Report: Next iPhone Being Developed in Israel

Apple has just introduced the iPhone 7, but work has been going on for a while on the next model, to be introduced next fall – and according to Business Insider, the next iPhone will have strong Israeli roots. According to the site, much of the work on the iPhone 8 is being done at Apple’s facility in Herzliya.

The information comes from an alleged Apple employee, who mentioned the project in passing. According to the publication, “The employee was informed at the start of the conversation that they were talking to a journalist. When asked what Apple uses the Herzliya facility for, the source (who spoke only broken English) said ‘new products.’ The person added that Apple didn’t actually assemble products in Israel.”

Apple has some 800 employees – mostly engineers – at its Herzliya facility. Apple came to Israel in 2012 when it bought out start-up Anobit, and the following year PrimeSense. According to sources, the Herzliya office is Apple’s second-largest R&D facility in the world. On a visit to Israel several years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the Herzliya facility was “very important to Apple’s future.”

Apple had no comment on the report.