iPhone 8 Plus
|
iPhone 8 Plus
A new generation of iPhone.
| ||
| Gold | Silver | Space Gray |
| iPhone 8 Plus — Technical Specifications (Apple Support) | ||
[ Show / Hide ]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The iPhone 8 Plus is a smartphone designed and marketed by Apple, announced on September 12, 2017, and released on September 22, 2017, alongside the iPhone 8 — and, like it, launched in the long shadow the iPhone X cast from the same stage. It was the final Plus model and the last big iPhone with a Home button, closing the line the iPhone 6 Plus had opened three years earlier.
The Plus formula's last outing was its most complete: the glass-backed body with Qi wireless charging, the six-core A11 Bionic with Apple's first Neural Engine, 3 GB of RAM, and the dual 12-megapixel camera — now with a larger sensor and the debut of Portrait Lighting, which used the depth map not just to blur backgrounds but to relight faces with studio-style effects. Reviewers rated its camera the best Apple had shipped, and for six weeks — until the X arrived — the best on any phone.
It launched with iOS 11, sold as the pragmatic big-phone alternative to the X through 2018, and was discontinued in April 2020 alongside the 8.
1 Design✎
The 8 Plus applies the generation's glass-sandwich construction to the 5.5-inch frame: color-matched glass front and back over an aluminum band, steel-reinforced, IP67-sealed, at 202 grams the heaviest iPhone yet sold. Gold, Silver, and Space Gray at launch, (PRODUCT)RED in April 2018. Qi wireless charging, stereo speakers, the Taptic Home button, no headphone jack, True Tone display — the full 8-generation kit, at Plus scale with the 1080p panel.
2 Hardware✎
| Developer | Apple |
|---|---|
| Generation | 11th |
| Announced | September 12, 2017 |
| Released | September 22, 2017 |
| Discontinued | April 15, 2020 |
| Predecessor | iPhone 7 Plus |
| Related | iPhone 8 · iPhone X |
| Successor | iPhone XS Max |
| Display | 5.5-inch Retina HD IPS LCD 1920 × 1080 (401 ppi) · 3D Touch True Tone · wide color (P3) |
| Chip | Apple A11 Bionic (2 + 4 cores · Apple GPU · Neural Engine) |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| Storage | 64 GB · 256 GB |
| Rear cameras | 12 MP wide, f/1.8, OIS + 12 MP telephoto, f/2.8 2× optical zoom · Portrait mode Portrait Lighting · 4K 60 fps |
| Front camera | 7 MP, 1080p |
| Battery | 2,691 mAh · Qi wireless charging fast charge (50% in 30 min) |
| Durability | IP67 · glass front and back |
| Colors | Gold · Silver · Space Gray (+ (PRODUCT)RED from April 2018) |
| Launch price | $799 (64 GB) · $949 (256 GB) |
| OS | iOS 11.0 ~ 16.7.10 |
The A11 Bionic and 3 GB of RAM made the 8 Plus computationally identical to the iPhone X — same chip, same memory, same camera silicon — a fact price-conscious reviewers repeated often: the $799 8 Plus was the $999 X minus the OLED, Face ID, and design, and plus a Home button many still preferred. Its 2,691 mAh battery, smaller on paper than the 7 Plus's, matched it in practice through chip efficiency.
3 Camera✎
The dual system evolved on every axis: a larger, faster 12-megapixel wide sensor, the f/2.8 telephoto, Slow Sync flash, and the A11's custom ISP driving 4K at 60 fps. Portrait mode graduated from beta, faster and cleaner-edged; Portrait Lighting (itself in beta) analyzed the depth map to simulate Contour, Studio, and Stage lighting — the first mainstream case of the Neural Engine restyling a photograph. DxOMark scored the 8 Plus the best smartphone camera it had tested at release.
4 Software✎
Shipped with iOS 11 and its ARKit debut; supported through iOS 16 (final: 16.7.10, 2024). The Plus landscape layouts died with this phone — the X's taller-not-wider geometry didn't support them, and they never returned.
5 Release and reception✎
Reviews framed the 8 Plus as the connoisseur's dodge: the year's best camera and fastest chip without the X's price or its unproven Face ID. Sales bore the logic out — the 8 pair outsold the X in multiple 2018 quarters, with the 8 Plus taking an unusually large share as big-screen buyers who might have gone X balked at $999. The familiar criticisms (fourth-year design, giant bezels beside the X, no bundled fast charger) accompanied it to a quiet, profitable finish, discontinued April 15, 2020.
6 Legacy✎
The 8 Plus ended the Plus/Home-button era holding the camera crown, and its role — the rational flagship beside a radical one — proved the template for every subsequent lineup split. Its dual-camera, Neural-Engine-lit photography flowed directly into the Pro line that succeeded it, from the iPhone 11 Pro to the current iPhone 17 Pro Max; its chassis, via the iPhone 8 and the iPhone SE, stayed in production until 2025 — the longest-lived industrial design in the line's history.