iPhone 8 & iPhone 8 Plus
An upgraded iPhone that’s ready for AR
IF iPHone x is a little too rich for your tastes, then Apple has you covered with the upgraded iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, priced from $699 and $799, respectively.
Echoing the design of last year’s iPhone 7, the new models feature a toughened glass front and back (rather than the aluminum back of its predecessor), and include higher quality Retina HD displays with True Tone tech that uses ambient light to adjust output to look more natural.
Inside you’ll find the same A11 Bionic processor as the iPhone X, although since the iPhone 8 features a regular Home button with Touch ID rather than Face ID, the iPhone 8 uses its considerable power to help you enjoy Augmented Reality (AR) apps, and to help apps work faster and more smoothly.
Battery life is said to be on par with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, lasting for up to 12 hours of internet use (13 on 8 Plus), or 13 when watching videos (14 on 8 Plus). Like iPhone X, both iPhone 8 models can be charged wirelessly, and there’s fast charging support too, provided you have a USB-C adapter and suitable cable.
The other big changes concern the rear-facing camera, which has a 12MP image sensor. Its teamed with f/1.8 wide-angle and, on iPhone 8 Plus only, f/2.8 telephoto lenses. There’s optical image stabilization and an improved color filter to help you take nicer-looking pictures. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus also have Portrait mode’s Portrait Lighting enhancement to help you take studio-style snaps of people by lighting them more evenly, while still blurring backgrounds thanks to that mode’s shallow depth of field.
Otherwise, specs for both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are largely the same as with 2016’s iPhone 7. The iPhone 8 is available with a 4.7-inch, 1334x750-pixel display at 326 ppi, and a choice of 64GB or 256GB of storage. The iPhone 8 Plus has a 5.5-inch, 1920x1080-pixel display at 401 ppi with identical storage options. Both models are available in Silver, Gold, or Space Grey finishes. During our time with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus at Apple’s launch event, it became very obvious that that both models have only received an incremental upgrade, compared to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but the changes are probably enough to tempt you, especially given their lower price point compared to the iPhone X, or if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 6/6 Plus or 6s/6s Plus.
The real hook, of course, is the promise of augmented reality (AR) – a technology which overlays real-world settings with on-screen illustrations and animations. Back in June at WWDC, developers were shown several AR app examples, with Apple making a play for iPhone to become the biggest AR platform on the planet, thanks largely to the huge numbers of the device it sells. And since they’re more affordable than the iPhone X, the 8 and 8 Plus are likely to be in the vanguard.
Like iPhone X, both iPhone 8 models can be charged wirelessly, or quickly over USB-C