After months of speculation and conflicting rumors, Apple next week will finally take the wraps off of its highly anticipated iPhone 8. While new iPhone releases are always noteworthy, the iPhone 8 is particularly exciting because the device will features a completely brand new form factor. As you’ve likely heard by now, the iPhone 8 is said to feature an edgeless OLED display with thin 4mm bezels surrounding the entirety of the device. All the more interesting are reports that the iPhone 8 will do away with the venerable Touch ID sensor and instead rely upon facial recognition software for user identification purposes.
With Apple’s iPhone 8 event set for September 15, a new report from the German-language site Macerkopf, citing sources close to two separate carriers, claims that iPhone 8 pre-orders will open up on Friday, September 15. While not an official confirmation by any means, Apple has historically opened up pre-orders for new iPhone models on the Friday following its special media event. In other words, it’s a safe bet that iPhone 8 pre-orders will, in fact, open up to the public at the end of next week.
Further, it stands to reason that the iPhone 8 — along with the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus — will arrive in stores just one week later, making a September 22 release date increasingly likely. While it was initially believed that the iPhone 8 might ship later than both iPhone 7s models, it appears that that won’t be the case. Still, iPhone 8 supply will reportedly be extremely constrained at launch so interested buyers may have to wait until November before they can actually get their hands on the device.
Aside from the aforementioned OLED display, other iPhone 8 features to look forward to include improved battery life, improved internals, wireless charging, improved water resistance, facial recognition and more.