We thought the big news from Apple‘s event was going to be the upcoming iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and while those were unveiled today, the leading story is the iPhone X (pronounced “iPhone Ten”), which marks the tenth anniversary of the first iPhone and is the most technologically adventurous and impressive mobile device the company has ever created.
All those rumors about a $1,000 iPhone were true: It will cost you $999 for the iPhone X model with 64GB of storage or $1,149 for the 256GB version. That said, there’s plenty about this phone to get excited over, or at least curious about, depending on your perspective. This is the first iPhone without a home button, the functionality of which has been replaced by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (as The Verge notes).
That means that the Touch ID fingerprint sensor is gone, but Apple is moving away from that anyway with its new Face ID, which uses a scan of your face to unlock the phone. Apple says the new technology is a lot more secure than Touch ID, but they also had a hard time getting it to even work during the presentation. Actually, they didn’t get it to work, which you can see in the above video.
The water-resistant iPhone X also has dual 12-megapixel rear cameras, a 5.8 inch edge-to-edge screen with 458ppi pixel density (compared to 401ppi in the iPhone 7 Plus) and a resolution of 2436 x 1125 pixels. Its body has glass on the front and back and stainless steel on the side. That glass back, by the way, allows for wireless charging via what Apple calls the AirPower charging pad, which will be available later this year.
As for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the changes are more subtle. Aside from the glass backs, new processors, and better cameras, these models are less game-changers and more incremental updates. That said, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X all have some pretty impressive augmented reality features capable of overlaying high quality graphics on top of whatever your camera can see. The iPhone 8 starts at $699, and the 8 Plus at $799.
Apple shows off a game developed with AR Kit at the #AppleEvent.
Follow our liveblog: https://t.co/vpJm79i84W pic.twitter.com/GhzvQ6h3vq
— WIRED (@WIRED) September 12, 2017
The other significant pieces of news were the new Apple Watch and Apple TV. The third-generation Apple Watch has LTE connectivity, meaning it can work as a standalone cellular device without the need to pair it with a phone. That version costs $399, and it’ll cost $329 for a model without LTE.
Apple Watch Series 3 will have cellular. Same phone # as your iPhone. Can stream music directly to it. pic.twitter.com/UcYdXIudrU
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) September 12, 2017
The fourth-generation Apple TV will be the first model to support 4K video, and it starts at $179, while a non-4K model sells for $149.
Apple TV 4K starts at $179, less than I expected. pic.twitter.com/cHSPKPYOi9
— Michael Kukielka (@DetroitBORG) September 12, 2017
The latter two devices, the iPhone 8, and the iPhone 8 Plus ship on September 22, while the iPhone X ships on November 3, with pre-orders opening on October 27. That’s everything, so take a minute to breathe it all in, and head to the comments to let us know what model iPhone you want the most.
Images: Apple
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