iPhone 8 and 8 Plus come with rear glass body, A11 Bionic SoC and wireless charging

The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have design changes, which almost never happened in the ” s ” variants (except for the obvious transformation of the Home button to include the Touch ID in the 5s). Presenting them as a 7s would also have tricked them too much with the monster at the top, the iPhone X, with which they share some of the novelties.

Changing aesthetically is specifically the back shell, which brings us back to the times of the iPhone 4 / 4s returning to use the glass; as we will see later, this design choice has a precise motivation. Apple still ensures that it is the most durable glass ever used on a smartphone. Aerospace aluminum, back to the frames.

Like the iPhone 7 of which they are direct successors, they are protected against water and dust, IP67 certificates. The two already available dimensions are already known for screens, 4.7″ and 5.5″, as well as the underlying technology, or IPS. However, iPad Pro comes with the True Tone mode, which according to the surrounding environment will automatically adjust brightness and color temperature, reducing potential eye strain.

There is also a lack of color gamut and visual enhancements at different angles. Further revised the audio compartment, with more powerful stereo speakers, even in bass reproduction.

Inside, we find the A11 Bionic SoC. New suffix, that replaces the previous fusion. The total number of cores rises to 6, divided between 2 high performance and 4 mainly focused on energy efficiency. Unlike the Fusion architecture, which could only use one of the two sets of nuclei at a time (or the most powerful or the most sophisticated ones), here all six can be used at the same time when needed to achieve maximum power.

Specifically, the high-performance A11 core is 25% faster than the A10, while for low-power core, the increase reaches up to 70%. Another novelty is the GPU, entirely developed by Apple: full independence from Imagination Technologies from now on for all future products. Compared to the custom PowerVR of the A10, performance has increased by 30%.

The apple graphics chip supports Metal 2 graphics libraries as well as CoreML for increased reality. In general, the A11 Bionic has been significantly optimized for all operations related to the AR and the so-called machine learning, also intended for virtual service such as Siri.

Looking at the photographic sector, from the outside you may think it is all the same. The dual rear camera remains exclusive to the Plus model, while the 4.7-inch one has to be comfortable with the single. Even the megapixel share is the same, 12. Behind the scenes, the sensors and the image processor have been redesigned to increase both the speed and quality of shots.

The wide-angle camera now opens f/1.8, while the second telephoto camera on the iPhone 8 Plus is f/2.8. As in the predecessors, optical stabilization is only present on the main sensor. In addition to optical zoom and Portrait mode, the Plus will be able to show you additional modes such as Portrait Illumination that lets you shoot close-ups with Apple’s light games similar to those that would be obtained with the instrumentation of a professional studio.

There is also a quad-tone LED flash for night catches. Video recording has a lot of respect since the 4K resolution with the frame rate up to 60 fps is supported; the latter figure is well 240 if you are filming at 1080p. To improve even more the yield, Apple worked on stabilization and on a new HEVC encoder. Finally, for the front camera, 7 Megapixel and Retina Flash, which increases the brightness of the screen for a few seconds.

Now let’s go back to why the rear glass body came back. That is the support for wireless charging. Compatibility with Qi standard will allow it to be used with all existing and compatible accessories. Some manufacturers, such as Belkin and Mophie, will be optimizing charging bases. A novelty for those who will still prefer the classic cable method is the fast charging mode, recovering up to 50% of autonomy in half an hour.

The average duration of use is almost unchanged with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and the ” fake ” Home ID Touch ID is confirmed as well as the major sensors and wide connectivity (LTE Advanced, Wi-Fi 802.11ac dual band, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / QZSS satellite navigation).

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will be available from September 22 in many countries. The pre-orders will begin on Friday, September 15th. The available shades will be gray sidereal, silver and gold, a curious step back considering the removal of pink gold and jet black. Interesting cuts, with the base that doubled for the second year in a row: 32 goes to 64 GB. No intermediate cut, passing directly to 256 GB. The increase in archiving contributes in part to offset another slight increase, that of price compared to the iPhone 7 base. Those with the largest cut have slightly decreased. Here is the list below:

• iPhone 8 : 64GB $699, 256GB $849.
• iPhone 8 Plus : 64GB $799, 256GB $949.

It is also interesting to notice how the iPhone range has been greatly expanded. As we have already said, on the iPhone 8, there will be the iPhone X, which we will soon talk about in a dedicated article. Below in addition to the iPhone 7, we will find not only the small SE, but also its 6s brothers. Here’s how prices changed:

• iPhone SE : 32GB $349, 128GB $449.
• iPhone 6s : 32GB $449, 128GB $549.
• iPhone 6s Plus : 32GB $549, 128GB $649.
• iPhone 7 : 32GB $549, 128GB $649.
• iPhone 7 Plus : 32GB $649, 128GB $749.