Apple officially announces iPhone 8 launch date: What to expect

Apple has officially confirmed the launch date of its upcoming flagship handset, the iPhone 8. The company sent out invites to members of the media on Friday. The event will also not only showcase the much-anticipated smartphone, but also a number of the company’s newest gadgets.

The annual iPhone launch is taking place at the Steve Jobs Theatre at the tech titan’s new Apple Park “Spaceship” campus in its Cupertino base in California. The event will be held on September 12, Tuesday, at 10:00 a.m. PST. For Australians who want to catch the conference live, that’s 3:00 a.m. on September 13, Wednesday.

“Let’s meet at our place,” Apple wrote on the invites. “Please join us for the first ever event at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Cupertino.”

The iPhone 8 is the Mac maker’s tenth anniversary handset. That fact alone is reason enough why the anticipation for the smartphone is at an all-time high. The phone is expected to pack new enhancements never-before-seen in previous generations.

Some of the likely features of the upcoming Apple handset include an almost bezel-less design, an all-new 5.8-inch OLED display panel, wireless inductive charging, fast cable charging, 3D facial recognition functionality and a vertical main camera. The new iPhone isn’t expected to come with a home button and Touch ID in favour of the new enhancements. The device, however, is projected to house the latest cutting-edge A11 chip as well as run on iOS 11.

Accompanying the tenth anniversary handset are the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus, which are expected to retain the current models’ LCD displays, making the iPhone 8 the premium unit. The 7s variants should include a few of the high-end model’s enhancements, though, including the A11 processor and wireless charging. The tech giant is also expected to unveil the fifth generation Apple TV and the new Apple Watch 3 at the event.

The new Apple TV will have 4K and HDR support, features that fans have been waiting for for a long time. The Apple Watch 3 is reportedly going to have its own cellular connection, allowing the wearable to independently make phone calls, browse and send messages without a smartphone’s help. The iPhone 7s, the iPhone 7s Plus and the iPhone 8 should be available globally about a week and a half after the launch, just in time to compete with rival Samsung’s newest flagship, the Galaxy Note 8, which arrives on September 15 in the US and UK, and September 22 in Australia.