It has been ten years since Apple “defined” what a smartphone really is with the launch of the original iPhone. Despite being one of the most influential companies in the smartphone space, the iPhone has not always been the most futuristic device, especially since companies like Samsung and LG really started experimenting with designs and features, well, all that has changed with the announcement of the iPhone X.
The iPhone X is the special edition iPhone that Apple has announced alongside the iterative iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, to mark its 10-year anniversary. The iPhone X comes with a 5.8-inch OLED HDR display dubbed “Super Retina” – a first from Apple – with a 2436 x 1125 resolution, with an edge-to-edge display with curved corners – another first from Apple and 3D Touch support.
The new design means that Apple’s iconic home button come fingerprint reader is no longer a feature of the iPhone. The button has been replaced by dedicated virtual space that will allow the user to perform a series of gestures to navigate around the UI with a swipe up gesture being the new “home button”. The body of the iPhone is now made of glass, instead of the aluminium body, we saw on its predecessors.
The iPhone X packs a 10-nanometer A11 chip that is both “faster and more efficient”, other notable new features include induction-based Qi wireless charging and facial recognition (Face ID) to replace Touch ID since there’s no physical home button anymore and Apple’s too fancy to put a reader on the back.
The facial recognition feature uses a TrueDepth camera system made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator to accurately map and recognize a face. Through Face ID, iPhone X users will be able to unlock the phone, enable Apple Pay transactions and gain access to secure apps.
The camera optics of the iPhone X have also been drastically improved with the device packing a 7MP selfie shooter that includes 3D sensing capabilities for advanced facial recognition and brings Portrait mode to the front camera for stunning selfies. The main camera is a dual set up combination of a 12MP telephoto lens with a ƒ/2.4 aperture and a 12MP wide-angle lens with a ƒ/1.8 aperture. The rear cameras are setup vertically to improve picture quality and better AR (Augmented Reality) functionality. The rear cameras can also shoot 4K video up to 60fps and 1080p slo-mo up to 240fps.
Apple has made improvements to portrait mode by adding Portrait Lighting on both the front and rear cameras. Portrait Lighting brings dramatic studio lighting effects and allows users to capture stunning portraits with a shallow depth-of-field effect in five different lighting styles.
Other features of the new device include IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, iOS 11 out of the box, silver and space grey colour options, Dolby Vision/HDR 10 compliant, Bluetooth 5, stereo speakers and, wait for it, a huge $999 price tag! Pre-orders start October 27 and official availability is November 3, so start saving up.
