Apple has given us the first preview of its new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The much-anticipated gadgets were revealed at a special event held at the Steve Jobs Theater in the technology giant’s new corporate headquarters, Apple Park.
Before we jump into the new iPhones and their features, let’s talk a little bit about Apple Park and the Steve Jobs Theater.
Apple Park and Steve Jobs Theater
Apple Park is Apple Inc’s new $5 billion headquarters. The vast campus sits on a land area of 175 acres and has a four-storied ring-shaped 2.8 million-square-foot building, a visitor center, an employee fitness center capable of serving up to twenty thousand employees, research and development facilities and the Steve Jobs Theater, a thousand-seat auditorium named in honor of its late founder.
The elegantly designed complex, which is located one mile east of the original headquarters, was opened to its employees in April 2016, although, according to a statement released by Apple in February, it would take more than six months to move all the employees to the new building.
They're putting the finishing touches on the #Apple Park Visitor Center--just outside the gates leading to the Steve Jobs theater. @CNET pic.twitter.com/PfQCiEGbBa
— Mariel Myers (@producermariel) September 12, 2017
The Steve Jobs Theater, where Tuesday’s event took place, sits on top of a hill a few hundred yards away from the main “spaceship” building. People entering the auditorium will no doubt be impressed by the cylindrical entrance with glass walls and a carbon-fiber roof.
We're at Apple Park, overlooking the Steve Jobs Theater for today's #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/hJbzsWQjiQ
— James Martin 📷 (@Jamesco) September 12, 2017
The entrance takes you to a massive empty hall with two large marble staircases on either side, descending to the auditorium.
Apple's new campus sure is photogenic (although it helps when @Jamesco is the photographer). #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/Unjw1iAke4
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) September 12, 2017
If you don’t want to take the stairs, as reported by Mark Prigg of Daily Mail, a specially-designed revolving lift can be used to get to the theater, which, according to journalists who attended the event, has leather seats with power ports hidden underneath them and a demo area.
Closer view of the rotating elevator in the Steve Jobs Theater. #AppleEvent #iPhoneX @CNET pic.twitter.com/icLdcliZem
— Mariel Myers (@producermariel) September 12, 2017
“Apple Park has been built to reflect Apple’s values,” said CEO Tim Cook, addressing the audience at the event.
.@tim_cook out in the demo area checking out the Steve Jobs Theater architecture #appleevent pic.twitter.com/BIMKv8U21F
— James Martin 📷 (@Jamesco) September 12, 2017
The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus
The features of the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus are pretty similar to its predecessors.
The key differences are that they are slightly heavier than its predecessors and contain A11 Bionic chipset (optimized for AR) with hexa-core processors, which means that they deliver greater performance than the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus which are equipped with A10 fusion chipsets. The new iPhones will also be packed with upgraded cameras and will come in 64GB and 256GB storage variants. Another key feature is wireless charging (which has been long-predicted), a feature which fans are reportedly quite excited about. Wireless charging, however, is already offered by Samsung and Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi.
While one might argue that the aforementioned features are hardly innovative, Apple also unveiled its high-end iPhone X in Tuesday’s 10th-anniversary event.
The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus will go on sale on September 22.
