The iPhone 8 Must Impress
I’ve been long overdue for an upgrade. The iPhone 6 was released nearly 3 years ago and without a doubt, at the time, it was a well needed upgrade from my Samsung Galaxy S3. My experience with the iPhone 6 (64 Gb & 4.7 inch screen) and other Apple devices over the last three years has certainly influenced my opinion towards Apple. I’ll be a dedicated customer indefinitely.
Regardless of my customer loyalty though, the iPhone line has only marginally improved in recent years versus the Samsung Galaxy line. It’s still a slim (7.1mm), lightweight (138g) and mostly flat handset. Apart from the numerous hardware and feature improvements such as a water resistant body on the iPhone 7, new colors, storage capabilities, and camera improvements, I haven’t seen anything impressive that screams “Buy me!”. While the build quality and features seemed decent enough, I’ve been told that the battery life hampered the experience regardless with its larger battery. I am still hesitant to upgrade even with my current shitty battery life and after I horrendously cracked my screen.
By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is definitely more impressive. While it may be a little thicker (8mm) and heavier (156g), Samsung has set the bar at a new high with its glamorous, curvy screen which wraps around both sides of the phone. We thought 5.5 inches was kinda big on the iPhone 7, but Samsung took it up a notch to a breathtaking 5.8 inches or 6.2-inches with the Galaxy S8+ by moving the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone, adjacent to phone’s back facing camera. In addition, while both phones are water resistant, the S8 has a better IP68 certification versus the IP67 certification on the 7. This means it’s been tested at depths of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. By contrast, the iPhone 7 is IP67-certified, which means it survived a more shallow one meter dunk for 30 minutes. I suppose the iPhone 7 is best left in the kiddie pool.
With the S8 you’ll benefit with the higher pixel density clocking in at 567ppi versus the iPhone 7 clocking in at 326ppi. What this really means is that the S8 has a significantly sharper and more detailed screen display. Even the cameras on the S8 show a slight edge over the iPhone 7 with wider apertures and better megapixel cameras. Why has Apple been lagging behind?
Many iPhone users have been asking themselves the same question and are hesitant to buy the iPhone 7/7+. They’re both fantastic phones but it isn’t anything impressive when compared to competitor products. Numbers supported that point when Apple released its 2017 Q2 quarterly earnings on May 2nd. While revenue rose, iPhone sales fell short of expectations. Analysts expected 52.7 million iPhones to be sold versus the 50.8 million iPhones actually sold.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said, “We are seeing a kind of delay in purchasing behavior that we think is a consequence of the number of rumors and reports about future products.”
In anticipation of the 10th anniversary of the iPhone line, iPhone 8, analysts, tech bloggers, and users are expecting a major upgrade. With the current and newest iPhone, the removal of the headphone jack was a bold move by Apple. It forces users to begin to accept and use wireless products. Perhaps Apple will follow other industry leaders as devices become more well equipped with wireless and bluetooth enabled technologies, as we anticipate in the iPhone 8 with wireless charging.
Other companies have already enabled wireless charging for their smartphones. Samsung first introduced wireless charging in 2015 on Galaxy S lines which are known to be iPhone’s chief Android rival and has actively competed head-to-head with iPhone over the past decade. Along with Samsung, even Moto G, Microsoft Lumia, Google Nexus and Blackberry, smartphone lines support wireless charging. Blackberry? Yes.
The iPhone 8 without a doubt has a lot of catching up to do. Will investors, users, and tech bloggers be impressed? Here are some rumors and leaks that have surfaced recently. Most anticipate retinal and facial recognition software as additional security measures to the fingerprint scanner. Wireless charging and back/front camera improvements are also expected. But the most notable and anticipated improvement is the structural design improvements.
Last year Apple completely renovated the Mac Book Pro with its Touch Bar. We might see something very similar to it on the iPhone 8.
The Touch Bar replaces the function keys that have long occupied the top of your keyboard with something much more versatile and capable. It changes automatically based on what you’re doing to show you relevant tools you already know how to use — system controls like volume and brightness, interactive ways to adjust or browse through content, intelligent typing features like emoji and predictive text, and more. — Apple
This technology on the iPhone and maybe future iPad products could forever revolutionize the game for Apple. I’ll be the first to upgrade for sure if that’s the case. If the iPhone 8 doesn’t live up to its hype though, there will be a lot of disappointed people. The $300 billion that Apple has added to its market cap in the past 2–3 years could all be lost since much of Apple’s revenues heavily depend on iPhone sales.
