iPhone 8 concept images imagine rumored stainless steel sides – with curved glass edges

With a succession of reports suggesting that Apple is abandoning its aluminum casing in favor of a return to a glass and stainless steel design for this year’s iPhone, a new concept image gives another take on how this might look.

KGI first reported that Apple was working on a design with glass back, with later reports from Foxconn, glass suppliers – and a more recent report suggesting an iPhone 4-style flat-sided stainless steel band. When we ran a poll on this, the majority of you liked the idea, but suggested that flat sides with curved edges would be ideal, and that’s what we see in this latest concept … 

The concept by Imran Taylor has a slim stainless steel band connecting tapered glass edges at both front and rear of the phone, suggesting something that may be more comfortable to hold in the larger sizes of current iPhones.

Apple last used a flat-sided stainless steel band with glass back design in the iPhone 4s, though the iPhone SE adopts a similar shape in aluminum.

The rear of the phone shows the glass back with a vertical dual-camera arrangement that has also been suggested. It additionally shows an iPad Pro-style Smart Connector that has not been rumored.

Additional images show the same design in gold, rose gold and silver.

There’s also a video (with terrible soundtrack), though this combines the latest images with an older concept featuring a weird dual display that has obviously been superseded by current expectations of a Home button embedded into the display itself.

What do you think of the basic design? Would this mix of flat-sided stainless steel merging into curved glass edges meet concerns about comfort when holding the phone? As ever, let us know your views in the comments.