It's no secret that smartphones have tended to get sleeker and less obtrusive over time. Screens are growing, but bezels are shrinking. In a very real way, the boundaries between us and our information -- our apps, our contacts, our very desires reproduced in pixels -- are melting away.

Impeccable performance; Great build quality; Excellent camera; Wireless charging works well; Early AR apps are very impressive; Impeccable performance; Great build quality; Dual camera works well; Solid battery life; Early AR apps are impressive

Design will be too familiar for some; No dual camera; The camera humps are back; Not as water resistant as its competitors; Design may be too familiar to some; The camera humps are back; Portrait Lighting modes need work; Can be uncomfortable to hold; Not as water resistant as its competitors

The iPhone 8 Plus offers slightly more than its smaller sibling . We are not only talking about the pure weight, which is substantial at more than 200 grams (~7 oz), but mainly the dual-camera. The display also features more pixels and you get 1 GB more RAM.

True-Tone display; fast SoC; great camera; accurate GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; high Wi-Fi performance; many LTE bands; water and dust protection; high build quality ..

..; but big and heavy, storage cannot be expanded, only 12 months warranty, no stereo jack, only average speakers, display resolution could be higher, heavier than the predecessor, very limited NFC functionality

If you are of a mind to anthropomorphise technology, you could almost feel sorry for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. They appeared for their moment in the spotlight, all gleaming and shiny with their new glass backs and wireless charging, ready to impress the fevered audience at Apple's Californian HQ...

Wireless charging; improved camera; augmented reality; the best iPhone to date..; but there's a but

Not enough to set either handset apart from the iPhone 7; the 8s feel immediately outmoded by the iPhone X

The most durable smartphone glass The Apple iPhone 8 Plus has a front and back made from the most durable smartphone glass ever. The glass is strengthened by fixing it to a laser welded steel foundation. This strengthening layer is now 50% deeper than before.

The iPhone 8 Plus should really be called the iPhone 7S Plus. Its updates don't warrant a full number bump, but they're welcome improvements that make the 8 Plus another great iPhone. Yes. For iOS users, your next best bet is the upcoming iPhone X .

Stellar performance; Great camera; fun Portrait Mode features; Wireless charging works well; Great display; Daylong battery

Expensive; Boring; dated front design; No headphone jack

Both the 8 and 8 Plus use Apple's new A11 Bionic processor, a hexa-core chip with two performance cores that are 25-percent faster than the A10, and four performance cores that the company says are 70-percent faster than the old model.

Incredible benchmark performance; Wireless charging; Improved stereo speakers; Improved cameras; Portrait Lighting (for the 8 Plus

Looks the same from the front; Mostly incremental upgrades; Not the iPhone X

The iPhone 8 Plus is a superlative phone with a spectacular camera, but wait for the upcoming iPhone X before buying: it promises to fold all of the key features of the 8 Plus into a smaller, sexier package.

Fantastic dual-lens camera shoots better than ever with improved portrait mode; Adds wireless charging; Lightning-fast speed; Starts at 64GB

Dated design; Most competing Android phones have even larger screens; Upcoming iPhone X could be a more compelling choice

Apple's iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are difficult smartphones to review. Both devices offer users excellent camera performance, a sleek-looking design and optimization for augmented reality (AR) content thanks to Apple's powerful new A11 Fusion processor.

New camera features are impressive; Qi wireless charging is great; A11 processor is a substantial upgrade over the A10

iPhone X is looming on the horizon; Not a big upgrade over the iPhone 7; Design is showing its age

I decided to order an Apple iPhone 8 Plus, which is a lot like the current iPhone, instead of the totally redesigned and highly anticipated iPhone X. I might regret it in a few months, but let me explain why I decided to go with one of Apple's more traditional iPhones this year.

The 4.7-inch iPhone 8 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus feature fresh looks, industry-leading power, and wireless charging.