Rumors rename 'iPhone 7s' to 'iPhone 8,' leaving moniker for Apple's $1000+ OLED model up ...
A pair of reports from differing sources claim that Apple has allegedly shifted branding of the 2017 iPhones, with the "iPhone 7s" family now being called the "iPhone 8" -- but the name of the high-end OLED device is in conflict between the two sources.
On Friday, a fresh rumor suggested that the "s" cycle will be skipped this time around, for the first time since the third refresh of the iPhone in June 2009. The report by iculture.nl claims that the phone formerly designated by rumormongers as the "iPhone 8" would in fact be called the "iPhone X" (pronounced as ten) -- a name previously bandied about, and still informally used by one Wall Street analyst.
Separately, a pair of accessory and case makers on the floor of Berlin's IFA trade show also told 9to5Mac that the new iPhones were going to eschew the "iPhone 7s" branding, and skip straight to the "iPhone 8" name for the entire range. Those same sources claimed the high-end phone would be called the "iPhone 8 Edition," not "iPhone X."
The second report claims information on the new iPhone names was gleaned from a major global carrier, and confirmed by some case manufacturers.
Both accounts can't be correct. Final packaging and marketing choices are likely amongst the last to be made, as ramping up cardboard box manufacture takes significantly less time than phone design and assembly does.
Also not clear is exactly how much information case manufacturers have during the iPhone development cycle, or how much general staff at carriers are told before official release. In the past, case manufacturers have bet on accuracy of rumors, and have sometimes been burned by the gamble.
Regardless of what they are ultimately called, Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones with the high-end OLED model, and two other devices expected at a Sept. 12 press event. Also expected is a refresh of the Apple TV adding 4K video as a playback option, and an LTE-equipped Apple Watch.
On Friday, a fresh rumor suggested that the "s" cycle will be skipped this time around, for the first time since the third refresh of the iPhone in June 2009. The report by iculture.nl claims that the phone formerly designated by rumormongers as the "iPhone 8" would in fact be called the "iPhone X" (pronounced as ten) -- a name previously bandied about, and still informally used by one Wall Street analyst.
Separately, a pair of accessory and case makers on the floor of Berlin's IFA trade show also told 9to5Mac that the new iPhones were going to eschew the "iPhone 7s" branding, and skip straight to the "iPhone 8" name for the entire range. Those same sources claimed the high-end phone would be called the "iPhone 8 Edition," not "iPhone X."
The second report claims information on the new iPhone names was gleaned from a major global carrier, and confirmed by some case manufacturers.
Both accounts can't be correct. Final packaging and marketing choices are likely amongst the last to be made, as ramping up cardboard box manufacture takes significantly less time than phone design and assembly does.
Also not clear is exactly how much information case manufacturers have during the iPhone development cycle, or how much general staff at carriers are told before official release. In the past, case manufacturers have bet on accuracy of rumors, and have sometimes been burned by the gamble.
Regardless of what they are ultimately called, Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones with the high-end OLED model, and two other devices expected at a Sept. 12 press event. Also expected is a refresh of the Apple TV adding 4K video as a playback option, and an LTE-equipped Apple Watch.
Comments
I certainly hope it's not called the Edition. Apple will double the price.
(Just noticed that @randominternetperson had a roughly similar post...)
7S/S Plus will be good.
For the exclusive model we usually called iPhone 8 I think they will choose for XE or Edition or simply X !
Apple were never going to release a '7s' and an '8' at the same time!
"iPhone Pro" was a far better guess than "iPhone 8" for the higher tier phone.
The so called "7s" is actually a major redesign of the 7 which has been consistently misrepresented in the media as a "minor update".
I long argued for "iPhone Edition" because I think Apple need to kind of 'anti-sell' the constrained, high end phone. They need to send the message that the high end phone is not the standard phone for most customers. Calling it the "Edition" will achieve this.
Even calling the revised LCD phones based on a four-year-old design the 8 and 8 Plus is ridiculous. They represent at least two generations of stagnation and are not worthy of carrying the flagship nomenclature.
I'm going to give credence to this rumor though as it is precisely what I would expect from Tim Cook. Try and fool people by giving outdated designs a new model designation and convince them the new "Pro" model is something extraordinary when it is simply getting back to parity with what other competitors are already doing.
One potential cure to the copycat effect would be for Apple to give products highly personalized names in a manner similar to macOS "High Sierra." If Apple were to release an iPhone with a name like "Spitfire" or "TomCat" then it would be highly unlikely that copy-master Samsung would copy that sort of name for their own "comparable" product. Perhaps I give Samsung too much credit, but I cannot imagine that they would stoop to such a low level as to copy a product name like "Spitfire" or "TomCat." They do have a high tolerance for shame - but copying a personalized name would probably go a bit too far.
I'm not suggesting that Apple use those names or anything like the names used by Google and Ubuntu for their respective operating system versions, but there is some rationale in applying a small amount of personalization filter to fend off the copiers like Samsung who operate at the blatantly stupid level.
iPhone seXy ?
The problem with that is consumers will have a hard time remembering which (inferior, stagnant) model is which when they are throwing the money at Apple like mindless sheep.
Personally, I'll probably go with the GS model this time around.
- The problem with iPhone Pro is that the phone does not have new pro uses compared with the LED iPhones.
- As for iPhone X, meaning iPhone 10, that leads to confusion with having an iPhone 8 being released with an iPhone 10/X.