Apple iPhone 8 Plus Philippines Price and Release Date Guesstimate, Key Specs and Features

The 2017 follow-up to the best-selling Apple iPhone 7 Plus features slightly improved imaging capabilities but now has a far more luxurious build as well as a more powerful processor.

Although its overall footprint is largely the same as its predecessor, the IP67 Water and Dust Resistant Apple iPhone 8 Plus dons a more opulent construction which incorporates a tough, scratch-resistant glass panel at the back, reminiscent of what you'll see on current Galaxy S-Series models.


This glass sheet along with the anodized aluminum mid-frame and the 2.5D curved glass face makes this model look and feel far more opulent and perhaps even more worthy of having such an expensive price tag.


Apple iPhone 8 Plus' display is almost exactly the same as the older model. It's a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS panel that looks good when viewed from various angles. It's hardly the most pixel-dense screen in this price bracket but it's decent enough to give a good photo browsing and video watching experience.


I would like to give credit to Mr. Dieter Bohn of The Verge for all images that I used in this post.

As for imaging capabilities, this year's release also has a Dual Camera module at the back made up of two 12 MegaPixel optics with varying focal points and apertures. The main lens has an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization for steady stills and videos while the other has f/2.8 aperture and 56mm focal point enabling 2X lossless zoom.


The main optic in this Dual Cam set-up can now shoot 4K videos at 60 frames per second and Full HD clips at 240 fps, making the phone a powerful camcorder right in your pocket.

The two lenses work together to make Portrait Mode possible, which blurs out the background of the subject beautifully to deliver more interesting shots that look as if they were taken using a DSLR -- or at least, close to it.

One cool new feature of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus' camera app is Portrait Lighting, which allows you to add dramatic lighting effects to portrait images even before snapping the shot.


This imaging enhancement along with improved gaming performance and overall more snappy touch experience are made possible by the Apple iPhone 8 Plus' all-new hexa-core Apple A11 Bionic processor that ensures maximum power plus energy-efficiency.

A11 Bionic features a 2nd generation performance controller that delivers 70% faster multi-thread workloads and integrates a new Apple-designed graphics processing unit that's 30% faster and 50% less power hungry than what's in the Apple A10 of the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.


The Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and the Apple iPhone X are the first smartphones from the Cupertino company to support wireless charging, a feature that's been available on other flagship-level phones by other brands for more than 3 years now.

With it, you can use a wireless charging pad with Qi technology to add juice to your Apple iPhone 8 Plus. And what's great is that the handset also supports Fast Charging  that gives you 50% charge in just 30 minutes.


Are you more interested in this new iPhone over the other freshly announced models? Well, if you're in the Philippines, Apple's carrier partners - particularly Smart - have confirmed that they will be bundling the 2017 iPhone models with their postpaid plans. For those who want to get Apple iPhone 8 Plus without contract, prepare around Php 45,000, which is our price guesstimate for the base model having 64GB of internal storage.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name : Apple iPhone 8 Plus
Type : Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category : High-end (Flagship Level)
Dimensions : 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5 mm
Weight : 202 grams
Available Colors : Gold, Space Grey, Silver
Operating System : iOS 11
Display : Retina display, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density) widescreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, LED-backlit IPS Display, Multi-Touch display, 1300:1 contrast ratio (typical), Wide color display (P3), 625 cd/m2 max brightness (typical), Dual-domain pixels for wider viewing angles, Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front, Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously, 3D Touch, True Tone Display, Wide Color Gamut
Processor : Hexa Core Apple A11 Bionic Processor with embedded M11 Motion coprocessor
RAM (TBC): 3GB of RAM
Memory : 64GB and 256GB storage options, non-expandable
Camera :
Rear: All-new 12 MegaPixel wide-angle and telephoto cameras, Wide-angle: Æ’/1.8 aperture; telephoto: Æ’/2.8 aperture, Optical image stabilization, Optical zoom at 2x; digital zoom up to 10x, Live Photos with stabilization, Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos, Body and face detection, Quad-LED True Tone flash. Sapphire crystal lens cover, Backside illumination sensor, Hybrid IR filter, Autofocus with Focus Pixels, Tap to focus with Focus Pixels, Exposure control, Noise reduction, Auto HDR for photos, Panorama (up to 63 megapixels), Panorama (up to 63 megapixels), Burst Mode, Timer Mode, Photo geotagging, Portrait Lighting

Front FaceTime Camera: 7 MP photos, Retina Flash, Æ’/2.2 aperture, Auto HDR for photos and videos, Burst mode, Backside illumination sensor, Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos, Auto image stabilization, Face and body detection
Video Capture :
Main: 4K video recording (3840 by 2160) @ 30 fps, 1080p Full HD @ 240fps
Features ~ Optical Image Stabilization for Videos, Cinematic video stabilization, Continuous autofocus video Take still photo while recording video, Optical zoom at 2x; digital zoom up to 6x, Quad-LED True Tone flash, Face and Body detection, Slo-mo video support for 1080p at 240 fps
Front: 1080p up to 30 frames per second, Facetime over Wifi or Cellular, Auto HDR for photos and videos
Audio and Video Playback :
Video: AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
User-configurable maximum volume limit
Ports : 9-pin Lightning dock connector
Connectivity : 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology, LTE, NFC, VoLTE, GPS, GLONASS
Network (TBC): GSM model: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
CDMA model: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
GSM model: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
Sensors : Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity, Barometer, 3-axis Gyroscope, Fingerprint identity sensor
SIM Card Type : Single NanoSIM
Battery : Built-in Rechargeable Non-removable Li-Ion (TBD), Fast-charge capable up to 50% charge 30 minutes
Uptime : Talk time: Up to 21 hours on 3G
Standby time: Up to 384 hours
Internet use: Up to 13 hours on 3G, up to 13 hours on LTE, up to 15 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 14 hours
Audio playback: Up to 60 hours
Notable Features : New Durable Glass Back Panel, DSLR-Like Bokeh Effect in Portrait Mode with Portrait Lighting, 2x Optical Zoom, Apple A11 Bionic Processor, IP67 Dust-and-Water-Resistance, Stereo Speakers
Announcement : September 13, 2017 (1:30 AM Manila Time)
Availability : Apple's Key Markets: September 22, 2017,
TP Guesstimate for the Philippines: October to November 2017 via Smart and Authorized Apple Resellers
Official Release Date in the Philippines : TBA
Price :
Official SRPs in the United States:
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB w/o contract - $799 USD
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB w/o contract - $949 USD

TP Retail Price Guesstimate:
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB w/o contract - around Php 45,000
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB w/o contract - around Php 50,000

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