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iOS 11 leak reveals iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Posted: 10 September 2017 9:21 am

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Apple looks to be skipping the "iPhone 7s" entirely.

Apple won't formally announce its new iPhone handsets until early in the morning on Wednesday, Australian time but it appears that, at least in naming terms, there won't be anything to actually reveal.

A leak of the golden master of iOS 11 has been dug into by enterprising developers to reveal what are most likely to be the final names for Apple's incoming handsets.

Most pundits and rumours had tipped the existence of a premium "iPhone 8" model, upped in numbers to tie in with the 10th anniversary of the iPhone platform, but it appears from the code that this device, previously signalled as "D22" for internal development purposes will instead be the "iPhone X".

If you like suspense, you could always argue about how that's going to be pronounced, of course. Many referred to Mac OS X with its alphabetic pronunciation, while Apple internally called it "10", but we'll have to wait and see there.

For the two other models of phones, previously tipped to be the "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus", it appears that Apple's not keen on having those models seen as a significant downgrade from the iPhone X, and as such they'll head to market at iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus instead.

Rumours suggest that these handsets may feature LED displays, which Apple has used for its handsets in the past, while the iPhone X may feature an OLED panel sourced from Samsung with a possible very high price point and prospective delay in coming to market.

Other emergent details in the iOS 11 leak point to the use of facial identification for unlocking, possibly tying into rumours that the iPhone X may omit a fingerprint sensor "TouchID" platform at all, under the branding of "FaceID".

Can't stop watching this Face ID setup animation from the leaked iOS 11 GM build. So cute! pic.twitter.com/SMvjFo7Was
— Mike Rundle (@flyosity) September 9, 2017

The code also reveals animated emojis under the "animoji" branding which will apparently be dynamically created based on your own facial expressions.

It's not all software, however, with new colours for the Apple Watch 3 uncovered, suggesting that we'll see Ceramic Grey and Blush Gold revealed by Apple this week. A very slight revision to Airpods is also indicated, although the most striking difference there appears to be shifting the battery charging indicator from the inside to the outside of the Airpod battery case.

It is always possible that the names revealed in the iOS code aren't final, and Apple may go with other branding. We'll know for sure when the launch happens on September 13 (Australian time), and we'll be keeping you up to date with all the news.