Apple made it official Thursday (Aug. 31) by sending out an invite for a big event on Sept. 12, in which the long-awaited iPhone 8 will launch.
According to a news report in The Verge, the Sept. 12 event invite doesn’t say much, just, “Let’s meet at our place,” which the report noted is a reference to it being the first event the company is hosting at the Steve Jobs Theater located at its new Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
With Apple using September to roll out new iPhones, the market expects that to now happen on Sept. 12. Apple is also expected to launch two new iPhone 7s, an Apple smartwatch, Apple TV and iOS 11 software.
For several weeks now, if not months, rumors and speculation have been abounding as to what the new iPhone 8 will look like. As of last week, the rumor mill was pointing to it having a curved OLED display, facial recognition technology and a price tag of $1,000. As for the Apple smartwatch, rumors have been abounding that it will be able to make phone calls and won’t have to be tethered to an iPhone in order to operate.
One thing the iPhone 8 may not come equipped with is a Touch ID, which allows people to unlock their phones by using their fingerprints, a biometrics feature that increases data security. But with a potential new Apple TV and upgraded iOS 11 software to look forward to, would the biometrics feature be missed?
Apple’s invite to Apple Park comes amid reports that it will delay the launch of the iPhone 8 device until November or December. According to a recent DigiTimes report, which cited The Economic Daily News, the two ODMS (online data management systems) for the upcoming iPhones — Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron — have not reached production levels that would result in mass production of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED display) smartphone. The news came amid other stories indicating production of the new iPhone 8 had already started. Still other reports have Apple shipping the iPhone 8 in the middle of September.