We’re almost exactly a month out from the official announcement for the next iPhone generation and the rumour mill and leak machine is in full flow.

The latest leaks come with the new colour option and some photos of dummy devices:

And

With this look at the dummy units, there has been a bit of a debate on some of the technology sites over what these new phones will be called. Some are saying that these will end up being the; iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone 8 Pro or iPhone, iPhone Plus and iPhone Pro.

These are valid points as from these leaks and if they are accurate, the rectangle screen devices look a lot more than just hardware bumps on the iPhone 7 generation and as such, giving them the ‘s’ suffix is not going to be appropriate.

So, what’s my thoughts? Well I think we’ll get two defined name sets:

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus for the rectangle devices and for the newcomer, just, ‘The iPhone’.

Why? The standard naming convention for the rectangle phones matches with consumer behaviour. It’s an upgraded device family that will be readily available in massive numbers around the world. All the people that are on the two year cycle will upgrade to something with an even bigger number on a device that Apple have been able to create a lot of.

Now for the other device, it’s going to be in shorter supply, it may be in such short supply that only the only way to get one is direct from Apple and not from the carriers. It’s going to be more expensive and exclusive so it makes sense for Apple to push it themselves to start with.

Why the name ‘the iPhone’? Well, here’s the first draft of the script I would have written for September’s keynote:

Here at Apple, we’ve always been a forward thinking company. We’ve always done things differently and driven innovation through everything we do.

That said, we’ve never rested on what we’ve made, we’ve always worked to make everything better. A lot of people have invented things and never questioned and optimised what they have created. 

At Apple, we constantly ask how can we make things better. How can we make people’s lives better?

Ten year’s ago, we asked the question ‘can we re-invent the cell phone?’ and we did.

Well, today, we’re re-inventing it again. And we’re calling it ‘the iPhone’.

The first iPhone was the truest example of what a widescreen iPod, internet device and cell phone could be. It was the purest form of technology innovation in a device that truly changed it’s self into whatever a user needed it to be.

We’ve questioned every aspect of what an iPhone can be and from that we have created this new, revolutionary device. The iPhone.

I know, ruff round the edges, but Apple have a month to get that sorted out and ready for the presentation! Apple isn’t a company of sentiment, it’s a company of revolution and evolution. They would never launch an other ‘anniversary’ product, they are now more likely to rip up what they have and start again with everything they have learnt and now, they have learnt how to create the perfect iPhone (possibly).

We’ll see in four weeks.