Expectations are rising that Apple’s new iPhone 8 will be packed full of magical hardware and technological advances to create an all-powerful flagship smartphone. The reality is likely to be very different. There will be new features on the iPhone, but expect all of them to have been seen before in Apple’s competitors.
And that’s why the iPhone will be another financial success for Apple.
Will there be anything that is genuinely new in the presumptively named iPhone 8? An increase in base storage to 64 GB is a common starting point for high-end Android smartphones (and becoming increasingly common at the mid-range), neither is a top-tier of 256 GB unique.
A curved edge-to-edge screen, which is more likely to be curved along the edges rather than an all-encompassing bevel) is not only Samsung’s signature style but something that has been available in handset design for years - if you go for curved glass over a flat screen you can look back to handsets like 2011’s Lumia 800 from Nokia.
The iPhone 8 is expected to come with a vivid and bright OLED screen, a first for Apple’s smartphone but technology that has become mundane on almost every high-end Android device.
Wireless charging is gaining significant market share across Android devices, driven by the interoperable Qi standards. Universal charging surfaces abound in my home and office, and I’m not alone in this. Apple has made some moves towards wireless charging, but there are even some commentators who believe that Apple choosing Qi is the wrong approach to take and the iPhone should not chase wireless charging in its current form.
The other current alternative to wireless charging is fast charging, but again Apple’s inclusion of this in the iPhone 8 would not be something new, it would simply be lifting the hardware to the same level as the competition.
High resolution display? See the rise of QHD screens. Facial recognition? See Windows 10. No physical home button? Countless Android devices, mostly at the low-end, but becoming more popular. Waterproofing? Been around for years, so let’s point out Samsung and Sony’s efforts so far. A more efficient chip and GPU? That goes without saying.
Apple iPhone 7's magical technology and the real-world MacGyvering required (Image: Ewan Spence)
The argument put forward is that Apple is rarely (if ever) first with new technology, but takes the time to perfect the technological advances and have them available in an accessible way. That’s a great press spin, but I feel the issue is more about minimizing risk rather than chasing critical acclaim.
Apple’s biggest issue is that with a very small portfolio of devices and a significant portion of company revenue coming from the sale of its smartphones it cannot afford to take risks in the way that other manufacturers can. Samsung’s Note 7 is a good example of the danger -- the South Korean company had a wide range of products to fall back on when the Note 7 recall saddled the company with a significant charge and no phablet revenue to cover it during Q4 2016. If a similar fate were to happen to an iPhone then Apple has very little depth on the bench to cover any loss of business.
Apple cannot take as many risks with its smartphone as the competition. Every year the iPhone needs to work out of the gate, it needs to have user confidence and significant sales every year and it needs to feel comfortable and familiar while also feeling refreshed and attractive.
The success of the iPhone is key to Apple’s ongoing success. Of course this year’s iPhone is going to be boring and predictable.The competition can race ahead like a hare in an inter-species Olympics. Apple is going to do its best impression of a tortoise and continue to rack up the victories with its evolutionary and incremental approach without taking any risks.
Now read how Apple could make a risk-free transparent iPhone...
