Three new iPhone devices with wireless charging expected in 2017

10 Feb 2017

In its 10th year, the new generation of iPhone devices from Apple will need to be special. Image: Image: LevanteMedia/Shutterstock

This year is the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and Apple has some surprises up its sleeve, including three new devices with wireless charging.

The rumour mill surrounding the launch of new iPhone devices is kicking into gear and tongues are flapping over the latest claims by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo, in a research note, said that the new iPhone generation will come with an OLED display and glass casing.

The new devices may come under the iPhone 8 brand, or perhaps Apple will do a Microsoft on it and call them the iPhone 10 generation to celebrate the decade since the smartphone launched in 2007.

Ming the wireless

According to MacRumours, Kuo said that the new family of devices are expected to debut around September or October.

Kuo, who has an uncanny knack of being on the pulse of Apple rumours, said that it will come with a new 3D Touch module that will have additional graphite sheet lamination to prevent the device from overheating.

This is something that Apple will want to get totally right if it wants to avoid the costly debacle that befell Samsung as a result of its faulty Note7 devices.

As a result, it will also be $5 more expensive for Apple to make each device, adding fuel to rumours that the most high-end generation of iPhone devices could retail at more than $1,000 in the US.

It is understood that the smartphones, which are also rumoured to come without bezels, will have all-glass casing, which again is less efficient than aluminium for cooling the devices, contributing to a rise in internal temperature.

The back of the device is also expected to be made of glass.

“While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and thus, steady operation. This is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D Touch sensor in OLED iPhone,” Kuo said.

Apple iPhone device. Image: LevanteMedia/Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com