By Mark Gurman
In June, Apple Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told Bloomberg: “We don’t feel an impatience to be first. It’s just not how we’re wired. Our thing is to be the best and to give the user something that really makes a difference in their lives.” He was talking about the unveiling of the HomePod, Apple’s late entrance to the smart speaker market pioneered by Amazon. But Cook could just as well have been talking about the next iPhone.
Due out this fall, the new smartphone arrives with lofty expectations. After all, this is the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone, a gadget that upended the industry and created an ecosystem of apps and accessories. However, the new iPhone won’t be a case-study of innovation, more a matter of perfecting features that are already out there in rival devices. Time and again, Apple has followed this “best, not first” philosophy, seizing on technologies and features bungled by rivals and implementing them well enough to spur widespread adoption. Proof of concept? More than 1.2 billion iPhones sold in the last decade.
Of course, plenty of other companies have employed the follow-and-perfect model. To cite one recent example, Facebook has debuted several photo features invented by social-media upstart Snap. But arguably no one does this better than Apple. The next iPhone will seamlessly mesh screen and charging technologies invented by others with such Apple innovations as a 3-D face scanner that unlocks the phone in a few hundred milliseconds. Apple declined to comment.
What's New in the IPhone 8
3D facial recognition sensor to unlock phone and make payments NEW
SmartCamera/
improved scene and object detection NEW
Infrared sensor to allow for in-the-dark facial recognition NEW
Inductive charging
Palm, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and Apple Watch
Reconfigured cameras for better augmented reality apps NEW
Longer power button
Stainless steel edges
iPhone 4 and 4S
Slimmer bezels
Samsung S8, Essential Phone, LG G6
Glass front and back iPhone 4 and 4S
INSIDE
iOS 11
(New software specific to Apple)
Nearly all-
screen design
Samsung S8 and Essential Phone
Tap to Wake
Android phones
Faster A11 processor, 10nm design NEW
OLED screen
Samsung S8, Motorola Z2 Force, OnePlus 5 phone
Virtual home button NEW
Samsung S8, Pixel, Essential Phone
As previously reported by Bloomberg, Apple plans to release three new phones: successors to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus as well as a new, revamped model that sits at the high-end. All will have the usual upgrades like faster processors, but the revamped model is where Apple will flex its best, not first, muscles, as well as some features that haven’t been tried before.
The two most noticeable involve the screen. The display will use a technology called OLED, which makes for better color reproduction and deeper blacks and whites. The screen will also take up nearly the entire front of the phone, save for thinner bezels and a notch at the top of the front to fit in the camera and new sensors. OLED screens have been the core of Samsung’s devices for the past few years, while the nearly all-screen front with no home button design was popularized by Samsung’s S8 and also appears in the Essential Phone Android co-founder Andy Rubin debuted last week.
Better Late Than Never
While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there first.
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
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App Store
● Apple
July 2008
● Android
Oct. 2008
● BlackBerry
April 2009
● Palm
June 2009
OLED screen
● Samsung (i7110)
Feb. 2009
● Samsung (Galaxy)
Nov. 2011
● 2017 iPhone
Sept. 2017
After Samsung, HTC and others led on AMOLED displays, Apple finally adds the high contrast screens to iPhone
● HTC
Feb. 2010
Inductive charging
● Palm
June 2009
● Samsung
April 2015
● LG
Sept. 2013
● 2017 iPhone
Sept. 2017
● Google
/ Nexus
Oct. 2013
Super-sharp
“retina” screens
● iPhone 4
June 2010
● LG
Oct. 2011
● HTC
April 2012
● Samsung
May 2012
LTE (faster internet speeds)
● HTC
Mar. 2011
● Motorola
Sept. 2011
● Samsung, LG
Oct. 2011
● iPhone 5
Sept. 2012
Fingerprint scanner
● Motorola
April 2011
● iPhone 5S
Sept. 2013
● Samsung
April 2014
Mobile payments
● Google (Wallet)
May 2011
● iPhone 6
Sept. 2014
● Google (Android Pay)
March 2015
● Samsung
Aug. 2015
AI assistant
● iPhone 4S
Oct. 2011
● Microsoft
April 2014
● Google
May 2016
● Amazon
July 2017
Water resistant
● Sony
Jan. 2013
● Samsung
June 2013
● iPhone 7
Sept. 2016
64-bit (high-speed) processor
● iPhone 5S
Sept. 2013
● HTC
Aug. 2014
● Samsung
April 2015
Dual-lens camera
● HTC
April 2014
● LG
Feb. 2016
Later efforts are for capturing depth information and adding bokeh in photos
Earlier dual-lens cameras focused on taking 3D photos—later efforts were to aid better photography
● Huawei
April 2016
● iPhone 7
Sept. 2016
Pressure-
sensitive screen
● Apple Watch
April 2015
● iPhone 6S
Sept. 2015
● Huawei
Oct. 2015
No headphone jack
● LeEco
April 2016
HTC, Essential Phone, several others followed shortly after
● iPhone 7
Sept. 2016
Slim bezels & all-screen front
● LG
Feb. 2017
● Samsung
April 2017
● Essential Phone
Aug. 2017
● 2017 iPhone
Sept. 2017
3D sensor
● 2017 iPhone
Sept. 2017
The added front-facing sensors will be for unlocking the phone with facial recognition
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2017
Other likely new features, spotlighted by code strings inside of an accidently released software package for the upcoming HomePod, include the ability to tap the phone’s screen to wake it up and inductive charging. The tap to wake feature has been available on Android phones for several years, while inductive charging first made its appearance in consumer handsets with the Palm Pre launch in 2009. Apple first entered those waters with the Apple Watch charger in 2015.
Apple is bringing some new ideas to the table. To replace the home button, the company is creating a software-based controls area at the bottom of the phone, which could be a step up from the basic controls on home button-less Android phones. Like the iPhone 7 Plus, the new device will feature two rear cameras, but now they’ll sit one atop the other rather than side by side, a configuration that could make augmented reality apps work better. This iPhone upgrade will also mark the first time that a smartphone maker’s complete lineup will use the same, more efficient 10nm processor (Samsung’s S8 features two different types of that chip depending on where you buy it). Upgrades to core technologies aside, the new iPhone’s crown jewel will be a 3-D facial scanning sensor that will unlock device and authenticate purchases—an industry first.
If history is any guide, the new iPhone will be a huge hit. Millions are already locked into the Apple ecosystem and trust the company to deliver its signature performance and elegance—even if some of features have been around for years.
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