Wozniak bags X factor

APPLE co-founder Steve Wozniak is no fan of the iPhone X, the company’s latest smartphone.

Speaking in Melbourne this week, Mr Wozniak, right, said the phone’s facialrecognition security system — a key focus of Apple’s marketing efforts for the handset — was problematic.

The phone would ideally also feature the fingerprint-based security system used in previous iPhone models, he said.

“It [the facial identification system] works fine, but it’s not what I would want,” he said, speaking at the Talent Unleashed awards for technology entrepreneurs.

“Face ID slows down my [payment platform] Apple Pay, and it fails enough times I have to keep typing the password.”

Mr Wozniak co-founded Apple with the group’s late chief executive, Steve Jobs, in the early 1970s and designed the Apple I and Apple II computers.

He left the group in the 1980s but has historically taken a keen interest in its growth and its products.

Mr Wozniak said he had not planned to use an iPhone X, but staff working for Apple chief Tim Cook “heard I wasn’t going to get it, so they sent me one and I bit the bullet”.

He also lashed out at tech giants Facebook, Google and Amazon, declaring they were amassing profits and power at the expense of their users. “We’re really being taken advantage of,” he said.