Apple debut iPhone X

Apple held their September event overnight and at the event, they announced 4 new products, including the much rumoured, but now confirmed iPhone X. Pronounced iPhone 10, this all new iPhone is the first of its kind, with a display that reaches all the corners of the device, and no longer has a physical home button.

“iPhone X is the future of the smartphone. It is packed with incredible new technologies, like the innovative TrueDepth camera system, beautiful Super Retina display and super fast A11 Bionic Chip with neural engine,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone X enables fluid new user experiences — from unlocking your iPhone with Face ID, to playing immersive AR games, to sharing Animoji in Messages — it is the beginning of the next ten years for iPhone.” 

iPhone X introduces a design with a all-screen display that precisely follows the curve of the device, clear to the rounded corners. The all-glass front and back feature the most durable glass ever in a smartphone in silver or space grey, while a highly polished, surgical-grade stainless steel band seamlessly wraps around and reinforces iPhone X. A seven-layer colour process allows for precise colour hues and opacity on the glass finish, and a reflective optical layer enhances the rich colours, making the design as elegant as it is durable, while maintaining water and dust resistance.

“For more than a decade, our intention has been to create an iPhone that is all display. The iPhone X is the realisation of that vision,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer. “With the introduction of iPhone ten years ago, we revolutionised the mobile phone with Multi-Touch. iPhone X marks a new era for iPhone — one in which the device disappears into the experience.”

The glass back design enables a world-class wireless charging solution. Wireless charging works with the established Qi ecosystem, including two new wireless charging mats from Belkin and mophie, with the Apple AirPower charging station coming in 2018

Without the home button, the new iPhone X will unlock using the new technology Face ID. Face ID uses a state-of-the-art TrueDepth camera system made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator, and is powered by A11 Bionic to accurately map and recognise a face. These advanced depth-sensing technologies work together to securely unlock iPhone, enable Apple Pay®, gain access to secure apps and many more new features.

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.

The TrueDepth camera brings emoji to life in a fun new way with Animoji. Working with A11 Bionic, the TrueDepth camera captures and analyses 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.

iPhone X will be available in silver and space grey in for $1579 for the 64GB model and $1829 for the 256GB model. Customers will be able to pre-order the device from Friday October 27th, with shipping occuring on November 3rd.