Apple on Tuesday announced their upcoming iPhone X handset. The flagship device offers an all-glass design, a 5.8-inch Super Retina Display, an A11 Bionic System on a Chip, Face ID authentication, An improved rear-camera, and much more.
The iPhone X will be available for pre-order beginning Friday, October 27, in over 55 countries and territories, the new handset will be available in stores beginning Friday, November 3.
The new device offers a stunning all-screen display with rounded corners. The all-glass front and back features glass in silver or space gray. A surgical-grade stainless steel band wraps around and strengthens the device.
iPhone X OLED Display
The iPhone X’s 5.8-inch Super Retina display is the first OLED display panel used in an iPhone. The display offers a million-to-one contrast ratio, wide color support, and supports Dolby Vision and HDR10. The new display also offers the same True Tone feature offered in the Cupertino company’s iPad Pro lineup.
The Home button is replaced with a gesture system, allowing users to simply sweep up from the bottom to go to the Home screen form anywhere. Sweeping halfway up offers access to currently open apps.
Face ID
Face ID on the new device replaces Touch ID authentication for unlocking the device, apps, and making payments via Apple Pay, allowing the user to simply look at their iPhone to authenticate their identity. The new system is made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator, and is powered by A11 Bionic to accurately map and recognize a face.
Face ID projects more than 30,000 invisible IR dots. The IR image and dot pattern are pushed through neural networks to create a mathematical model of your face and send the data to the secure enclave to confirm a match, while adapting to physical changes in appearance over time. All saved facial information is protected by the secure enclave to keep data extremely secure, while all of the processing is done on-device and not in the cloud to protect user privacy. Face ID only unlocks iPhone X when customers look at it and is designed to prevent spoofing by photos or masks.
Front Camera
The new 7-megapixel TrueDepth camera offers Face ID features wide color capture, auto image stabilization and precise exposure control, and brings Portrait mode to the front camera for stunning selfies with a depth-of-field effect.
Rear Camera
The newly redesigned dual 12-megapixel rear camera system with dual optical image stabilization. The ƒ/1.8 aperture on the wide-angle camera joins an improved ƒ/2.4 aperture on the telephoto camera for better photos and videos. A new color filter, deeper pixels and an improved Apple-designed image signal processor delivers advanced pixel processing, wide color capture, faster autofocus in low light and better HDR photos. A new quad LED True Tone Flash offers twice the uniformity of light and includes Slow Sync, resulting in more uniformly lit backgrounds and foregrounds.
The new camera offers better video stabilization, 4K video up to 60fps and 1080p slo-mo up to 240fps. Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting on both the front and rear cameras brings dramatic studio lighting effects to iPhone and allows customers to capture stunning portraits with a shallow depth-of-field effect in five different lighting styles.
Portrait options include:
- Natural Light: The subject’s face is in sharp focus against a blurred background.
- Studio Light: A clean look with the subject’s face brightly lit.
- Contour Light: Dramatic shadows with highlights and lowlights.
- Stage Light: The subject’s face is spotlit against a deep black background.
- Stage Light Mono: Like Stage Light, but in classic black and white.
AR Experience
Both iPhone X camera are tuned for “the ultimate AR experience.” Each camera is individually calibrated, with new gyroscopes and accelerometers for accurate motion tracking. The A11 Bionic CPU handles world tracking, scene recognition and the GPU enables incredible graphics at 60fps, while the image signal processor does real-time lighting estimation. With ARKit, iOS developers can take advantage of the TrueDepth camera and the rear cameras to create games and apps offering fantastically immersive and fluid experiences that go far beyond the screen.
Animoji
The TrueDepth camera brings emoji to life with Animoji. Working with A11 Bionic, the TrueDepth camera captures and analyzes over 50 different facial muscle movements, then animates those expressions in a dozen different Animoji, including a panda, unicorn, robot; and of course, poop. Available as an iMessage app pre-installed on iPhone X, customers can record and send Animoji messages with their voice that can smile, frown and more.
A11 Bionic
Apple says the A11 Bionic is the most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone, features a six-core CPU design with two performance cores that are 25% faster and four efficiency cores that are 70% faster than the A10 Fusion.
The new processor also offers up to two more hours of battery life.
A Wireless Future
The iPhone X’s glass back also allows for the device’s use with Qi compatible wireless charging solutions. Apple will offer two new wireless charging mats from Belkin and mophie.
Pricing and Availability
- iPhone X will be available in silver and space gray in 64GB and 256GB models starting at $999 (US) from apple.com and Apple Stores and is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and carriers (prices may vary).
- Through Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, customers in the US can get iPhone X, with the protection of AppleCare+, choose their carrier (no multiyear service contract required) and have the opportunity to upgrade to a new iPhone every year. The iPhone Upgrade Program is available for iPhone X at apple.com and Apple Stores in the US with monthly payments starting at $49.91.
- Customers will be able to order iPhone X beginning Friday, October 27, with availability beginning Friday, November 3, in Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, the US and US Virgin Islands.
- Apple-designed accessories including leather and silicone cases in a range of colors will be available starting at $35 (US), while a new iPhone X Leather Folio will be available for $99 (US). Lightning Docks in color-matching metallic finishes will also be available for $49 (US), prices may vary.
- Every customer who buys iPhone X from Apple will be offered free Personal Setup in-store or online to help them customize their iPhone by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more.
- Anyone who wants to start with the basics or go further with iPhone X or iOS 11 can sign up for free Today at Apple sessions at apple.com/today.
