Apple makes iPhone 8 and 8 Plus AR ready

As rumoured, Apple skipped the “S” iteration of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and instead unveiled three new iPhone models- iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X along with the third generation of its smartwatch with LTE-functionality and a new 4K Apple TV at its maiden event in the new Steve Jobs Theater on its new campus.

With improved optics and a new A11 Bionic processor, Apple is touting iPhone 8 as the first smartphone 'designed for augmented reality.' According to Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Apple's Worldwide Marketing, iPhone 8's AR capabilities are top-notch: competitive multiplayer done in AR, or real-time stats overlaid on an in-person baseball game were just some of the demos.

In terms of design, the iPhone 8 could well be called iPhone 7 without the charger. Except for the new glass fronts and backs and the wireless charging, the new models look quite similar to their predecessors. As expected, the iPhone 8 models will support Qi wireless charging with an optional charging pad. Thankfully, Qi (pronounced “Chee”) is an open standard that has been in the works for nearly a decade and lots of Qi chargers are already out there.

Both handsets, which are available in silver, space grey and pink-gold colour schemes, have glass on the front and back, and are water- and dust-resistant too. They run Apple's new A11 Bionic chip that has six cores and a 64-bit design. It's divided into two low-performance cores and four high-performance cores, with the regular cores being 25 percent faster than the previous A10 chip, and the high-performance cores being up to 75 percent faster than the A10 SoC.

iPhone 8 display now comes with True Tone technology, also used in 10.5-inch iPad Pro to automatically adjust the screen based on the ambient light in the room to offer more accurate colors.

In terms of optics, there’s a new 12-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 8 that is larger, faster, and has optical image stabilization. The Plus model, on the other hand, has the dual-camera setup like the 7 Plus did, but features new sensors and new f/1.8 and f/2.8 apertures. Apple has a new feature for its iPhone 8 camera called ‘Portrait Lighting’ that works in addition to its existing Portrait Mode. The feature uses machine learning to analyze the images taken with the camera in real-time, letting you change the lighting effects either in preview, or after you’ve taken the photo using the Photos app.

The iPhone 8 will start at $699 for a 64GB model, while the 8 Plus will start at $799 for 64GB of storage. Both models will also have larger 256GB variant. You can preorder them starting September 15, and they'll begin shipping from September 22.