Designing next-gen smartphones is no easy task, especially when you also have to invent new technologies that enable you to meet your design goals. According to several reports, Apple is having a big problem in this area with the iPhone 8. Apple is looking to deliver some features that haven’t been seen before in any iPhone — or any widely available smartphone from the competition — but the complexity of these new features will seemingly either delay the device, or force Apple to compromise.
We’ve seen various iPhone 8 design leaks and mockups, and they’re not all the same. Most of them agree on the fact that the iPhone 8 will feature an all-screen front side. But we have at least two different designs for the phone’s rear, including an ugly one everyone hates that we hope never gets made.
A few recent leaks showed a purported iPhone 8 design that features a fingerprint reader on the back, and someone went ahead and 3D printed it, complete with a protective case for the mockup.
Found by Chinese blog igao7 and shared on SlashLeaks, these three images show how big the iPhone 8 might be compared to the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7. They also show a purported iPhone 8 case, complete with unsightly openings for the dual camera on the back and the fingerprint sensor.
One of the biggest problems Apple has to deal with concerns the fingerprint sensor. Apple wants to embed it beneath the screen, something that hasn’t been done before on a widely available phone, but the process may be tricky and could lead to launch delays.
The other solution is to do what every other smartphone maker has done, including Samsung with the Galaxy S8, and that’s to place the fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. Yes, placing the sensor on the back is inconvenient, but Apple may be forced to do it.
A Bloomberg report last week did say that Apple is toying with various design ideas for the handset, and that integrating the fingerprint sensor into the OLED screen would be “technically challenging.”
