Richard Goodwin 21/12/2016 - 6:04pm

Apple will release three iPhone models in 2017… but you’ll probably only want one of them

Apple’s iPhone 8 – or, iPhone 7s – has been the talk of the town ever since the iPhone 7 dropped earlier this year. The main reason for the all the excitement about next year’s iPhone is because it will feature a new design language, the first major change in the three generations.

Multiple rumours have claimed there will be three iPhone models in 2017. But the latest intelligence suggests this year’s iPhone will be done a little differently; Apple will release two iPhone 7s handsets alongside a prime-time iPhone 8 model.

True to form, Apple will save all the big changes for its iPhone 8 model, which will of course cost more than the two iPhone 7s models. If all this is true, this is what we’re looking at for Apple’s 2017 iPhone line-up:

  • iPhone 7s 
  • iPhone 7s Plus 
  • iPhone 8

News of the trio of iPhones comes via Chinese site cnBeta, which claims the two iPhone 7s models are called D20 and D21, whereas the iPhone 8 – codenamed “Ferrari” inside Apple HQ – is called the D22.

“But the leaked documentation says that the iPhone 8 will have a different logic board design,” notes BGR. “The board should be divided into two parts connected by a flex cable. One board would house the A11 chip and NAND flash storage, while a second board will contain Wi-Fi, cellular, and other chips.”

The report does not mention anything about the removal of TouchID, an all-glass chassis or wireless charging.

However, the fact that Apple is differentiating this model from the two iPhone 7s models kind of points to big changes – it can’t just be an AMOLED display.

Either way, things just got a lot more interesting…