Every year, Apple's flagship iPhone generates quite a lot of buzz, months before the launch. This year is perhaps doubly true for it also happens to be the tenth anniversary of the original iPhone. The upcoming iPhone 8 has already seen a bunch of rumours and speculations, the latest being that the device could have an all-glass front and back held together by a stainless steel frame.
The latest report comes from Digitimes, which falls in line with KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's report way back in April 2016 that Apple will not use aluminium or plastic in 2017. According to the latest report, Apple could fashion the iPhone 8 after its vintage iPhone 4 design which had an all-glass body.
(Also see: Apple iPhone 8 Specifications, Release Date, and More: The Rumours So Far)
"The next-generation iPhone is expected to abandon its conventional aluminium 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 report further adds that the components of the body will be manufactured by Foxconn and US-based Jabil - the same companies that supplied the stainless steel frames for the iPhone 4.
Apple has depended on an aluminium casing so far with its recent flagships including the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s. The glossy Jet Black variant of the iPhone 7 went down well with fans and was perhaps Apple's way to test if people were ready to accept an all-glass iPhone.
The steel frame forging process would be 30-50 percent cheaper than the current unibody CNC machine process, and would give better quality control, according to Digitimes' sources. Furthermore, the bezels on the side are also reported to be steel.
The report also confirms the addition of Wistron as one of the manufacturers of the upcoming iPhone along with Foxconn and Pegatron Technology.
If the rumours so far of an all glass iPhone 8 are true, this would also back a few other rumours such as the loss of a physical Home Button and wireless charging. Apple will likely embed the Home Button and Touch ID into the display along with the selfie camera for a near bezel-less design, as it looks to be the popular trend in 2017 with Samsung rumoured to follow the same with the Galaxy S8.
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