Rumors

A new report in the Taiwan-based newspaper Economic Times (via Reuters) claims Apple plans to cut iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus production by nearly 50 percent in November and December. Cutting production of its latest flagship iPhone before the holiday shopping season would typically be a bad sign, but Apple is most likely preparing for the launch of the iPhone X.

Analysts believe that Apple plans to focus on the iPhone X which delivers a radical new design and new Face ID feature. However, Apple shares still "fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading on Thursday as brokers and traders speculated over poor demand and cuts in production of the iPhone 8," according to Reuters.

Apple reportedly has engineers working on a stylus for the iPhone. Despite Steve Jobs' famous lines disparaging smartphones with a stylus ten years ago, times have changed. The iPad Pro supports Apple Pencil, and devices such as the Galaxy note come with the accessory. Should Apple launch an iPhone-compatible pencil, it wouldn't be available until 2019.

In a recent interview with the Japanese fashion and design site Brutus Casa (via 9to5Mac), Apple’s design head Jony Ive explained that the iPhone X is the end of a long-term goal to design what he called a "single slab of glass." Ive also noted in the interview that the iPhone X is a "new chapter" for the iPhone and the "beginning of its development." Tech bloggers have already begun speculating what's next for the iPhone based on Ive's comments, and yesterday the first rumor of a flexible device started to spread. For years there has been talk about bendable screens and see-through smartphones, but the most likely scenario for the future of the iPhone is the development of more Face ID features. However, that hasn't stopped the Korean publication The Bell from claiming that Apple is working with LG to develop a foldable OLED panel.

Developers have been digging up a lot of unverified details about the rumored iPhone 8 in the recently released HomePod firmware. On Monday, new information regarding the device's possible 4K capabilities was uncovered, and today, iOS developer Steven Troughton-Smith dug-up some interesting code that provides insight into Apple's new virtual Home button.

Apple is expected to ditch the physical Home button found on all current iPhone models in favor of a digital button on the iPhone 8. The new Home button will reside at the bottom of the edge-to-edge OLED display of the next-generation model.

Depending on who you believe the iPhone 8 may be in short supply come September. According to the Economic Daily News (via 9to5Mac), all three rumored next-generation iPhone models have yet to start mass production. The new 4.7- and 5.5-inch "iPhone 7s" models will not even begin production until August, and the iPhone 8 may not be available until November.