iPhone 8 Retail Price Likely At $870, May Have 2 SIMS Using Smart SIM Cards

Competition in the smartphone industry has become tougher following the release in late March by Samsung of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus that featured an infinity display. Apple reportedly is matching the feature, or even coming up with a better screen by featuring a 4mm bezel for the iPhone 8. Another area the next flagship would compete is the price point.

OLED Adds To Higher Price

UBS, a financial services company, believes the iPhone 8 would have a retail price of $870 in the U.S. which is the price of its Samsung competitor. However, the iPhone 8 with larger storage space may cost $1,000 or higher. The price estimate made by Steven Milunovich, a UBS analyst, takes into account that the next Apple flagship would have an OLED screen, PC Advisor explains.

The anticipated $870 price is higher than the retail price of $769 for the 32GB iPhone 7 Plus. Milunovich believes Apple fans would not mind a slight price increase for the iPhone 8 because it would have a number of features not found in older models such as the OLED screen, Touch ID and 3D sensor. The analyst projects 45 percent of smartphone shipments during fiscal 2018 would be the iPhone 8 which would surely please Apple stockholders, 9To5Mac reports.

Rival Supplies Apple With OLED Screens

However, when the iPhone 8 would sell in other countries, it would likely be higher priced because of taxes. Ironically, it is rival Samsung which is supplying Apple with OLED screens. The display of the upcoming flagship are brighter and more colorful than the screen that the Cupertino-based tech giant uses on its older iPhone models, CNBC notes.

Finally, BGR raises the possibility that the iPhone 8 may have two SIMs. However, unlike other phone brands that have two card slots, Apple may use eSIMs or smart SIMs, based on new patent applications in 2016 published recently by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent 20170099285, titled “Methods and apparatus to support Global Platform stage on an embedded UICC,” could save space inside the next flagship by not using two physical SIM cards, BGR reports.