iPhone X vs iPhone 8 vs. iPhone 8 Plus: Which Newest Apple Phone Should You Get?

The ultimate showdown: iPhone X vs iPhone 8 vs. iPhone 8+. Do you stick with the familiar iPhone 8?

Should you go big with the iPhone 8 Plus? Or would you rather spend big bucks on the iPhone X?

Apple spoiled us for choice at its recent event by unveiling three new iPhones: the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X. That’s certainly plenty to choose from if you’re planning to upgrade your phone this year. Bent on getting yourself any of these new iPhones? We’re sure you’d ask: which one suits me? Stick around and we’ll help you decide what latest iPhone works best for you.

Tale of the Tape

Judging by their looks, you can tell that the newest iPhones may share an identical feature or two. A closer inspection, however, will show you that each model differs from the other.

Take a look at their specs:

Now, let’s go over a few aspects that you have to look into when choosing the right iPhone for you.

Design

The iPhone 8/8 Plus are, frankly, no massive departures from previous iPhones in terms of design.

They might have replaced the iPhone 7’s metal shell in favor of a glass front and rear, but you’ll barely notice the modification. It’s worth noting, though, that their central frame is made of aerospace aluminum. The iPhone X, on the other hand, comes with a surgical-grade stainless steel frame.

Look beyond the technical components of each contender and it’s fairly obvious that iPhone X wins this round by a huge margin.

The instant you lay your eyes on the iPhone X, you’ll know that it’s the most daring design Apple has ever done to its iconic handset. Its huge bezel has been considerably shrunk and the screen stretches right into the edges. While Apple may have been beaten to the punch with this concept, the flagship phone still strikes a futuristic appeal that’s more eye-catching than its predecessors.

The Best Pick?

All these iPhones come with glass backs so forget about picking one that’s designed for durability. You can, however, go for iPhone X when you wish to have an iPhone that barely resembles any of the versions that came before it. Head down that route, though, and you’ll be shocked to find the handset has dropped the Home button feature. Now, if you don’t like going through a little learning curve with your new phone, you’ll be right at home with the iPhone 8/8 Plus.

Price

Not only does the iPhone X look leaps ahead of the iPhone 8/8 Plus, it’s price takes a massive jump as well. The price starts at a $999 for a 64GB storage and $1,149 for the 256GB one.

In comparison, the iPhone 8 can be yours at $699 and $849 for the 64GB and 256GB versions respectively. When you fancy the 8 Plus model more, just add $100 to each of iPhone 8’s respective price tags.

The Best Pick?

Got plenty to spare and been itching to get a phone that’ll turn heads wherever? The iPhone X will be a wise, long-term investment. In case you’re not totally convinced at the idea of paying loads for the iPhone’s anniversary release, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will probably make the most financial sense.

Either way, you’re likely forking out some serious buck to get any of these top-of-the-line smartphones.

Display

We’ll start with the obvious: the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus don’t turn in a lot of new goodies on the table. They sport screen sizes that we’ve been seeing for a few years now (4.7-inch and 5.5-inch, respectively).

The technology (IPS LCD panel) and resolutions on their displays aren’t anything ground-breaking either.

Where they stand out from previous iPhones? Well, they’ve brought in the iPad’s TrueTone technology into their arsenal. Meaning, their screens will adjust themselves according to the light around you. This makes viewing the display a little easy on your eyes.

That may be an exciting development, but the updates we’re seeing on the iPhone X are more significant. Not only did Apple make the switch from LCD to OLED on the iPhone X, it also brought in HDR support. Watching HDR clips on the phone is much more robust and vibrant than when you view them on either the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus.

Did we mention that the resolution (2436×1125) and screen size on the iPhone X are noticeably bigger?

The Best Pick?

This one boils down to personal preference. When you’ll mostly use your iPhone for consuming visual media, the iPhone X guarantees a noteworthy experience. If you don’t care too much about OLED displays and have learned to love (and live with) LCD screens, you’ll be fine picking up an iPhone 8/8 Plus.

Size

A quick look at all three handsets we’ll immediately tell you that the iPhone 8 and X looks smaller than the 8 Plus. Both feel lighter, too.

Curious which one is the lightest and smallest, though? The one taking home the crown for both is the iPhone 8. It may be worth mentioning that there’s only a fractional margin between this model and the iPhone X. In a practical setting, the difference of a few grams and millimeters between both would barely be noticeable at all.

The Best Pick?

Anyone who prefers a lighter phone or has small hands will be wise to stick with the iPhone 8 or iPhone X. There is very little difference between them, however. You can rest assured that both can slip neatly into your pockets just fine. If you prefer something more substantial to the touch, the iPhone 8 Plus may be best for you.

Features

Long-time iPhone fans will miss the Home button on the iPhone X. It has been the biggest tradeoff in Apple’s pursuit to put in as much screen as it can on the handset, after all. This fact alone may be enough to discourage you from getting the anniversary model altogether.

Dropping the Home Button meant the iPhone X had to offer a workaround for its fingerprint recognition system, the Touch ID. On the flagship phone, you’ll have to learn using the Face ID to unlock the screen or pay via Apple Pay.

Of course, you need not worry about these exclusions on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus versions.

The Best Pick?

Get the iPhone X and you either adapt quickly or find yourself unnecessarily frustrated. The learning curve that comes with the design may turn you off entirely, indeed. If you welcome (and, in fact, embrace) the changes, the phone will probably be a breath of fresh air after years of seeing the same design getting recycled over and over. When you’re a creature who prefers comfort over innovation, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will be more to your liking.

Performance

To be honest, we don’t see any one of the three iPhones getting a competitive edge over the other in this department. They’re all powered by the A11 Bionic chip, have similar RAM capacity, and run the same operating system (iOS 11).

With their internal components at a virtual tie (more or less), these new models should perform better than predecessors and do as well as the other.

The only notable hardware difference we’re seeing on the three newly released iPhones is on their camera. The iPhone 8 lags behind the other two as it stayed with a familiar setup. The 8 Plus and X, meanwhile, both come with dual 12MP cameras on the back. The iPhone X has an edge since it has OIS (Optical Image Stabilizers) on both its rear camera sensors. With the selfie camera, the iPhone X can achieve a Portrait Mode effect like its rear cameras. You bet the 8 Plus can’t do that!

The Best Pick?

Simply looking for an iPhone that suffers little to no performance hiccups? In that case, any of the three versions will do. On paper, there won’t be much of a difference among the iPhone 8/8 Plus/X’s speeds. Where you can largely distinguish each is in the camera department. If a phone’s shooter matters to you, you’ll have so much fun with the iPhone X. Otherwise, you won’t be that bothered seeing the 8 and 8 Plus fetching you better-than-average pictures.

Conclusion

Experts are calling the iPhone X as Apple’s greatest smartphone to date and the 8 Plus coming in at close second. While there may be a grain of truth to that proclamation, it doesn’t automatically make the iPhone X the only candidate anyone should pick for their everyday phone.

The fact is that the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X have a lot in common. Each may have significant differences, but you sure can get the most bang for your buck whichever model you go with.