iPhone 8/Plus Review: With this traditionally beautiful powerhouse, should you really wait for iPhone X?

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are Apple’s newest handsets introduced during its first event at the new Steve Jobs Theater at its also new Apple Park campus last week. But you can’t possibly consider the new phones without noting that Apple this year is breaking from tradition and launching a third flagship model that is radically different than the 8 and 8 Plus. It’s called iPhone X, as in the 10th anniversary edition of the device. It is smaller than the 8 Plus yet has a bigger OLED screen with a controversial notch and it starts at $1000. We hope to have a review of it shortly.

The iPhone 8, however, is by no means a slouch of an update. I’ve been testing both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus (following some hands on time with the iPhone X at Apple’s event) and I must say the impressive update is way more than skin deep beyond the shiny new glass exterior…

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Here’s why new iPhones are always supply-constrained at launch

Whether it’s the upcoming iPhone X, Nintendo’s new Switch console or even Google’s Pixel last year, shortages of new electronics have become the norm. While the delay of the iPhone X launch past the iPhone 8 adds even more disappointment for consumers on top of expected constrained supply, you have to wonder, is it really just component shortages causing the issue? A recent piece in The Wall Street Journal takes a closer look at why there are always iPhone shortages and why it’s particularly worse this year.

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Apple Pay Cash payment feature won’t ship in time for iOS 11 and watchOS 4 launch

Apple previewed its new virtual debit card and person-to-person payment feature called Apple Pay Cash back at WWDC in June, but the feature wasn’t present in iOS 11 and watchOS 4 betas over the summer. Apple shared the final version of iOS 11.0 and watchOS 4.0 with testers last week, and Apple Pay Cash was still not enabled. Now Apple has acknowledged the missing feature and shared an update for when we can expect to see it ship.

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