The iPhone 7 is barely settling into our pockets, but already Apple is developing the hardware for next year’s tenth-birthday iPhone 8 — at least according to a somewhat dubious new report, citing a source in Apple’s Israel office.
The report claims that hardware for the next-gen iPhone is being developed at Apple’s offices in Herzliya, Israel, and is being referred to internally as the iPhone 8. If true, this would represent a change in Apple’s naming convention, which would suggest that next year’s iPhone will be the iPhone 7s.
According to Business Insider:
“The employee, whose identity is being concealed by Business Insider, solders components for Apple. This person didn’t give too much away about the new handset other than it will be ‘different’ to the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7, which have been criticized for being too similar to their predecessors.”
Elsewhere, it is claimed that the new iPhone will have a “better camera” than its predecessor, although this is hardly news, given that Apple improves its camera technology every year.
There are around 800 employees in Apple’s Herzliya office, which has existed for around four years. It was set up after Apple acquired flash memory designer Anobit in 2012 and 3D sensor developer PrimeSense in 2013. Apple has also acquired Israeli camera firm LinX since then.
Apple allegedly uses the facility to develop hardware such as chips, storage, cameras and wireless technologies. Tim Cook has previously stated that the Herzliya office is Apple’s second largest R&D facility in the world.
Apparently the office could do with a memo reminding employees about NDAs, however.
