iPhone X: The Future of Possible

By Jacob Kersh

     Apple has celebrated the iPhone’s 10th anniversary with a special edition, bezeless phone they claim to be light years ahead of its time: the iPhone X. The electrifying keynote officially took place inside the brand new Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, where Apple's CEO Tim Cook mentioned that “it’s truly amazing how much the iPhone impacts the world every day” — something Apple fans have known since the release of the first ever iPhone. Additionally, the iPhone X has been in the rumor mill for many months, so now that it has been revealed, the tech industry could not be more excited.

     Contrary to popular belief, this astounding new device is actually not pronounced iPhone X — it’s the iPhone Ten. Its screen takes up virtually the entire front of the phone, and the absent home button has been replaced with new and intuitive gesture controls. It’s a swipe up to reach the home screen, or you can use raise-to-wake, or tap on the screen to turn it on. These gestures work across the operating system, for leaving apps and multitasking. To activate Siri, simply hold down on the elongated power button located on the right side of the phone. Many users say these new gestures to take some getting used to, but they are willing to compensate for the beautiful new screen. Additionally, many are excited that “slide to unlock” is making a comeback.

      The iPhone X is highly durable, made from surgical grade stainless steel and gorilla glass on the rear panel. It’s water and dust resistant, and available in space grey and silver. An additional rumored colorway called “Blush Gold” was not released, but analysts suspect it may be unveiled later this year as a special edition color. Additionally, since the back panel is made entirely out of glass, it is fully capable of being wirelessly charged via Qi standard charging mats of various brands and sizes. However, because wireless charging is such a new standard, most casual iPhone will have to shell even more extra cash to pay for a charging pad.

      The iPhone X boasts a vibrant and colorful OLED display — the first in an iPhone — and apple is dubbing it Super Retina Display. It measures 5.8-inches across, and Apple says it has completely eradicated problems with color accuracy that sometimes affected similar devices with OLED screens. HDR10 support has also been incorporated, which will give users stunning video playback. And on top of all that, there is a new TrueTone dynamic white balance adjustment that subtly changes color temperatures across the phone’s display depending on the environment.

    To unlock the iPhone X without a home button, Apple has introduced a new type of facial recognition called Face ID. It works using the improved TrueDepth camera system, hidden in the divot at the top of the phone. Simply look at the phone, and it identifies precise details in your facial structure using an infrared camera. It even works in the dark, or if you’re wearing sunglasses, or if you decide to grow a beard. Using the new and all-powerful A11 Bionic chip (25% speed increase from previous chip), a neural engine receives and validates the image in real-time, allowing for quick unlock times that usurp Touch ID by a long shot. Additionally, Face ID is over twenty times as secure than the previous biometric unlock system; face data is stored in a secure enclave inside the A11 Bionic chip. And although the unlock system failed for a bit during Apple’s keynote, the company promises to have things ready by the time the iPhone X launches. Who needs fingerprints?

      The iPhone X has a dual-lens 12-megapixel rear camera with dual optical image stabilization, made up of a wide-angle f/1.8 aperture lens and a telephoto f/2.4 aperture lens. This means your landscape photos will be as vibrant and large-scale as possible, and your portrait pictures will easily achieve that unfocused background look — a much sought after feature within the photography community. Also, the 7-megapixel front-facing camera now officially supports Portrait mode as well, so even your selfies will have sharply cut out foregrounds and beautifully blurred backgrounds. Snapchat plans to integrate these new photo modes into their camera system as well. Video has also been improved with 4K resolution movies at 60fps now possible, plus 1080p full HD slow motion video at 240fps! It is now truly on par with the myriad of entry-level DSLR and mirrorless cameras that have taken over the camera market recently.

      The rumor mill during the past few months put the iPhone X’s price at $1,000, and that turned out to be correct. This is a much higher price point than Apple’s previous flagship model, but the company claims it is not too worried about people not being able to invest an extra two hundred dollars to purchase the monumental new device. On the contrary, many people think that paying this hefty fee is well worth it. In fact, Glenelg junior Hassan Malik says that the iPhone X “is really the device of the future, and surpasses [..] all other smartphones on the market today.”

      The iPhone X will be available to pre-order on October 27 in either 64GB or 256GB storage, with deliveries beginning on November 3. Apple plans to sell the iPhone X in 55 countries around the world. Both the tech world and iPhone lovers alike are extremely excited for this brand new device to finally be released to the public, which begs the question: will you be picking one up for yourself?