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Analysts reaffirm rumors of curved 5- & 5.8-inch 'iPhone 8' models in 2017

A new analyst report tells investors to expect both 5- and 5.8-inch curved, bezel-free iPhones in the future, after visiting production lines and suppliers in China.

Home button-less iPhone concept via Martin Hajek.

According to a research note published by Barclays Research and seen by AppleInsider, an "iPhone 8" design "didn't sound 100% locked down" but will shift to "a bezel-less design with screen sizes getting larger and curved edges in the original envelope."

Based on information gleaned from the trip by the analysts, and discussions with component suppliers, the 5.8-inch iPhone is said to feature OLED technology, with the 5-inch model having a LCD display.

Barclays does not believe that the discrete home button will be removed on the next version of the iPhone. Cryptically, the analysts say that they believe the screen's dimensions in the casing will "extend vertically as well as horizontally" overlapping the home button, but what that exactly implies isn't immediately clear.

Also not clear is exactly who Barclays met with. The reports have little or no new information, and appear to be little more than regurgitations of previous, hazy, reports out of China.

The report of 5- and 5.8-inch screens in any new "iPhone 8" aren't new, and have circulated since March. Reports from the supply chain differ regarding a 4.7-inch phone, with a report in October suggesting that there would be no 5-inch "iPhone 8," supporting the smaller size instead.

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17 Comments

wood1208

said about 7 years ago

Very simple. If iPhone 8 bezel becomes thin or bezel-less and screen covers most of front because the Home button is under screen than there is all kind of flexibility to sizes of iPhone 8.. And still overall size of iPhone don't increase. Hope, turns out true. love it.

lepton

said about 7 years ago

My thought is you fill the entire front with the screen. Where the bottom bezel was, that's where the iOS dock sits. Add a fifth, permanent icon to the dock, which is the Home button. The Dock stays visible in an app unless the app specifically asks, in which case it can be called up with an up swipe from the bottom edge, when you get the control panel coming up, with the dock at its top.

ireland

said about 7 years ago

lepton said:

My thought is you fill the entire front with the screen. Where the bottom bezel was, that's where the iOS dock sits. Add a fifth, permanent icon to the dock, which is the Home button. The Dock stays visible in an app unless the app specifically asks, in which case it can be called up with an up swipe from the bottom edge, when you get the control panel coming up, with the dock at its top.

Worse experience than now in my view. A better idea is no permanent doc, as you suggested, but rather the home button becomes a tiny dot the user can feel with their finger with the addition of a subtle visual hint perhaps painted into the glass, and the chin-bezel is greatly reduced vertically to perhaps half its current height. Nothing new to learn; always there; easy to use and understand; takes up less space.

You are trading ease of use, discoverability and the always-single-press design solely to get rid of the chin. My design reduces the chin by half and keeps current ease-of-use in tact. I'd prefer mine.

mrboba1

said about 7 years ago

Using the same dimensions as the 7 and 7+ with no bezel and a curved screen, the same size phone can fit both of these screen sizes, taking the entire width of the existing phones.

On the 5", it gives about 2/3 of an inch of non-screen space for the top and the bottom and the 5.8 would have over an inch. The 7 and 7+ both have roughly 1.3" each, give or take. So they can fit and still have some room for hardware outside of the screen.

I think they are going to fit these screens into the roughly the same sized phones we have now (maybe only different by a mm), because they wouldn't want to make them too different in size.

robin huber

said about 7 years ago

But what about the "curve?" Do they mean the glass? If so, curved surface, curved edges, both? Or do they mean the back case is curved?

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