Deviating from its previous aluminium-glass designs, Apple has constructed its tenth generation iPhone with an all-glass design. The new iPhone X packs a Super Retina Display, TrueDepth Camera System, Face ID and a new A11 Bionic Chip with Neural Engine. The company also launched the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus featuring the A11 processor .
Termed as the future of the smartphone by the company, the iPhone X uses a 5.8-inch Super Retina display. The device has done away with the all-familiar home button and now unlocks with Face ID, enabled by the new TrueDepth camera. The all-display curved glass seamlessly merges with the thin aluminium bezel. Apple says the front and back panels on iPhone X feature the most durable glass ever in a smartphone, without giving the details of the panel. The phone will be available in silver and space grey colours and begins pre-order on October 27th. It will be available in stores from November 3rd.
All three phones are water and dust resistant, though not waterproof. The lack of home button does not hamper functionality in the iPhone X since the device can be controlled with gestures. The Face ID feature utilises depth-sensing technologies to accurately recognise a face, providing a fail-proof authentication system for Apple Pay and to gain access to secure apps.
iPhone X features a 7MP TrueDepth camera and a redesigned 12MP rear camera with dual Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS). The True Depth front camera brings Portrait mode to the front camera for better selfies with a depth-of-field effect. The redesigned dual 12-megapixel rear camera system provides f/1.8 aperture on the wide-angle camera and f/2.4 on the telephoto camera for better photos and videos. A new colour filter, deeper pixels and an improved Apple-designed image signal processor delivers advanced pixel processing, wide colour 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. The cameras are custom-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.
The new camera also delivers video stabilization, 4K video up to 60fps and 1080p slow-motion up to 240fps. The Apple-designed video encoder provides real-time image and motion analysis for optimal quality video. 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.
The TrueDepth camera brings emoji to life in a fun new way 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 and robot. 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, the most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone, features a six-core CPU design with two performance cores that are 25 percent faster and four efficiency cores that are 70 percent faster than the A10 Fusion of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, offering industry-leading performance and energy efficiency. A11 Bionic also integrates an Apple-designed GPU with a three-core design that delivers up to 30 percent faster graphics performance than the previous generation.
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus feature glass and aluminium design, Retina HD Displays, A11 Bionic Chip, cameras supporting Portrait Lighting, Wireless Charging and are Optimised for Augmented Reality.
The new Apple-designed AirPower mat, coming in 2018, can charge iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously. The glass back design enables a world-class wireless charging solution.
iPhone X will be available in silver and spacegray in 64GB and 256GB models starting at U.S. $999 from apple.com and Apple Stores. iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will be available in space grey, silver and an all-new gold finish in increased 64GB and 256GB capacity models starting at U.S. $699 from apple.com and Apple Stores.
