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Tenth iPhone may be delayed

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2017
A concept image of a bezel-less iPhone 8 via MacRumors.
A concept image of a bezel-less iPhone 8 via MacRumors.

Apple is apparently battling with the design overhaul of its next smartphone, which could cause launch delays.

The company normally reveals a new iPhone in September each year.

2017 will mark the tenth anniversary of the Apple iPhone and the company is expected to completely redesign the smartphone.

There is speculation it will not follow the current naming system and be called something other than the iPhone 7S or iPhone 8. Various reports have called it the iPhone X.

Rumours around the redesign have included Apple following the current trend in minimising the bezels around the phone screen, like the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6, and doing away with the physical home button on the bottom of the screen.

The home button would be replaced with a virtual button that has a fingerprint sensor built into the screen.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves said in his note to investors that Apple was having trouble building the fingerprint sensor into the screen and this may cause delays or see the new iPhone ship without a sensor.

"Checks with suppliers suggest Apple is struggling with optical fingerprint functionality, which could lead to delays in supply of the coming OLED iPhone or elimination of fingerprint sensing in the OLED iPhone in favour of a biometric login that relies exclusively on 3D sensing," he said.

Biometric authentication could include facial recognition or iris scanning, which first appeared on the fiery Samsung Note 7.

The 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus were revealed in September last year and featured the same body and casing as the two previous iPhones.

Other rumours include the new smartphone featuring an all-glass body, moving away from the aluminium used since the iPhone 5, with an edge-to-edge screen.

MacRumors reports the next iPhone will have a faster A11 processor, no home button and at least one model with an OLED display. It says there may even be three models released, one with an OLED display and two standard.

The new display will allow the company to produce a thinner phone that uses less power and has a better display.

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