The iPhone X – Release Date, Price, Features & Specs

Just like every year, we’re trying to collect our thoughts after Apple’s Media Event. We hope that you followed our live-blog where you could’ve seen details about the new iPhone. Called iPhone X, this smartphone is Apple’s effort to push its flagship phone into a new era.

Undoubtedly the most powerful iPhone ever build, this phone tells us how Apple imagines the future. First of all, it all screen and no bezels. Secondly, it uses advanced cameras with face mapping for unlocking and authorizing purchases. Finally, it’s photography is powered by a new generation of hardware that thinks on its own. When we put all of this together, we get the most important part of the new iPhone X.

Now, it’s time to take a much closer look at the new phone and see if its features are as radical as Apple advertised them to be.

The All-Screen Design

We can say with certainty that 2017 is the year when the bezel vanished. Manufacturers like LG, Samsung, and Xiaomi have been hard at work on creating smartphones with large and beautiful displays with minimal bezels. This is where Apple comes into play with its new iPhone X.

The iPhone X comes with glass on its back and front. In between, there’s surgical-grade steel that keeps the phone firmly protected. However, what’s on the front side is what’ll impress you. Instead of a screen with two large portions on top and bottom, the new iPhone comes with a large screen with minimal bezels.

The screen itself is highly advanced. It features a resolution of 2436 x 1125 packed within a 5.8-inch display. What this means is that its pixel density is 458 PPI. In plain words, the screen is incredibly clean and crisp. Even the smallest details will be discernible. In fact, this screen has the highest pixel density than any screen on any iPhone. It’s only natural that it has its own name – Super Retina.

What also needs to be understood is that the iPhone X’s display is based on OLED technologies. Up until now, iPhones have used LED screens. Even though they consume very little power, they’re inferior to OLED displays. However, OLED comes at a higher price – and a much better set of features. For example, it shows vibrant colors and incredibly rich tones of black. Nonetheless, they still have their own set of problems.

Apple tried to avoid any commonly associated issues with OLED by investing in this technology. The iPhone X comes with a display that shows accurate and vibrant colors, true blacks, and has an incredibly high brightness. Also, the display changes its colors based on your surroundings. What this means is that your phone won’t keep you up at night if you decide to use it before going to bed. Instead, it will be dimmed. Apple’s OLED display is called – True Tone display, and we sure it’ll find its way to other Apple-made products.

Missing Home Button

Since the iPhone X brings a large screen that completely takes over the front side of the phone, what happened to the beloved Home button? Well, you won’t find it on the new iPhone.

The Home button has been an important part of every iPhone, up until now. It was used to trigger all kinds of actions that now need to be activated differently. For example, we use the Home button to return to the main screen. This is now done by swiping up from the bottom. In a similar manner, you open the multitasking by swiping from the bottom but with a small pause.

We also shouldn’t forget about Siri. Even though many of us activate Siri via voice, we are sure that the majority of iOS users still use the Home button for that. The iPhone X comes with a side button that can be used to activate Siri, which means that you’ll spend some time adjusting to the new commands.

Finally, we mustn’t forget about Touch ID. This feature has been an integral part of the Home button ever since the iPhone 5S launched. However, it now has been eliminated. Continue reading to learn more about a feature called Face ID that replaced Touch ID.

A New Way to Unlock Your Phone – Face ID

As we said earlier, Touch ID has been eliminated, and you won’t find it on the iPhone X. Instead, you’ll find a new way to unlock your phone – using your face. We’d like to introduce you to Face ID.

If you take a look at the photos of the new phone, you’ll notice a small portion at the top where the front-facing camera is found. This small fraction contains several elements designed to help the phone to recognize your face. Face ID combines IR (infrared) sensors with the improved front-facing camera in addition to something that’s called flood illuminator. This small device beams an invisible light to your face and creates a 3D model of it. What happens next is that this 3D model is processed by a new chip called A11. In simple terms, this is face recognition in real time.

You are probably wondering if face recognition is capable of replacing fingerprint recognition? We have to say that Apple persuaded us that this is possible. The company said that there’s a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that another person will be able to unlock your phone. In other words, it seems that Face ID could easily be a more secure way to unlock your phone and protect your private data.

It's also important to mention that Apple highly believes in Face ID. In fact, the company tied this technology to Apple Pay. Instead of using your fingerprint to authenticate purchases, you’ll now use your face.

Interested in Photography? Meet the TrueDepth Camera!

It really wouldn’t be fair if we fail to mention the new cameras of the iPhone X. This is one of the areas that Apple surprised us by the amount of innovation.

On the back, the iPhone X packs two 12-megapixel cameras. What’s different is that both of them are equipped with optical image stabilization. One of then comes with an f/1.8 aperture, while the other features an f/2.4 aperture. What this means is that you can quickly switch between different photo shoot modes, as well as enjoy in wide-angle shots. If we only look at the hardware, we can say that not much has changed in comparison to the previous iPhone generation. However, that’s far from the truth. This is because Apple has done a great job of improving the software.

We previously told you that the iPhone X’s cameras are capable of 3D mapping. When it comes to the Camera app, this translates to new effects like Natural Light, Stage Light, and Contour Light. When you take a photo using the new phone, the cameras create a 3D map of the scene and therefore have the ability to change certain aspects. In other words, the cameras scan your face (if you’re taking a selfie, for example) and use machine learning to analyze that. Then, they apply different kinds of never-before-seen effects.

Additionally, there are numerous improvements when it comes to video shooting. Using the new iPhone X, you can capture astounding 4K videos at 60 frames per second. You can also shoot slow motion videos at full HD resolution.

Meet a New Kind of Emoji – Animoji!

As you know by now, the iPhone X comes with a camera capable of 3D mapping. Apple’s engineers decided to play with this feature and offer something fun. This is where Animoji enters into play.

Animojis are, as their name implies, animated emojis. Instead of sending one of the preloaded emoji, you can use the phone’s camera to track your facial expressions and create an animated emoji. This option can be utilized within the Messages app, so you can easily send a new kind of emoji. You can think of them as your virtual masks powered by a highly capable technology.

So, what technology actually powers the new iPhone? Continue reading to learn more.

Let’s Talk About the Internals – The New A11 Bionic Chip

Up until now, we spoke of the most prominent features of the new iPhone. However, it’s also interesting to take a look at what’s inside.

The iPhone X is powered by an all-new chip called A11. This chip was developed by Apple and is the first one capable of artificial intelligence operations. Currently, the biggest advantage of this chip is facial recognition, which we discussed earlier in the article. However, the new chip is also faster and more efficient than any chip before. More precisely, it’s 70% faster than A10 - while using less power. What this means is that iOS applications will open in an instant and you can use advanced options without burning through your phone’s battery life.

Aside from the new chip, there’s also another interesting tidbit from today’s Media Event. For the first time ever, Apple made its own GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Simply said, this is a graphics card for your phone. The direct consequence of this is AR (Augmented Reality). Using the new iPhone, you’ll be able to play games built upon AR. At the Media Event, we even saw a demo. We saw a game that used the phone’s camera to create virtual objects in real time. For example, if you point your phone towards a desk, you’ll be able to see (for example) a castle and characters running in real time – on your desk. It will definitely be interesting to see what the future holds when it comes to this technology.

At Last – Wireless Charging

Wireless charging isn’t anything new. In fact, smartphones started to come with this technology embedded a few years ago. However, Apple failed to introduce it to its line of smartphones. Until now.

The new iPhone X comes with wireless charging enabled. The good news is that Apple decided to use the standard Qi charging, employed in other devices. This means that you’ll be able to use third-party wireless chargers instead of being forced to buy Apple’s. In fact, you’ll have plenty of options since wireless chargers can be very affordable. However, Apple has come up with its own charging accessory called AirPower. This device is capable of charging several products at once and may be a good investment if you have the new iPhone, an Apple Watch, and some other products. The bad news is that the AirPower won’t be available for purchase until 2018.

What About the iPhone X's Price?

The iPhone X is advertised as the best iPhone ever built. However, this also translates to its price. The new iPhone is more expensive than any previous model. The base model starts at $999 and comes with 64GB of storage. The top-tier model is priced at $1,149 and comes with 256GB of storage. It’s interesting to note that there’s no option in between.

What About the Release Date?

Even though many of us expected that the iPhone X would be available in September, this won’t be the case. This year’s top-tier iPhone is coming a bit later.

If you’re interested in buying, you should know that pre-orders begin on Friday, October 27. The iPhone X will start to ship to customers on Friday, November 3.

Conclusion

One thing is sure – the iPhone X is the most powerful iPhone ever built. It is no wonder that Apple chose a design with a large screen and minimal bezels. However, what’s surprising is the technologies powering the new phone.

We are more than sure that owners of this phone are going to enjoy it – from its performance and photography, up to augmented reality, and beyond. However, this comes at a price. It’s up to you to decide if the price is too high for such a smartphone.

Thanks for sticking to TechNadu until the end of this article. You can expect more news and in-depth analysis of this year’s Media Event in the following days.