Apple iPhone 8 Rumor Compilation

My hunch is that the thing everyone seems so sure about is false. (Wireless charging.) I don't think people want to be around devices that beam that much energy around. People are afraid of the energy that leaks out of a microwave oven by accident. The amount that would have to beam around the room to charge your phone is considerably more. Induction charger -- that could happen.

The most interesting thing to me is the smart connectors. You could put a damn fine projector on the outside of the phone with a setup like that...  Based on the leak cycle of last summer and fall, I think the smart connecters were real.

I also think that Apple is transitioning from trying to keep everything secret, to trying to distract. (I summarized that thinking here.... Stealth vs Chaff)

Augmented reality from Apple? If they do I think it will be a separate device. 

Apple AR/VR product due out in 2017 according to Sony Exec

MacWorld

Could the iPhone 8 get a smart connector, like those used on the 9.7in and 12.9in iPad Pro collection? Of course, as with any rumour/leak it's best to take it with a pinch of salt but according to a report from Mac Otakara, a forthcoming iPhone will feature a smart connector.

More recently, Logitech (or Logi?) has launched the Logi Base, the first accessory to utilise the iPad Pro smart connector for charging capabilities. As first reported by AppleInsider, the Base uses magnets to easily line up the iPad Pro with the charger, providing users with something close to wireless charging. It also means that you can pick up the iPad and walk away without needing to unplug it. While it's specific to the iPad Pro, it gives you an idea about what a smart connector on an iPhone could be used for.

This picture has been around for a while, but it's noteworthy in that SoftBank needs to be watched closely. Check out their holdings here. (which includes Sprint.) and a lot of telecoms and online gaming.  This is interesting, I don't know what will come of it yet.

One analyst, Andrew Uerkwitz, has predicted that the 2017 iPhone refresh will be the company's "last growth hurrah", before spiralling into a "decade-long malaise" as the market turns increasingly to lower-cost and second-hand phones. "The risks to the company have never been greater," Uerkwitz said to MarketWatch.

Monness Crespi Hardt analyst James Cakmak echoed Uerkwitz's sentiments. "Apple won't have it easy again for a while, if ever," he said.

iPhone 8 new features: Augmented reality and VR

In the Facebook post by Robert Scoble we mentioned earlier, one of the more surprising and detailed predictions concerns augmented reality and VR. "Really amazing VR/AR/mixed reality is coming to a phone, and coming by the end of 2017," Scoble writes. "Apple's entrance into this new world is like when IBM came into the personal computing world. It is that important."

He discusses the impact that a mixed-reality iPhone could have on the market, and predicts: "You'll look through the glass in mixed reality modes (think of a new kind of Pokemon game) either in the headset, or in your hand. Apple's purchase of Metaio is going to prove very key. I won't be shocked to learn that Peter Meier, CTO there, is in charge of the next iPhone strategy and has been for years."

Scoble isn't the only pundit predicting that Apple - and the iPhone in particular - are about to plunge into the world of augmented reality. Business Insider claims that the company is already working on ways to integrate AR elements into the iPhone's Camera app.

"By adding AR technology into the iPhone's camera software, Apple wants consumers to be able to point the phone at a real-world object and have it be recognised, according to Kris Kolo, director of the VR/AR Association and a board member of Flyby Media, an AR startup that was acquired by Apple earlier this year," writes the site.

Business Insider further predicts that the iPhone's camera app will be able to recognise "and manipulate" faces in augmented reality.