Apple announces the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus

Apple has announced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus at its iPhone 8 reveal event in Cupertino, California.

These take the place of the previously rumoured iPhone 7s and 7s Plus iterations of last year’s flagship iPhone 7 models.

Specs/Features

Apple says the iPhone 8 packs the most durable glass casing in a smartphone to date, with an aerospace-grade aluminum 7-layer colour process and 50 percent deeper strengthening layer.

The phone also packs the new A11 chip, which features:

• • six-core CPU
  • 64-bit design
  • 25 percent improved speeds over the A10
  • four high-efficiency core, which is 70 percent faster than the A10
  • first-ever Apple-designed GPU, which is 30 percent faster than A10
  • designed to accelerate 3D apps and games and machine learning

Camera

The iPhone 8 packs a dual-camera setup with a 12-megapixel camera. The 8 Plus, meanwhile, has dual 12-megapixel sensors, with a f/1.8 wide-angle lens and f/2.8 telephoto lens.

Apple says the iPhone 8 camera has the highest-quality video capture ever in a smartphone. The camera allows for shooting in 4K, 60 fps, as well as 1080p at 240 fps with slow-motion capabilities.

As well, a new dual-camera feature called “Portrait Lighting” enables the dual camera set-up to sense depth and rework lighting while users compose their shots.

Augmented reality

Phil Schiller says this is “the first iPhone really created for augmented reality, and the first smartphone as well.”

With the A11, Apple says AR is finally poised to make a big splash in the smartphone space.

Directive Games took to the stage to demonstrate this with Machines, an online game that was built using Apple’s proprietary ARKit developer kit and is playable entirely in AR. “Since players are able to view the game from any angle, our content has to be incredibly detailed,” says Atli Mar from Directive Games. In other words, thanks to the A11 chip, Mar says the iPhone is able to render 1.2 million polygons from the game all at once.

Wireless charging

Thanks to the phone’s glass back, Apple has confirmed that the iPhone 8 will have wireless charging. The iPhone 8 incorporates Qi, which is generally considered to be the open wireless standard in the industry.

Apple says it will sell Qi-powered charging pads from manufacturers such as Belkin and mophie.

Pricing and availability

The iPhone 8 will start at 64GB and cost $929 CAD, while a 256GB version will also be offered in $1,139.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 8 Plus begins at $1059 for 64GB and the 256GB version will cost $1,269.’

‘Silver,’ ‘Gold’ and ‘Space Grey’ colour options are available for both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

Pre-orders for the smartphones will begin on September 15th, with a launch one week later on the 22nd.