Apple may have unveiled the long-awaited iPhone 8, but all eyes were on its bolder, more daring sibling: the iPhone X.
The audience was certainly buzzing with excitement when it was hinted that another iPhone besides the 8/8 Plus was about to be revealed during the first Apple Park event. Frankly, there was no way anyone could’ve prepared for what they would see: a sensational-looking, Home button-less, radically different iPhone X.
Beyond aesthetics, it looks like this iPhone is a beast under the hood. Let’s take a closer look at this newest iPhone and know why tech experts are already calling it the “future of iPhone”.
iPhone X Features
Sure, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are incremental improvements over the iPhone 7/7 Plus. The iPhone X, however, is a radically different concept and it looks the part, too.
Here are its key specifications:
- 5.8-inch HDR OLED, edge to edge display
- 2346×1125 pixel resolution (458ppi)
- Surgical grade, stainless steel frame
- 143.6mm x 70.9mm x 7.7mm
- Glass on front and back
- Water-resistant IP67
- No Home button
- Dual 12-megapixel camera (f/1.8 and f/2.4 aperture) with dual Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and faster Image Signal Processor (ISP)
- Portrait mode on front and rear camera
- Apple A11 Bionic 6-core SoC with Apple GPU
- Face ID
- Stereo speakers
- Fast-charge and wireless charging capable
- iOS 11
Design
The iPhone X easily turned heads at its unveiling because it looked shockingly new. It deviates from a tried-and-tested design formula and the bold decision earned a lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” from the eager crowd.
The first thing you’ll notice is how it has the largest screen on any iPhone to date. It surprisingly achieves this feat without making the device any bigger than the iPhone 7. This daring design comes at a price, though. The iPhone X dropped the Home button in favor of a bigger screen real estate.
Long-time iPhone users will probably not welcome the change readily. The Home button has, after all, offered users a simple way to get back to the comforts of the home screen despite the iOS’ growing complexity. The functionality isn’t totally gone, though.
On iPhone X, you can get back to the home screen by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. To bring up the multi-tasking function, simply hold your finger on the screen a little longer. It substitutes holding the Home button down for a few seconds in previous iPhones.
Even with the pros and cons of design, there’s little doubt that the iPhone X has been the most exciting iPhone we’ve laid our eyes on in years.
Display
For years, iPhones stuck with LED panels while most of their flagship competitors slowly moved to the more robust OLED screens. The latter, after all, is more efficient, has superior dark scenes, and better than LED displays in many ways.
With Apple finally making the jump to OLED, we’re now looking at an iPhone unlike we’ve ever seen.
iPhone X boasts of a sharper resolution at 2436×1125 (458ppi) and a wider aspect ratio. You bet it’ll make for a better movie-watching experience while you’re on the go.
It sure took Apple a while, but we’re glad they finally realized what they’ve been missing out on the OLED technology.
Camera
It doesn’t look like iPhone X’s cameras are a massive departure from the iPhone 8’s, but they are. It comes with a dual 12-megapixel rear camera setup and that’s a ground-breaking improvement in its own right. More importantly, Apple has put in much-needed advancements in the iPhone X’s shooter.
Pixels on its camera aren’t only larger, the Image Signal Processor (ISP) is also much faster. Apple, in fact, promises the iPhone X’s cameras to have 83% more light in the photos and 36% more light for the rear sensor. The second rear camera is armed with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), too.
What these upgrades mean is that the iPhone X should snap better low-light pictures, with reduced blur and noise. Its shooters come with a new color filter to produce more accurate and deeper colors in every snapshot, too.
Its selfie cam is, arguably, the most advanced we’ve seen on a smartphone. For one, it takes Portrait photos that blur the background in your selfies the way the rear camera can. It even unlocks your phone via facial recognition even when you try to do so in the dark.
Hardware
Bad news, audiophiles: the headphone jack hasn’t made a comeback on the iPhone X. Instead, users will have to use a pair of Airpods, wireless headsets, or Lightning-cabled headphones with the latest iPhones.
Move past this oversight and you’ll see that the iPhone X has been designed with efficiency in mind. It’s built with a hexa-core system-on-chip (called the A11 Bionic chip)—two more cores than iPhone 7’s quad-core setup. The Cupertino giant even claims the iPhone X’s performance cores are 25% faster than the iPhone 7’s. Its high-efficiency cores (commonly utilized for more mundane tasks), on the other hand, are 70% faster than the A10’s.
The iPhone X’s A11 chip comes with a second-generation performance controller, too. The said technology improves multithreaded workloads by 70%. Despite these exciting developments, the public hasn’t been given info about the amount of RAM on the iPhone X. This didn’t stop experts from speculating that iPhone X will probably ship with the same 3GB RAM as that of the iPhone 7.
What all of this suggests is that the iPhone X is a performance beast that can take on whatever and as many tasks as you can throw its way.
Battery Life
We find it quite surprising that Apple didn’t even announce that the iPhone X comes with fast-charging. This means you get half of its total battery life back in as little as 30 minutes of charging. No doubt, an absolute boon for owners who are always on the go.
That’s just the start. The iPhone X also supports wireless charging so you can power it up with any Qi charger you already own. We’re more excited about Apple’s announcement of its own charging pad, the AirPower, though. The fact remains that Qi wireless charging at the moment is, frankly, sluggish—twice as slow as charging by cable.
It’s interesting to note that Android users have been benefiting from these same features for years. There’s little doubt, though, that these are certainly welcome additions on the newest iPhone.
We have yet to test the latest iPhone X’s battery performance, though. We’re hoping it replicates the iPhone 7 Plus’ excellent staying power.
Conclusion
With iPhone X, Apple clearly has another hit on its hands. It isn’t only gorgeous and powerful, it could very well be the direction succeeding iPhones will take. The only glaring downside we’re seeing so far is that one would have to shoulder a hefty price tag to get their hands on this masterpiece.
If you’ve got $999 to spare and you’re itching to own this tempting handset, you’ll have to wait until October 27 to be able to pre-order the iPhone X. Can’t wait to swap your current Apple smartphone with the latest on the shelves? Pre-order the iPhone 8/8 Plus now or wait until it officially sells on the September 22.