While we knew Apple has an event lined up on Sept. 12, the venue was still a matter of speculation. Not so anymore now that the Cupertino company has started sending out media invites for its event. And it confirms what was been speculated throughout, that it’s going to be held at the new Steve Jobs Theater built at the company’s sprawling Apple Park complex also situated in Cupertino, California.
So while that brings to an end one rumor stream, the other continues to rage ahead, that of the likely new announcements forthcoming during the event. What is a certainty though is that there will be the new iPhone 8 making its first official debut after months of rumors. Also, for a device that happens to be the brainchild of the iconic Steve Jobs, it couldn’t have been a better place to launch the landmark device as well, one that’s dedicated to the late CEO.
As for the device, there have been almost incessant rumors that paint a fairly complete picture of the anniversary iPhone 8. So we know there is going to be the edge-to-edge OLED display upfront, save for a narrow space on top where the front cam and other sensors are placed.
The rear will also be of glass, and in being so, it will allow for inductive wireless charging. Other niceties that the iPhone 8 will come with include a new 3D camera that will allow the face to be used for authentication. What is not known though is whether the device will indeed come with an under-screen fingerprint sensor.
Chances are that Apple will either have it integrated within the side home button or not have it at all, relying instead on the 3D cam as the sole bio-metric authentication tool. Or maybe Apple has achieved the breakthrough technology, that of integrating it within the front display after all.
Another unique aspect of the new iPhone 8 will be its vertically stacked rear dual lens camera. The rendered image leaks available so far point to the rear camera housing to be a bit raised from the surface, making it look a bit ungainly though.
The 10th anniversary iPhone 8 apart, there is going to be the regular iPhone versions as well. Going by convention, those are likely to be christened iPhone 7S and 7S Plus, meaning those would come as updated versions of the current model.
Details of the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus are limited but expect it to benefit from some of the features of anniversary edition model. Those include wireless charging along with maybe even the same rear dual camera too.
The iPhones apart, there is the new Apple Watch as well, one that will likely have its own LTE connectivity. The benefits of such a model will be obvious, as it won’t need to be tethered to an iPhone for its functioning. A few new watch straps are also expected to be launched, along with a more regular watch version sans the LTE chip. The latter should no doubt serve as a more affordable alternative and would require to be mated to an iPhone for its functioning.
That is not all as there could also be a new Apple TV launched during the event as well. Details are scarce on this but it is likely the new Apple TV will be 4K capable.
On the whole, what is almost a certainty is that the upcoming Apple event will be one of the most exciting we have had in some time.