iPhone 8 news, release date and rumored specs: 5.8-inch OLED display variant with curved screen coming?

Barely a year from now, Cupertino-based tech giant Apple Inc. is to release its next-generation iPhone in a seemingly more extraordinary ways as the firm is likewise about to celebrate its 10th-year anniversary on manufacturing the iconic smartphone. Understandably, a behemoth slew of features and new specifications have already begun surfacing, most of which are positively outlandish while some are competitive enough to lead the toughening pack again. All of these are almost definitive except for one crucial factor: the devices' sizes.

A few number of reports have already swarmed the rumor mills lately and they have been nothing but conflicting. Apart from Apple's regular 4.7-inch and the larger 5.5-inch offerings, other news outlets have tipped that the company may be bringing in another size variant. Noted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has luckily come to the rescue and eliminated some confusion on this matter. 

In his second report, Kuo has stressed that Apple will be releasing a 5.8-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display with a smaller actual active display area of between 5.1and 5.2 inches.

Kuo has noted, "We predict OLED iPhone will be 5.1-5.2", despite various market speculation. In terms of the display size of the OLED iPhone, current information from the upstream points to 5.8" while that from the downstream points to 5", which does not conflict, in our view. We predict OLED iPhone will adopt a 5.7-5.8" flexible OLED panel (with Samsung (KR) as the exclusive supplier). Nonetheless, 'for specific design purposes', the actual active area may be around 5.1-5.2". Other than the OLED model, we expect Apple to launch new 4.7" and 5.5" TFT-LCD iPhone models."

Kuo has previously stated that Apple will be launching three new iPhones in 2017 — the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch LCD iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus variants along with 5.5-inch OLED iPhone 8. Meanwhile, the OLED iPhone and the LCD Plus version are slated to come with the similar dual-lens rear camera setup.