No-one is sure what the 'iPhone 8' will really be called

iPhone 8 MKBHD

For all the hype and leaks around the upcoming "iPhone 8," there remains one area of uncertainty: Its real name.

No-one is sure what the eagerly anticipated flagship smartphone from Apple is going to be called.

We do know plenty of other key details about the device. Due to be formally unveiled on September 12, it will mark ten years since the launch of the original iPhone, and is slated to have an almost edge-to-edge OLED screen as part of a radical redesign.

The physical home button will be ditched in favour of on-screen options, while the camera is being revamped to take advantage of Apple's new augmented reality tech. It is also believe to feature facial unlocking technology and a glass back.

But the name is still a mystery. So what are the options?

8, Edition, Pro, X?

For starters, there's iPhone 8. This is what most pundits — myself included — are calling it by default while it's still not officially confirmed. It differentiates the high-end device from the other two iPhones Apple is also expected to launch on September 12. These will be more incremental updates, largely keeping the design of the iPhone 7 and (presumably) selling for cheaper than the iPhone 8. (These are sometimes tentatively being referred to as the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus — but more on them shortly!)

But there are other possibilities floating round for the iPhone 8. One is the iPhone Pro, a name suggested by Apple blogger John Gruber. It'd be in keeping with how Apple names its other high-end hardware products — the MacBook Pro, the Mac Pro, the iMac Pro, and so on.

iPhone 8 'notch' Another rumour that has got a lot of traction is the iPhone Edition. At the start of September, Apple news site 9to5Mac reported that phone case makers believe it will be use the "Edition" name, and are getting ready to print merchandise based on it. It's also a name that has been rumoured at least as far back as March 2017, and would make sense. Apple has named special edition products "Edition" before — just look at the $17,000 gold Apple Watch Edition.

A fourth option: The iPhone X. Dutch news site iCulture reports, citing an unnamed "reliable source," that the next iPhone will use the name "X" — an apparent reference to its tenth birthday. Evan Blass, a reliable journalist who specialises in tech leaks, lent weight to this theory, writing on Twitter: "FWIW, I've also heard 'iPhone X.'"

In short: While we know a lot else about the handset, the true name of the "iPhone 8" may remain a surprise until the official launch.

We might skip the -s this year

Copper Gold iPhone 8 Lastly, remember the non-special "iPhone 7s and 7s Plus" I mentioned? Well, they might not actually be called that.

Typically, Apple alternates its name for the iPhone each year — one year it's a new number, the next it's an -s. iPhone 5s in 2013, iPhone 6 in 2014, iPhone 6s in 2015, iPhone 7 in 2016. This implies that this year the regular iPhone is due to be the iPhone 7s — but multiple reports suggest it will instead be the iPhone 8.

Both iCulture and 9to5Mac believe that they will be called the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, while the higher-end special edition device takes a different name.

Just don't expect Apple to confirm or deny any of this, as it almost never comments on rumours. We'll have to wait until September 12 to know the truth.

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