iPhone 8 Will Have Curved OLED Screen and USB-C Connector

In line with previous reports, The Wall Street Journal today said Apple's rumored iPhone 8 will feature a curved OLED display supplied by Samsung.

Tuesday's report corroborates previous claims from KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo that Apple will release three devices this year: Two "S" cycle iPhones with LCD displays to succeed the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as well as a special "10th Anniversary Edition" iPhone 8.

Apple Inc. has decided to adopt a flexible display for one model of the new iPhone coming out this year and has ordered sufficient components to enable mass production, people familiar with the matter said.

According to WSJ's anonymous sources, Apple will drop the traditional home button on the iPhone 8 in favor of a distinct touch-enabled area on the chin of the handset, also corroborating Ming-Chi Kuo's claims of a "function area" below the new iPhone's main display. Additionally, in a new claim likely to cause much debate, the paper reports that Apple will replace the Lightning connector with a USB-C port. Indeed, all of the next iPhones are said to feature a "USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices instead of the company's original Lightning connector".

Over recent weeks, reports have clashed over which models will include several purported new features. For example, citing "reliable sources" within Apple's supply chain, Japanese blog Mac Otakara most recently claimed that only the OLED model will adopt glass casing and wireless charging capabilities, contradicting a Nikkei report and analyst Kuo's repeated claims that all 2017 iPhones will feature an all-glass design and wireless charging.

Further muddying the waters, Mac Otakara made no mention of the Lightning port being dropped, despite the fact that a USB-C connector would allow newer MacBook or MacBook Pro owners to connect the iPhone 8 to their laptop straight out of the box. On the contrary, Mac Otakara's sources claimed Apple's Lightning to USB-C Cable would remain an optional purchase, which just goes to highlight the odd situation that newer Mac owners could find themselves in, should the next iMac and Mac mini models also adopt exclusively USB-C ports, as they are expected to do so. The other possible scenario is that Apple replaces the current USB-A connector on the end of the iPhone Lightning cable with USB-C.

With an edge-to-edge design, the iPhone 8 is said to be similar in size to the 4.7-inch iPhone, but with a display the size of the 5.5-inch iPhone. According to Kuo, it will feature a 5.8-inch display with 5.15 inches of usable area, with the rest dedicated to virtual buttons that will replace the existing Home button. The iPhone 8's front-facing camera may also include 3D sensing capabilities, allowing it to find the location and depth of objects in front of it, perhaps enabling facial and iris recognition. According to one report, the iPhone 8 could cost upwards of $1,000.