iPhone X
iPhone X ("X" pronounced "ten" /ˈtɛn/)[9] is a smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced on September 12, 2017, alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus at the Steve Jobs Theater in the Apple Park campus. The phone was released on November 3, 2017. This iPhone marks the device's tenth anniversary, with "X" being the symbol for "ten" in Roman numerals.
Within Apple's lineup, the iPhone X is positioned as a high-end, premium model with what Apple is presenting as technology of the future. It features wireless charging, an OLED display, dual-lens cameras with improved depth sensing, and a facial recognition system called Face ID. Much of its internal hardware is shared with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus
History
The technology behind the iPhone X was in development for five years, as far back as 2012.[10] Rumors of a drastic iPhone redesign began circulating around the time of iPhone 7's announcement in the third quarter of 2016,[11][12] and intensified when a HomePod firmware leak in July 2017 suggested that Apple would shortly release a phone with a nearly bezel-less design, lack of physical home button, Face ID, and other new features.[13] A near-final development version of the iOS 11 operating system was also leaked in September 2017, confirming the new design and features.[14]
On August 31, 2017, Apple invited journalists to a September 12 press event,[15][16] the first public event held at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's new Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.[17][18][19] The iPhone X was unveiled during that keynote. Its US$999 starting price is the most expensive iPhone launch price.[20] The price is even higher in international markets, such as £999 (US$1349) in the United Kingdom or €1189 (US$1344) in Italy due to sales taxes such as VAT and tariffs on imports
Hardware
Hardware
The iPhone X has a 5.8-inch diagonal OLED color-accurate screen that supports DCI-P3 wide color gamut, sRGB, and high dynamic range,[22][23]and has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1.[24] The Super Retina display has the True Tone technology found on the iPad Pro, which uses ambient light sensors to adapt the display's white balance to the surrounding ambient light.[25][26]Although the iPhone X does not feature the same ProMotion technology used in the displays of the second generation iPad Pro, where the display delivers a refresh rate of 120Hz, it does sample touch input at 120Hz.[27]
The iPhone X has two color options; silver and space gray.[25] The front and back of the phone are composed of surgical-grade stainless steel to improve durability, and the device has a glass casing. The design is intended to be IP67 water and dust resistant.[25][28]
The iPhone X contains Apple's A11 Bionic system-on-chip, also used in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which is a hexa-core processor with two cores optimized for performance that are 25% faster than the A10 Fusion processor, along with four efficiency-optimized cores that are 70% faster than the previous generation.[29] It also features the first Apple-designed graphics processing unit and a Neural Engine, which powers an artificial intelligence accelerator.[30][31]
Face ID replaces the Touch ID authentication system. The facial recognition sensor consists of two parts: a "Romeo" module that projects more than 30,000 infrared dots onto the user's face, and a "Juliet" module that reads the pattern.[32] The pattern is sent to the Secure Enclave in the A11 Bionic chip to confirm a match with the phone owner's face.[33][34] The system will not work with eyes closed, in an effort to prevent unauthorized access.[33] Face ID has raised concerns, however, regarding the possibility of law enforcement accessing an individual's phone by pointing the device at the user's face.[35] United States Senator Al Franken asked Apple to provide more information on the security and privacy of Face ID a day after the announcement,[36] with Apple responding by highlighting the recent publication of a security white paper and knowledge base detailing answers.[37][38]
The iPhone X has two cameras on the rear. One is a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/1.8 aperture, with support for face detection, high dynamic range and optical image stabilization. It is capable of capturing 4K video at 24, 30 or 60 frames per second, or 1080p video at 30, 60, 120 or 240 frames per second.[39] A secondary, telephoto lens features 2× optical zoom and 10× digital zoom with an aperture of f/2.4 and optical image stabilization.[40] A Portrait Mode is capable of producing photos with specific depth-of-field and lighting effects.[41] It also has a quad-LED True Tone flash with 2× better light uniformity.[42] The rear camera received an overall rating of 97 from the DxOMark, a camera testing company, just barely short of the highest score of 98, awarded to Google's Pixel 2.[43]
On the front of the phone, a 7-megapixel TrueDepth camera has an f/2.2 aperture,[40] and features face detection and HDR. It can capture 1080p video at 30 frames per second, 720p video at 240 frames per second,[39] and exclusively allows for the use of Animoji; animated emojis placed on top of the user's face that intelligently react to the user's facial expressions.[44][45]
The iPhone X uses two different modem chips, depending on market and mobile carrier. The A1865 model for Australia, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and CDMA carriers in the US (e.g. Sprint, Verizon) uses the Qualcomm MDM9655 Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, as does the A1902 Japan model. The A1901 model for Canada, Europe, Mexico, and GSM carriers in the US (e.g. AT&T, T-Mobile) uses the Intel XMM 7480 modem.[46] Apple has been engaged in a legal battle with Qualcomm over allegedly anti-competitive practices and has been dual-sourcing modem chips in an effort to reduce reliance on the semiconductor manufacturer.[47] Starting with the iPhone 7 in 2016, Apple has used about half Qualcomm modem chips and half Intel.[47][48] Some preliminary tests on the iPhone 8 indicated that as in the previous generation of phones, the Qualcomm chips outperform the Intel,[49] and some sources recommended the purchase of the A1865 model over the A1901.[48][50] Conversely, wireless speed tester SpeedSmart's initial data on the iPhone X indicated the Intel chip was about 10-15% faster than the Qualcomm on the networks where it was supported.[51] As of November 2017, Apple was not offering the "SIM-free" version of the iPhone X (A1865 model) for purchase online in the US, only the same model for its specified carriers, for which credentials proving service are required.[52]
Software
The iPhone X launched with a modified version of iOS 11.0.1 that makes better use of the different screen layout.[53]
The home button, which made its debut on the original iPhone, has been removed from iPhone X and most of its functions replaced with gestures, as on the home button-less Nokia N9, BlackBerry Z10, and WebOS devices. Some features like Siri and Apple Pay can be invoked using the side button.
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