Apple unveiled iPhone X, its first premium-tier phone, at an event in Cupertino, Calif., on Tuesday. Here’s what else the company had to say.
• iPhone X is priced at $999, the most expensive ever for a new iPhone model. It will ship on Nov. 3. (Pro tip: The X is pronounced 10, and not “ex.”)
• The phone has a newer screen technology known as OLED, a type of display that can be made thinner, lighter and brighter with better color accuracy and contrast than its predecessor, LCD.
• The screen on the X has a so-called edge-to-edge display that takes up the entire face by eliminating the borders around the screen. Apple also eliminated the physical home button that has been a signature feature of the iPhone for a decade.
• iPhone 8 is also here, as well as its bigger sibling, the iPhone 8 Plus. The models include a glass body and a faster chip.
• Apple TV, the company’s set-top box that has never been a blockbuster hit, got an upgrade. The device will now be able to stream so-called 4K resolution, which refers to screens with two times the vertical resolution and twice the horizontal resolution of older high-definition TVs.
• Apple took the wraps off a new Apple Watch. Called Apple Watch Series 3, it has cellular capabilities. There’s also a new Watch OS.
iPhone X Pushes Apple Into New Territory on Price
With the $999 iPhone X, Apple moved to a new premium level of pricing. The smartphone will cost $300 more than the iPhone 8 and $200 more than the iPhone 8 Plus.
While that will be too expensive for many people, the company said it saw the iPhone X defining a new era for the smartphone, much like the original iPhone did 10 years ago. Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said the device would “set the path for the next decade.” That’s because Apple will likely build on some of the iPhone X’s most notable features, including infrared facial recognition, wireless battery charging and sophisticated camera effects.
Consumer reaction to the new phone will have a big impact on the company’s revenue and stock price. Right now, analysts are betting on a slow uptake of the top-end phone, both because of production delays and the high price. But if it turns out to be an unexpected hit, like the iPhone 6 Plus and 7 Plus, the company’s sales — and stock price — could surge.
Wall Street wasn’t immediately dazzled by Apple’s presentation, however, with the stock price down more than 1 percent by the end of the event.
— Vindu Goel
The iPhone X’s design takes glass to the outer edges.
The iPhone X is the first redesigned iPhone in three years, and Apple says it is the blueprint for “the future of the smartphone.” Many of the design details had leaked to the press before today’s unveiling — we’d heard that it would have a new display that stretched across much more of the phone’s front, and that it would do away with the trademark home button.
Much of that turned out to be true. The iPhone X is essentially the same size and overall shape as the iPhone 7, but because the screen occupies all of the front of the phone, it is far larger than that of older models. The screen uses a technology new for Apple (which many competitors already use), called OLED. It produces better image quality than Apple’s older LCD screens.
What we didn’t quite know was how Apple would integrate the new button-free design with the operating system — how would you navigate the phone without a physical button?
It’s quite simple: You swipe. To go home, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. To see other apps, swipe up from the bottom and pause — now you see the multitasking pane. And to unlock your phone, you look at it. The iPhone X eliminates Apple’s Touch ID, and replaces it with a facial-recognition system that Apple calls Face ID.
Whether people will adjust to the button-free system remains to be seen. For better or worse, Apple has used essentially the same interface for the iPhone for the last decade. Swiping is easy, but it isn’t as easy as hitting a button, and it may throw some people off at first. The learning curve will be interesting to watch.
— Farhad Manjoo
The iPhone X introduces infrared face scanning.
The brand-new feature in the iPhone X that has never existed on any other iPhone is infrared face scanning.
The technology, called Face ID, uses an infrared camera system on the front of the phone to scan the contours and shape of a person’s head to unlock the phone and authorize mobile payments. The technology works by spraying an object with infrared dots to gather information about the depth of an object based on the size and the contortion of the dots. The imaging system can then stitch the patterns into a detailed 3-D image of your face to determine if you are indeed the owner of your smartphone before unlocking it.
For Apple, Face ID has been years in the making. In 2013, the iPhone maker acquired PrimeSense, a company that developed sensors for Microsoft’s Kinect, a camera system that scanned people’s bodies so people could play Xbox games using body movements.
Face ID is a direct response to the face-recognition feature in smartphones offered by Samsung, Apple’s fiercest rival. Experts have criticized Samsung’s face-recognition feature, which could be tricked by holding a photo of the smartphone owner’s face in front of the camera.
— Brian X. Chen
Answers to Your Questions About Apple’s New iPhones
Curious about Apple’s announcements? Submit your questions here, and Brian X. Chen, our lead consumer technology writer, will respond to some of the most notable ones.
The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus can handle more complex tasks.
The new iPhone 8 line includes the iPhone 8 and its bigger sibling, the 8 Plus.
The phones include a six-core processor that will handle more complex tasks and 3D games more quickly and efficiently than previous iPhones. The phones generally look the same as their predecessors, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, with the exception of glass bodies, as opposed to aluminum.
Apple improved the phones’ cameras with new sensors and added new motion sensors to better support applications made for augmented reality, which use data to digitally manipulate the physical world when people look through a smartphone lens.
In particular, the dual cameras in the iPhone 8 Plus take photos with sharp details in low light. Apple also added a new portrait mode to improve the lighting on faces regardless of the background.
Another notable new feature is the introduction of magnetic induction to the iPhones. Similar to Apple Watch, the iPhones can now be charged by being placed on a charging pad as opposed to being plugged in with a cable.
The new iPhone 8 line will be one of the most important for Apple. Wall Street analysts have estimated that more than half of iPhone buyers will buy the 8 and 8 Plus over the next year. The models have a slightly higher starting price than their predecessors: The iPhone 8 starts at $699, up from $650 for older iPhone models.
— Brian X. Chen and Vindu Goel
Apple revamps its Apple TV set-top box.
Apple unveiled an upgrade for Apple TV, its set-top box. While Mr. Jobs referred to Apple TV as a “hobby” because it was not a hot seller compared to the company’s smartphones, computers and tablets, the product is becoming increasingly important to Apple as it, along with other tech giants like Facebook and Google, moves into creating original video content.
The new Apple TV, called Apple TV 4K, it is an iteration of the last model, which introduced a touch pad remote control. The new box will now be able to stream so-called 4K resolution, which refers to screens with two times the vertical resolution and twice the horizontal resolution of older high-definition TVs. Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of internet software and services, added that 4K titles would cost the same to purchase as traditional high-definition titles, and those who previously bought high-definition titles would be upgraded to 4K at no additional cost.
Apple said the new Apple TV 4K is also two times faster than the last one and includes support for a new color technology called H.D.R., or high dynamic range. This software feature enhances the contrast and color profile of a picture. In bright colors, you will see brighter highlights; in dark colors, you will see more details.
— Brian X. Chen
Apple Watch can now work without an iPhone.
The Apple Watch has been a sleeper hit for the company. Though early reviews were mixed, Apple has steadily improved the device, and now the smartwatch is the best-selling watch in the world, according to Apple.
Today, Apple unveiled the third version of the device. It looks identical to the old version, but the new one carries a much-requested feature for the first time: It will come with a cellular chip, meaning it can access the internet even if it isn’t connected to your phone. Among other capabilities, the cellular version can make calls, send texts and stream music when you’re on the go.
“Now you have the freedom to go anywhere with just the Apple Watch,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.
The cellular version completes a long-term vision for the Watch — to liberate you, in some small way, from Apple’s best-selling phone. In a demo, an Apple employee made a live call to the keynote address from a paddle board in the middle of a lake.
This is a slightly risky strategy, of course; Apple doesn’t want to kill its golden iPhone goose. But the new cellular watch is unlikely to be a replacement for the phone, just a high-priced complement.
The new cellular version sells for $399; a WiFi-only version of the new version sells for $329, and you can still buy the older version for $249. The new watch will begin shipping on Sept. 22.
— Farhad Manjoo
Apple’s new corporate campus is a sight to behold.
Apple is set to unveil several new gadgets later this morning, but the highlight of today’s event isn’t something you can buy. It’s Apple Park, the company’s new $5 billion spaceship-shaped campus, which the company is showing off to the media for the first time.
The press were penned off just out of range of the main building, at the Steve Jobs Theater, the 1,000-seat venue with a commanding view of the spaceship. A quick review: This place is just what you’d imagine an Apple-designed campus would look like. Think of the aesthetics of an Apple Store — lots of wood and glass, everything in muted tans and greys, all signage in white-on-black Apple Sans type — set on an otherwise barren landscape.
It is, unsurprisingly, very pretty, but its beauty comes with a deliberate touch of fright. Nothing here is to human scale, and the overall impression is one of being overwhelmed by Apple’s sheer might.
— Farhad Manjoo
