iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone Edition to Go Up for Pre-Orders on September 15: Report

The new iPhone models are all set to be unveiled on September 12, and for the first time, the event will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus. The anticipation is understandably high, given Apple is celebrating ten years of the iPhone, and everyone is expecting big things from the Cupertino giant. The spotlight is going to be on the anniversary iPhone rumoured to be called the iPhone 8, iPhone X, or iPhone Edition. Leaks have been numerous, and fresh ones indicate that the new models will go on pre-order as soon as September 15. Furthermore, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo also has released a fresh note indicating that the new anniversary iPhone's prices are very high due to Samsung's monotony in OLED display panels as of now.

Starting with the launch information, German website Macerkopf claims that pre-orders of all the three 2017 iPhone models - recently rumoured to be called iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone Edition - are expected to begin on September 15 i.e., three days after the launch event. A previous rumour indicated that the iPhones would go on sale on September 22, giving fans a week to pre-order the phone and become early adopters.

The iPhone 8 / Edition / X is expected to sport a bezel-less OLED display panel, while the other two iterative updates are going to stick to LCD panels. A fresh report from Kuo, published by 9to5Mac, claims that the price of the anniversary iPhone is going to be very high solely because of OLED display. Because Apple has to rely on Samsung solely for OLED display supply, the South Korean giant is charging a huge amount for the order. This has forced Apple to increase the price of the smartphone, something that it doesn't desire to do, but it reportedly has no option left. Apple is rumoured to priceits OLED iPhone starting at $999 (roughly Rs. 64,000).

Kuo reports that Samsung is charging as much as $120 to $130 (roughly Rs. 7,600 to Rs. 8,300) for an OLED display, while LCD panels cost Apple $45 to $50 (roughly Rs. 2,800 to Rs. 3,200) only. The report notes that Apple is in urgent need for a secondary supplier, because of which it is investing heavily in LG to start sourcing OLED displays soon.

However, a recent Bloomberg report claims that Apple will have to wait till 2019 for LG to be strongly equipped to meet the Cupertino giant's OLED demands. LG is reportedly facing challenges like securing evaporation machines because of Samsung competition. LG is not yet able to meet production yields required by Apple, and the iPhone maker may have to rely on Samsung one more year for OLED supply.

Furthermore, Kuo also notes that the 3D Touch module is one of the main reasons for Apple to ditch Touch ID. The analyst believes that OLED along with the pressure sensitive technology creates an unfavourable scan-through performance for fingerprints, and that is why Apple chose to focus on facial recognition instead.

The new iPhone OLED variant is said to come in 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options - and be priced at $999, $1099 (roughly Rs. 70,400), and $1,199 (roughly Rs. 76,800) respectively. However, a recent report also suggests that the device will be launched only in the former two storage variants and be priced at $900 (roughly Rs. 57,600) and $999 respectively.