iPhone 8

Rumors that this year’s iPhone will support long-range wireless charging continue, with a Chinese report suggesting that a Taiwanese supplier has signed a component contract with Apple. The Chinese-language Commercial Times report was cited by Digitimes.

Lite-On Semi has reportedly obtained half of the orders for GPP bridge rectifiers that will be used in the wireless charger for the upcoming iPhones, the report cited industry sources as saying.

Lite-On Semi’s share price on the TSE rallied by its daily 10% limit.

There have been long-running suggestions that Apple was holding off on wireless charging until it could deliver a long-range solution that wouldn’t require a charging mat …

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Facial and gesture recognition could be some of the flagship features of Apple’s new iPhone 8 expected later this year, according to one analyst. Cowen’s Timothy Arcuri (via Business Insider) believes the next iPhone will gain a new front-facing sensor that will be used for these features.

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Amid rumors of plans to move to the United States, cut iPhone orders, and expansions to India, Foxconn today announced that it saw its first-ever annual sales decline in 2016 since it went public in 1991. The company’s decline is being blamed on “lukewarm” demand from Apple, its biggest client, according to Nikkei.

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It’s looking increasingly likely that this year’s iPhone may adopt a predominantly glass design, with glass replacing aluminum for the rear casing. A report today suggests that Apple may also be switching back to a stainless steel frame, a design last seen in the iPhone 4 and 4S.

What’s less clear is whether that means a return to the flat-sided design used in the iPhone 4 through to 5S, or a curved edge like the iPhone 6 onwards …

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A new supply-chain report supports long-running rumors that this year’s iPhone will abandon aluminum in favor of glass back and front. The Digitimes report states that Apple will use a stainless steel frame to hold together glass panels along the lines of the iPhone 4 design.

The next-generation iPhone is expected to abandon its conventional aluminum back cover design and will adopt a new design using two reinforced glass panes and a metal frame in the middle. The metal bezel will be made of stainless steel using a forging process to enhance its sturdiness and reduce costs and manufacturing time.

The prospect of a mostly-glass design was first raised in a KGI note in April of last year, supported by subsequent reports from Foxconn, glass suppliers and elsewhere. The move seems likely in the light of other rumors regarding the iPhone 8 …

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You’re nobody in the analyst world unless you’re predicting a ‘supercycle’ for the iPhone 8 – a huge increase in sales over and above the normal level expected for a new iPhone. Pretty much every analyst on the planet is predicting one this year, with sales expected to exceed those of the earlier supercycle seen for the iPhone 6.

But Nomura says that even these predictions are under-estimating the likely popularity of this year’s iPhones …

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Now that we’ve officially hit 2017, much of the attention towards Apple has turned to the iPhone and what the company has in store for this new year. 2016 was more of an evolutionary year for the iPhone rather than revolutionary, but that’s not to say changes like the dual-camera design on the iPhone 7 Plus and Portrait Mode aren’t notable in their own right.

This year, however, it appears that Apple has a much bigger update planned for the iPhone lineup, with potential features including an all-new glass design, wireless charging, new screen sizes, and more. The rumors have caused many of us here at 9to5Mac to start wondering what exactly we’re most excited for come this fall….

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In this week’s top stories: Our iPhone 8 rumor roundup, Tim Cook says AirPods are a runaway success, Apple’s ‘New Year’ Apple Watch Activity Challenge, and Zac and Benjamin discuss what’s next from Apple in this week’s 100th episode of 9to5Mac’s Happy Hour podcast.

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What’s next for iPhone? 2017 will be Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone year and the latest intel shows it could be one of the biggest updates to the device in a long time. Bigger, better, and curved displays, an all-glass design, wireless charging, and a new embedded home button are just some of the features Apple is reportedly considering for the iPhone 8. Head below for our full roundup of everything we currently know about Apple’s next flagship.

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We’re still several months away from the next major iPhone launch so the rumors don’t paint a particularly clear picture of what to expect just yet. Digitimes points to a new supply chain report, however, that continues to believe a new 5.8-inch iPhone with an AMOLED panel supplied exclusively by Samsung is in the works…

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2017 is expected to be a big year for the iPhone and a new report from Japanese outlet Macotakara this evening claims that Apple is planning the addition of yet another iPhone model. According to the report, Apple plans to introduce a 5-inch iPhone with the refresh next fall…

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It’s long been reported that Apple plans to switch to an OLED display with at least one iPhone model in 2017, with supply and production issues being the primary reason not to bring the technology to all models.

This evening, Bloomberg has published a new profile shedding more light on the production of OLED displays and how Apple’s inclusion of the technology largely depends on one supplier in the Japanese countryside…

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When Apple launched the iPhone 5 with a new-fangled Lightning port – instead of the 30-pin dock connector that had been a standard feature on every previous generation of iPhone, as well as on iPods since 2003 – there was a great deal of outrage.

‘What about all the docks and speaker systems we own that have 30-pin connectors?’ was the question many asked. The decision was described as arrogant and unreasonable. Apple was accused of profiteering, by forcing everyone to buy new cables, docks and speakers.

Apple responded in three ways. It pointed to the undeniable technical superiority of the new port. It explained the difficulty of making ever slimmer devices with a port designed for much thicker ones. And it assured everyone that this would be the last change for a long time – that the Lightning port would be around for many years to come …

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One of Apple’s iPhone display suppliers has been rescued by a $636M bailout from the government-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, reports the WSJ. Japan Display had seen its display panel orders fall significantly in the face of keen price competition and a move towards OLED, a technology it does not currently produce.

The rescue could well be important for Apple …

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Rumors of Apple’s interest in long-distance wireless charging has been reported in the past, but now one of the company’s suppliers has formed a partnership with one of the leaders in the wireless charging industry. As detailed in a new report from Fast Company, Apple supplier Dialog has partnered with wireless charging company Energous.

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A report in the WSJ backs an earlier suggestion that Apple may be planning a hi-res curved-screen iPhone next year, possibly as a new top tier handset known as an iPhone Pro. The company is said to have gotten as far as prototyping the new device.

We’ve been hearing rumors for some time now of a third iPhone tier next year. The majority of these reports suggest that the top-tier model will be distinguished by an OLED screen while the two other models remain for now on IPS LCD – but we have heard one previous credible report of a curved-screen model …

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One long-running rumor for next year’s iPhone is the adoption of OLED screen panels. While the Apple Watch and the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar use OLED technology, the iPhone has stuck with traditional LCD panels. A new report from Bloomberg, however, says that supply constraints may thwart Apple’s plan to switch to OLED panels next year…

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Apple is expected to dramatically redesign the iPhone in 2017 while introducing at least one model with an OLED display. Supply chain analyst firm KGI Securities has now issued a new report predicting how Apple’s flagship iPhone lineup will look next year with new details on different screen sizes, display types, and camera features.

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Following on from previous rumors of a major redesign for the next iPhone, Barclays supply chain analysts are weighing in on their predictions for iPhone 8. They claim that the 2017 iPhone will feature a bezel-less design with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus including 5-inch and 5.8-inch screens, respectively. This compares with the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch panels used in the iPhone 7.

The report also shines some light on the AirPods mystery, claiming that production of Apple’s truly-wireless earbuds will begin in December (via MacRumors, Yahoo Finance).

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