Notable changes include the removal of the rose gold and jet black color variants,[10] addition of inductive charging, a faster processor, and improved cameras and displays.

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were discontinued as of February 2020, having sold 86.3 million units worldwide, making them one of the best-selling smartphones of all time.

A new AI-driven option is available for the iPhone 8 Plus, called Portrait Lighting--making use of the more capable image signal processor in the A11 SoC.

[15] The phones have glass backs instead of the complete aluminum housing found on prior models, enabling the use of Qi inductive charging.

It can fast-charge from a charger providing USB Power Delivery combined with a special USB-C to Lightning adapter cable supporting fast charging.

Samuel Axon of Ars Technica called the A11 processor "a marvelous feat of engineering", writing that it offers "industry-leading performance".

Axon also praised the cameras, writing that "The colors are great, and low light performance is very good for a smartphone".

[36] Chris Velazco of Engadget praised the speed of the A11 processor, the build quality and the "excellent" camera, while criticizing design familiarities with previous iPhone generations and limited water-protection levels compared to competitors.

[37] John McCann of TechRadar enjoyed the feel of the glass back despite criticizing the phone's overall design.

[28][48][49] On August 31, 2018, Apple announced that a "very small percentage" of iPhone 8 devices released between September 2017 and March 2018 contained a manufacturing defect in the logic board.

This fault affected iPhone 8 models sold in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Macau, New Zealand, and the United States.

Defective devices may experience unexpected reboots, a frozen or unresponsive screen, or may fail to turn on.