You might be busy trying to figure out the best way to get your hands on a Jet Black iPhone 7 right now, but Apple is already working on the next-gen iPhone, the one that’s supposed to bring a major redesign next September. The phone is already labeled as the iPhone 8, it has already reportedly been confirmed by an Apple employee.
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The unnamed employee spoke to a Business Insider reporter, sharing some details about what Apple is developing in the region. The employee said that staff in Israel are working on what’s coming next in Apple’s product line, including the iPhone 8.
“The worker used the term ‘iPhone 8’ unprompted in our conversation,” Business Insider writes, which was a surprise because the next expected iPhone name would be iPhone 7s.
The employee said the iPhone 8 will be “different” than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, which would explain why Apple would be willing to skip the iPhone 7s next year. One other explanation for ditching the iPhone 7s moniker next year is that Apple will celebrate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, and a product name that would contain the “S” letter in it might deliver the wrong message — that the new iPhone is essentially a minor iPhone 7 upgrade.
The person also revealed that the iPhone 8 will have a better camera than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, which is something expected from new Apple smartphones.
Business Insider notes that there are 800 employees at Apple’s Herzliya office, which was set up after Apple bought flash memory designer Anobit in 2012 and 3D sensor developer PrimeSense in 2013. Apple has also acquired Israeli camera firm LinX since then, and its technology might be used in the just-released iPhone 7 Plus.
The facility works on chips, storage, cameras and wireless technology, sources close to Apple said. The Herzliya office is Apple’s second largest R&D facility in the world, according to what Tim Cook said during a trip to the country in 2015.
