Apple iPhone 8 To Feature iPhone 4-Like Design With Stainless Steel Frame Holding Front, Back Glass Panels Together

To create its 10th anniversary iPhone, which is claimed to be called the iPhone 8, Apple is looking back at an installment from the past. A new report from China is saying the Cupertino giant is borrowing design elements from the iPhone 4 to make its upcoming smartphone.

On Tuesday, Chinese newspaper Digitimes reported that Apple is reviving the stainless steel frame of the iPhone 4 and using it to perfect the design and look it is going for with the iPhone 8. The iPhone 4 used stainless steel frames from Foxconn and U.S. company Jabil. With the nearing launch of the iPhone 8, Apple is said to be ordering the same component from the same companies.

The steel frame has a major function aside from complementing the aesthetic of the device; it will be the one responsible for holding together the glass panels Apple is using on the front and the back of the next-generation iPhone.

The inclusion of the stainless steel frame in the design of the iPhone 8 could only mean that Apple is abandoning its usual aluminum iPhone back design and will instead focus on keeping the two glass panels together while also ensuring that the costs of manufacturing would not be that expensive.

The idea that Apple is preparing a mostly-glass iPhone for this fall season was first raised by KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is already a reliable insider when it comes to all things Apple. Kuo announced in April of last year that the iPhone 8 will be having glass panels on its back and front with a metal band to hold these two together.

According to 9To5Mac, Apple’s Jony Ive has long been planning to come up with a smartphone that’s just a “single slab of glass.” Somehow, Samsung’s biggest rival is moving toward that goal since the iPhone was previously reported to just embed the Home button and Touch ID scanner into the display to ensure the almost edge-to-edge design of the device.