above regarding a delayed launch of the 6.1in iPhone. Although he has, according to earlier reports, moved on from iPhone analysis, prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who basically has a flawless track record on iPhone predictions, has published a table with details of each of the three handsets and their specs.
However, according to reports on Kuo’s findings by Bloomberg and 9To5Mac, the earlier suggestion that the 6.1in iPhone might not arrive till October is being upheld by the tipster. The reports also tip new color options for the new batch. He also says that contrary to earlier rumors, none of the new iPhones launching inside 2018 will support the Apple Pencil stylus.
Fresh details suggest that Apple may be introducing iPad-like productivity features to the 6.5in iPhone X Plus, according to a report from iHelpBR – a Brazillian website where programmers have dug around in iOS 12 Beta Code.
What they discovered basically lines up with claims made earlier in the year via Bloomberg; that Apple had plans for a phablet “codenamed D33” which packed a 1242 x 2688 resolution display. The programmers forced that resolution in an iOS 12 emulator using the beta 5 build and found that applications such as Calendar and Messages would run in split-screen mode, just like the iPad Pro.
Apple’s forthcoming triple-launch of iPhones in September 2018 is hotly anticipated and today we’ve seen a big leak of spec details for the junior member of the family – the allegedly lower-priced, 6.1in LCD display model.
The other two will be OLED-based like the current iPhone X, and will be a direct successor with a 5.8in display, and a much larger iPhone X Plus with a 6.5in display. All three handsets will reportedly keep the iPhone X design style.
The leak comes via reputable Russian source hi-tech.mail.ru, which reveals that developers have dug out some interesting titbits from Apple’s Xcode software which made direct reference to the 6.1in LCD model.
In the code it is referred to as “iPhone xx” “iPhone9.7” and LCP – presumably, this stands for Low-Cost Phone? It also has the model number “N84.”
Better yet, some specific components are named; both a DCI-P3 LCD display panel and an Apple A10 processor.
Such a set of hardware would indicate that, even though the new model will not be iPhone SE size, it will be comparable in terms of specs. We already know of course that it’ll have front-facing sensors housed in a notch for a 3D face scanning camera and Face ID, while the camera on the back will be a single-sensor. Rumors also point to 3GB of RAM.
Apple’s gunning for Samsung once again, this time with its sights set squarely on the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and its S-Pen stylus. According to new reports, Apple will make the Apple Pencil accessory – the stylus developed for the iPad Pro tablet line-up – compatible with the new iPhones launching in September 2018.
The word comes via TrendForce, which says that all of Apple’s OLED iPhones launched in late 2018 will work with the Apple Pencil – so that’s the 5.8in iPhone X successor, and the alleged 6.5in iPhone X Plus; assuming those are the actual names, of course, which is still up in the air.
The cheaper 6.1in LCD handset, presumably, won’t be compatible, however.
To date, Samsung has utterly dominated the stylus-driven smartphone or phablet sector with the Galaxy Note series, ever since the first handset to bear the name emerged back in 2011. Oddly enough that’s in part because no-one else has really taken an enthusiastic stab at the concept though.
But that could be about to change with Apple eyeing up the feature.
The idea has been rumored for quite some time for Apple’s iPhone series, as far back as 2016. However, there are some elements of the claim which are somewhat odd, namely the implication that the current iPad Pro Apple Pencil will be compatible, as opposed to Apple developing a new version to go with the new iPhones.
It’s not entirely outside the realms of possibility, but it would be a bit of a bodge job.
