Tenth Anniversary iPhone announced: iPhone X along with new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

Ten years on and the iPhone is more than Steve Jobs could ever have imagined. With over a billion sold the Tenth Anniversary is both a celebration and a look forward for Apple – and all eyes were on them today.

The Keynote announcement, hosted by CEO Tim Cook took place in the Steve Jobs Theatre, the first event ever staged at the venue inside Apple’s new Cupertino campus “Apple Park”, and despite rumours for months and leaks in the days beforehand, there’s always still an element of surprise when the devices are finally revealed.

iPhone X (pronounced TEN)

This device changes the boundaries once again, and while Apple is not the first to utilise more of the front of the phone for screen, they’ve taken it further than even LG and Samsung when it comes to screen-to-body ratio.

Removing the home button is controversial, the button has been there since the start, and is the simple default to power on your phone, return to the home page and verify your identity with TouchID fingerprint scanning.

TouchID

It’s gone – no more fingerprint scanning on the iPhone X – there’s simply no room for it.

FaceID

This is where Apple’s balls get big – Removing Touch ID which has been recognised and approved by banks and other serious security applications is a big big call.

It’s replacement is FaceID – using Infrared sensors, the camera, and a “dot projector” the phone is doing a 3D facial recognition.

This is a level above the Facial recognition that’s available in other phones – that’s picture matching.

 

Apple have also used detailed 3D facial masks to test their “neural networks” detection to ensure it cannot be faked.

They describe Touch ID as the Gold Standard and say FaceID takes the chance of a random unlock from 1 in 50,000 with TouchID to 1 in 1,000,000 with FaceID.

It’s going to take some getting used to – but, we’ll reserve judgement until we’ve tested it in full.

Animoji’s

Ever wanted to create an emoji of your face?  iPhone X allows you to record a short message in the face of an emoji.  Hard to describe, has to be seen, but actually, so much cooler in real life than it sounds.

Imagine taking on the face of a Fox, and having it mirror your facial movements and mouth movements.  It’s actually bloody cool.

Camera

It’s not a new iPhone unless there’s a leap forward in photography. The iPhone X brings the dual lens camera technology from the iPhone 7 Plus to a new level.

We need to fully check the specs to see if there’s any major differences between the 8 Plus and X, but we assume they will be remarkably similar – and by that I mean advanced.

The front camera in the iPhone X will now have Portrait mode, thanks to all those sensors created for the Face ID system.

Wireless Charging

Not a new technology, instead one that is long overdue for Apple. Toyota cars, clock radios, plenty of devices already feature wireless charging stations for phones like Samsung’s most recent efforts.

Apple have introduced Wireless Charging to all their 2017 iPhones

iPhone 8 & 8 Plus

Apple have skipped the 7s model name because the iPhone 8 has a completely new design – Glass front and back makes for an all-new look.

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will come in Silver, Space Grey and Gold and will be powered by the 64 bit A11 “Bionic” processor.

The smaller iPhone 8 has not been upgraded with the dual-lens camera, that remains a feature of the iPhone 8 Plus.  There are a range of new portrait mode photography options, including facial recognition to enable new facial lighting features.

Most importantly, that glass back isn’t there just for design – Apple’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will feature wireless charging.  This means placing your phone down on a wireless charging mat or device and get a charge without fumbling for cables.

Availability

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are available to pre-order this Friday the 15th, and go on-sale on the 22nd.

The Tenth Anniversary iPhone X also goes on sale later, with pre-orders from October 27, the device goes on sale November 3

Australian pricing will follow once available.

 

Trevor Long travelled to Cupertino as a guest of Apple – Read our full list of commercial interests and disclosures here