iPhone 8 to Feature 5.8-Inch OLED Display With 5.15-Inch Main Screen and Virtual Buttons Below https://t.co/ZCzMAXQCxj by @julipuli pic.twitter.com/rG7hsE9LbD

— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) February 15, 2017

MANILA – Apple Inc. will likely launch this year a premium iPhone, which discards the home button in favor of a 5.8-inch screen, to mark the 10th anniversary of its most profitable product, according to a report.

The display, however, will have just 5.15 inches of usable space, with the rest reserved for virtual buttons, tech website MacRumors reported, citing KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a solid reputation for predicting Apple products.

The OLED screen will occupy almost the entire front face of the device. Apple will release two other phones with home buttons and dimensions similar to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to the report.

Priced at $1,000 (P54,000), the top-tier phone will also feature wireless charging and an iris scanner, the report said. According to earlier leaks, the fingerprint scanner could be incorporated into the screen.

The design of the current editions of the iPhone has been largely the same since 2014. Apple has also stuck with LCD displays, while its rivals use OLED screens that produce richer colors and deeper blacks.

Kuo’s report said the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones this year will have only minor improvements.

Apple last year broke its cycle of a major iPhone redesign every two years with the iPhone 7 line, which added waterproofing and dual cameras on the larger model to a three-year-old shell.

• READ: Smartphone revolution blazes on as iPhone turns 10