iPhone 8
What is the iPhone 8?
The iPhone 8 serves as a momentous device in the story of Apple’s smartphones. It’s the last of its kind, the last to use Apple’s old design language, launched alongside the then subversive iPhone X. Since then Apple has retired the hardware framework used by the iPhone 8 entirely, with 2018’s most ‘basic’ iPhone taking the form of the wholly new iPhone XR.
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Despite the shift in design for this year’s lineup, there’s still plenty of value in 2017’s iPhone 8, more so now perhaps than ever, as its price continues to fall. Today you can pick one up from Apple for £599/$599 and for some, the fact that its the last ‘small’ iPhone is reason enough alone to pick one up. Not to mention it benefits from the speed improvements that the latest iOS 12 brings to the table.
Apple iPhone 8 Post-Black Friday Deal
Apple iPhone 8 64GB Silver – 100GB of data on Vodafone
Apple iPhone 8 64GB Silver – 100GB of data on Vodafone
A phenomenal deal on the iPhone 8 with nothing to pay upfront for Black Friday. Perfect for heavy data users. Use the cashback system to get this phenomenal deal for just £30 a month.
iPhone 8 price
The most basic iPhone 8 configuration costs £599/$599, while the larger capacity 256GB model sells for £749/$749.
The top iPhone 8 deals right now
iPhone 8 64GB Silver - Handset only (Plus £40 Apple Store Gift Card)
iPhone 8 64GB Silver - Handset only (Plus £40 Apple Store Gift Card)
Buy an iPhone 8 from the Apple Store, and you'll get a £40 Apple Store Gift Card as part of the package.
iPhone 8 64GB Space Grey – 30GB of data on EE
iPhone 8 64GB Space Grey – 30GB of data on EE
This deal from BuyMobiles.net is incredible value, with a super low TCO of just £864. You're currently getting 30GB instead of 25GB, too, making this perfect for heavier users. As this is EE you also get 3 months BT Sport and 6 months Apple Music.
iPhone 8 64GB Space Grey – 45GB of data on EE
iPhone 8 64GB Space Grey – 45GB of data on EE
If you still need more data, then this offer is more than you can shake a stick at combined with absolutely nothing to pay up front. This is our top deal for the iPhone 8 at the moment. You also get 3 months BT Sport and 6 months Apple Music, too.
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iPhone 8 release date
The iPhone 8 launched at the tail end of 2017 and despite now being a year old, it’s still sold directly from Apple, along with availability from a number of carriers and other retailers. Check out our iPhone 8 deals page to nab the best price right now.
iPhone 8 – Design
The iPhone 8 represents the most refined take on the design Apple first offered up with the iPhone 6, back in 2014. It’s a conventional candy bar touchscreen device with rounded corners and curved edges, although the materials at play here are a little different from that of its progenitor. More in line with most other flagship phones from the last couple of years, the iPhone 8 swaps a metal build for a glass-backed design, while a band of aluminium now runs the phone’s edge, where you’ll find the volume rocker, antennas and lock switch.
Moving to a glass back isn’t solely for aesthetics but it certainly doesn’t hurt them. For one the phone looks and feels more balanced, and although it adds a little weight, it also improves grip, which is no bad thing. The added grams are less welcome on the Plus model but here, it feels just right.
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My one slight annoyance with the glass design is that it doesn’t quite blend into the aluminium rim as it did in previous models. There’s a notable lip between the end of the glass and the start of the metal, and my fingernail often gets caught in it. It’s a minor design quirk, however.
The obvious downside with glass is its fragility. The worry here is that a drop that wouldn’t have left any lasting damage on the iPhone 7 will leave the 8 with a seriously cracked rear. For instance, even though the Samsung Galaxy S8 is supposed to benefit from tough Gorilla Glass 5, my device ended life as a glittering mess of glass shards after a 2ft drop onto a wooden floor.
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I applaud Apple for switching to glass, but my overall view of the iPhone 8’s design is that it feels dull, predictable and quite some way behind Android flagships. The trend to trim the bezel surrounding the display – which provides more screen in a smaller body – can be found on the iPhone X and Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup but the iPhone 8 still sports a sizeable bezel and fairly small screen.
At least Apple has ensured the iPhone 8 is still IP67-rated for water-resistance, a feature that’s fast-becoming a prerequisite on flagship phones. It also retains the exceptional Taptic engine that provides thoroughly satisfying nudges and buzzes throughout the operating system.
Related: Best iPhone 8 deals
Apple’s handsets remain my preferred choice when it comes to the colourways available. There are three colour options for the iPhone 8 – not the five of the iPhone 7 or XR – but the gold is easily my favourite. This replaces the former gold option and Rose Gold; it’s an amalgamation of both. The glass on the rear of the device possesses a soft, almost ‘creamy’ quality, while the sides are a less vivid pink. It’s appealing, but not all in the Trusted Reviews’ office share this view. If gold isn’t your thing then the iPhone 8 is available in Space Grey and silver too.
It’s been a year since Apple killed the headphone jack, and to absolutely no-one’s surprise, it hasn’t made a return here. Having lived with the iPhone 7, I’d already become used to either picking up some wireless headphones or remembering to take the dongle – but it’s hardly ideal.
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iPhone 8 – Screen
At 4.7-inches, with a barely over-720p resolution, the display on the iPhone 8 doesn’t whip up much excitement. However, there is actually plenty to like here, and the few changes Apple has made do make a noticeable difference in use.
The main upgrade is True Tone, which first debuted on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. It’s a clever feature that dynamically alters the display’s white balance depending on the environment you’re in. It’s like the Night Shift mode in iOS, but on a hardware level. It sounds minimal, but it really does work to soften the blue tones in the display, with the end result making it more comfortable on the eyes.
Apple is also now supporting the Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats, so you can play back HDR movies from iTunes and supported content from Netflix. Unlike the iPhone X, which Apple claims has a ‘True HDR’ screen, the iPhone 8 doesn’t. Still, watching Mad Max in HDR does look noticeably better than on the iPhone 7.
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The rest of the display specs remain the same as before. It’s still an IPS LCD panel; if you want the perfect blacks and more vivid colours of OLED, you’ll have to plump for an iPhone X, iPhone XS, XS Max or an Android device.
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The resolution can make photos look slightly grainy but it remains one of my favourite displays for colour reproduction, and the support for the DCI-P3 wide colour gamut makes a huge difference in supported content. It also excels for use in super-sunny conditions – an area in which OLEDs often suffer.
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