Likely bogus schematic of Apple's 'iPhone 8' surfaces on link aggregation site

Posted:
in iPhone edited April 2017
A new schematic has emerged purporting to be of the forthcoming "iPhone 8," but inconstancies with existing supply chain reports suggest strongly that it is a fake.




AppleInsider was informed of the existence of the "leak" hosted on Slashleaks. The diagram shows a relatively unadorned device resembling the iPhone 5 form factor, with a vertical camera module orientation, as opposed to the iPhone 7 Plus' horizontal one.

While the diagram aligns with no physical home button at all, it has no rumored vaguely teardrop shape suggested for the "iPhone 8," nor any indication of a curved screen at all -- even a gently curved one.

Scaled to a 5.1 or 5.2-inch screen size, commonly rumored to be the dimensions of the OLED screen on the model, the thickness of the device is about the same as the iPhone 5, and notably thicker than that of the iPhone 7.

The contributor of the leak to the site has a decent accuracy rate. However, the users of the site see inconsistencies, and are doubtful of its authenticity.

Apple is managing to retain its secrets a bit more in 2017 than it did in 2016. Many of the rumors floated in April of 2016 were true about the iPhone 7 -- but at this point, a mostly accurate case mockup including antenna positioning for the iPhone 7 was available in street markets in China.

Apple's "iPhone 8" is expected to be revealed alongside the "iPhone 7s" family in the fall of 2017, and use a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED panel with a 5.1-inch practical area, the rest being dedicated to virtual buttons. Other features rumored to be included in the device are a 3D facial scanner, and other sensors embedded in the front glass of the device.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    vlscoutvlscout Posts: 32member
    if true, someone high up at apple really loves the camera bump
  • Reply 2 of 24
    Errr... if you can read Chinese.
    The red characters says "This image is fabricated/fake"
    sdw2001cali1983jSnivelycornchip
  • Reply 3 of 24
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    vlscout said:
    if true, someone high up at apple really loves the camera bump
    Because physics. I'll take the benefits of improved camera technology over the minor annoyances of camera bumps any day of the week.
    edited April 2017 StrangeDaystmay1983
  • Reply 4 of 24
    Fake or not, that is probably not far off.
    1983
  • Reply 5 of 24
    jSnivelyjSnively Posts: 429administrator
    Bogus eh?


  • Reply 6 of 24
    sdw2001 said:
    If its likely fake, why are you even writing this story?  All you do is encourage more fake news.  Disappointed with AI.  Years ago, this was a place to really find often-credible rumors about future hardware.  Now we have 5000 word reviews and advertisements for "killer deals" every day.  Sad.  
    Pick your battles. You're mostly right about AI these days.

    But this particular one...fake or not, that is pretty close to mark...so it is worth sharing.

    Glass front and back? Check.
    All display front? Check.
    No home button? Check.
    Curved side/edge/band that separates back and front? Check.

    Fake or not, its probably pretty close to the real thing. It will be interesting to see in a few months how accurate it was.
    1983
  • Reply 7 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    sdw2001 said:
    If its likely fake, why are you even writing this story?  All you do is encourage more fake news.  Disappointed with AI.  Years ago, this was a place to really find often-credible rumors about future hardware.  Now we have 5000 word reviews and advertisements for "killer deals" every day.  Sad.  
    Gotta pay the bills.
  • Reply 8 of 24
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Here's a bit clearer explanation about where that schematic came from:

    "It doesn’t look a genuine iPhone schematic, and there’s a simple reason for that: it’s not. It was in fact created by Benjamin Geskin, who specializes in creating renders based on rumors.

    Geskin doesn’t claim that the drawing he created is anything other than his guess. What he does claim is that he is basing his drawing on sketches of a prototype by a factory worker. These source drawings (above and below) are as crude as could possibly be.

    Geskin is not without credibility when it comes to leaks. A render he created of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 based on a piece of protective glass was on the money, and about a week ahead of leaked views of the real thing."

    retrogusto
  • Reply 9 of 24
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    sdw2001 said:
    If its likely fake, why are you even writing this story?  All you do is encourage more fake news.  Disappointed with AI.  Years ago, this was a place to really find often-credible rumors about future hardware.  Now we have 5000 word reviews and advertisements for "killer deals" every day.  Sad.  
    We write stories like this because Apple is popular. As such, a press pool writer someplace who knows about Apple because he's owned an iPhone for four years, picks it up, and pounds out a kiloword about how YOU CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT THE NEW iPHONE WILL LOOK LIKE.

    Then, maybe, somebody will Google it, and see that it's probably not actually it -- although maybe close.
    gatorguyanome
  • Reply 10 of 24
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,311member
    gatorguy said:

    Here's a bit clearer explanation about where that schematic came from:

    "It doesn’t look a genuine iPhone schematic, and there’s a simple reason for that: it’s not. It was in fact created by Benjamin Geskin, who specializes in creating renders based on rumors.

    Geskin doesn’t claim that the drawing he created is anything other than his guess. What he does claim is that he is basing his drawing on sketches of a prototype by a factory worker. These source drawings (above and below) are as crude as could possibly be.

    Geskin is not without credibility when it comes to leaks. A render he created of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 based on a piece of protective glass was on the money, and about a week ahead of leaked views of the real thing."

    We're six months away from announcement, and there's no acknowledgement of the curved screen blending into the frame. I'm skeptical that this is as accurate as Geskin was "a week ahead of the leaked views of the real thing". Not seeing a camera flash either. This could as easily refer to the 7s, not the 8.
  • Reply 11 of 24
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member
    sdw2001 said:
    If its likely fake, why are you even writing this story?  All you do is encourage more fake news.  Disappointed with AI.  Years ago, this was a place to really find often-credible rumors about future hardware.  Now we have 5000 word reviews and advertisements for "killer deals" every day.  Sad.  
    As a news and rumor site, I want them to report exhaustively on all relevant news and rumors, and to provide some thoughtful commentary and analysis, which I think is what they've done here. If they had ignored the rumor, some people might have read it elsewhere and wondered why AI had missed the story. This way, they make you aware of it, but also help you decide how much to make of it.

    As for the "Killer Deals," I know what you mean, but I have also benefitted from a couple of them in recent months and saved a few hundred bucks, so I can't completely wish they'd go away.

    But I will say that I'm still waiting for my $10 rebate from the Apple TV that I bought from Adorama (via AI) in December, four months ago. I hate to think how much time I've wasted trying to get my measly $10, but at this point I guess it's just a matter of principle. I was eventually able to get them to confirm that the rebate had been processed and should be on its way, but that was probably more than a month ago.
  • Reply 12 of 24
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    Fake or not, that is probably not far off.
    That's what I was thinking too.
  • Reply 13 of 24
    nhughesnhughes Posts: 770editor
    Our purpose in publishing this story was to discourage (or get in front of) fanatical coverage without any proper context or analysis. Sometimes we choose to cover stories that are of interest to our readers with the sole purpose of explaining why the story itself is likely wrong. Because we are treading in rumors, we cannot actually prove whether the information is right or wrong, but we can certainly do our best to provide factual context that better informs readers.

    We can debate about this approach, but disparaging the overall quality of the site in your comments is not welcome. Further explanation can be found in AppleInsider's commenting guidelines:

    https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/184333/appleinsiders-updated-commenting-guidelines/p1
    gatorguyjSnivelyjbishop1039
  • Reply 14 of 24
    jSnivelyjSnively Posts: 429administrator
    nhughes said:
    [..]
    Further explanation can be found in AppleInsider's commenting guidelines:

    https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/184333/appleinsiders-updated-commenting-guidelines/p1
    *pours another shot*
    Nobody bothersh reasdsing the guidilines, Neil. NOBODY! *hiccup*
    cornchip
  • Reply 15 of 24
    spacekidspacekid Posts: 183member
    That looks more like a drawing, not a schematic. I think of a schematic as showing the electronic parts connected electrically.
  • Reply 16 of 24
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    nhughes said:
    Our purpose in publishing this story was to discourage (or get in front of) fanatical coverage without any proper context or analysis. Sometimes we choose to cover stories that are of interest to our readers with the sole purpose of explaining why the story itself is likely wrong. Because we are treading in rumors, we cannot actually prove whether the information is right or wrong, but we can certainly do our best to provide factual context that better informs readers.

    We can debate about this approach, but disparaging the overall quality of the site in your comments is not welcome. Further explanation can be found in AppleInsider's commenting guidelines:

    https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/184333/appleinsiders-updated-commenting-guidelines/p1
    Frankly, I think AI is great. Bigly. I read it everyday, and look closely at the deals and ads. I refer people to AI on social media. I bought Apple stock because of all the insider information right here.

    Phenomenal work. Keep it up. These critics are all losers.
  • Reply 17 of 24
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Those drawings look like every iPhone since the first iPhone 6. 
  • Reply 18 of 24
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    sdw2001 said:
    If its likely fake, why are you even writing this story?  All you do is encourage more fake news.  Disappointed with AI.  Years ago, this was a place to really find often-credible rumors about future hardware.  Now we have 5000 word reviews and advertisements for "killer deals" every day.  Sad.  
    As a news and rumor site, I want them to report exhaustively on all relevant news and rumors, and to provide some thoughtful commentary and analysis, which I think is what they've done here. If they had ignored the rumor, some people might have read it elsewhere and wondered why AI had missed the story. This way, they make you aware of it, but also help you decide how much to make of it.

    As for the "Killer Deals," I know what you mean, but I have also benefitted from a couple of them in recent months and saved a few hundred bucks, so I can't completely wish they'd go away.

    But I will say that I'm still waiting for my $10 rebate from the Apple TV that I bought from Adorama (via AI) in December, four months ago. I hate to think how much time I've wasted trying to get my measly $10, but at this point I guess it's just a matter of principle. I was eventually able to get them to confirm that the rebate had been processed and should be on its way, but that was probably more than a month ago.

    I'm all for rumors, but even those don't approach the quality we used to have.  Part of it is Apple cracking down, I think.  We used to get some great ones on Mac hardware.  My issue with this is they basically know it's fake and are printing it anyway.  
  • Reply 19 of 24
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    Why the vertically positioned lenses? Seems like the depth of the lower lens might conflict with the thickness of the screen. As it is now the lenses are well above the screen region. And where is the flash/microphone?
  • Reply 20 of 24
    vlscoutvlscout Posts: 32member
    igorsky said:
    vlscout said:
    if true, someone high up at apple really loves the camera bump
    Because physics. I'll take the benefits of improved camera technology over the minor annoyances of camera bumps any day of the week.
    Why not install a mirror in a 45 degree angle behind the camera opening, to deflect the light? Since the camera is on top corner of the phone, you then have the entire length of the phone (5+ inches) to install any "improved camera tech" that you want.
    tallest skil
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