For most of us, the iPhone 8 will arrive in a pristine box, as if it materialized out of nowhere to land in our local Apple store.
Things are a bit different if you’re working on the iPhone production line, however. Two new videos give us a glimpse of what that looks like, as Foxconn employees work on the iPhone 8 rear shells. Check out the videos, which showed up on Chinese social media, below.
Foxconn Plant Videos Shows Alleged #iPhone8 Rear Shells (1)
(via https://t.co/HQGvdy3hy4) pic.twitter.com/oRKJhKlgaK
— Benjamin Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) August 14, 2017
Foxconn Plant Videos Shows Alleged #iPhone8 Rear Shells (2)
(via https://t.co/oihosp0i78) pic.twitter.com/zUUBfuUXVb
— Benjamin Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) August 14, 2017
Inside Foxconn
Foxconn has been outspoken about its desire to replace large numbers of workers with robots. Still, as can be seen in the videos, large numbers of people still toil at iPhone manufacturing.
For an insight into what it’s like to do this job, you can check out this article about an NYU graduate student’s six-week stint working on an iPhone assembly line in China. Foxconn is currently in the process of opening its first U.S. factories.
There’s very little that can be learned from these videos about the next-gen iPhones. However, they seem to contradict a previous report showing allegedly leaked photos of iPhone 8 handsets in Foxconn packaging — complete with rear-mounted Touch ID sensors. Most other reports have indicated that the new iPhone will come with facial recognition technology that will unlock the device.
At this stage, iPhone 8 manufacturing is well underway. In addition to the facial recognition technology, other notable improvements likely include an edge-to-edge OLED display, a redesigned chassis, an upgraded camera, a faster A11 chip and more.
The iPhone 8 will likely be revealed next month, alongside the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus handsets.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “iPhone 8 production line revealed in new videos”
The phones on the first video have space grey color and no glass back. All the rumors indicate that the Iphone 8 will only be available in white,black and blush gold (or copper gold) not space grey so i assume this report is false!
So, you think this report is wrong because it doesn’t match rumors? This video may or may not be false, but matching popular rumors is by no means a valid way of determining if these videos are authentic or not.
the success rate of these rumors are very high especially when it comes from Ming-Chi Kuo and he was very clear of the colors of the iphone 8! Also a glass back is a given just simply because you need a glass back for wireless (inductive) charging and the phones on this video have no glass! Most likely this is a production line for a case manufacturer. I also think Apple/Foxconn have a much cleaner production line (look at the water bottles) than this.