Apple launches $999 iPhone X in bid to regain innovation lead
CUPERTINO, California (Reuters/AFP) – Apple, Inc. on Tuesday rolled out its much-anticipated iPhone X, a glass and stainless steel device with an edge-to-edge display that Chief Executive Tim Cook called “the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone.”
The launch contained few surprises, with leaked details on the phone and other products including an updated Apple Watch proving largely accurate. But the iPhone X’s $999 price still raised eyebrows, and its Nov. 3 ship date prompted questions about possible supply constraints ahead of the holiday season.
Apple upped the ante by boosting the starting price of the new handset to $999 for US customers. It will be available starting November 3 in more than 50 markets.
“I think it will have very strong appeal to the Apple core and the highend market,” Reticle Research analyst Ross Rubin said of iPhone X.
Rubin believed that payment installment plans and price subsidies or promotions offered by carriers would mean the iPhone X “won’t be a big stretch” for people in the market for premium smartphones.
Apple also unveiled a new iPhone 8 andiPhone 8 Plus, which offer more modest improvements over their predecessors and will sell later this month at starting prices of $699 and $799, respectively.
All three new handsets will be capable of wireless charging and are adapted for augmented reality with more powerful processors and cameras. The also had memory space boosted in a nod to modern day demand for storing rich data like video.
The unveiling comes with Apple seeking to recapture the magic of the first iPhone release in 2007 as it struggles to maintain market share.
Investors and fans have viewed the 10th-anniversary iPhone launch as an opportunity for Apple to refresh a smartphone lineup that had lagged the competition in new features. Last year the company’s revenue declined when many consumers rejected the iPhone 7 as being too similar to the iPhone 6.
The new Apple Watch for the first time will be able to make calls and access the internet without the customer carrying an iPhone – a major upgrade that one analyst predicted would more than double watch sales.
The iPhone X has wireless charging, an infrared camera and hardware for facial recognition, which replaces the fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone. The home button is also gone, and users instead tap the device to wake it up.
Apple normally ships new products within a week or two of announcing them, though the company said the later date was consistent with earlier guidance to investors.
“It’s great to have a product but we’d have liked it sooner rather than later, more like the beginning of October or mid-October,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
Apple shares closed down 0.4 percent. They had traded as much as 1 percent higher during the launch event before reversing course. The shares are up almost 40 percent on the year.
The screen on the iPhone X is about the size of the current iPhone 7 plus, though the phone is smaller. It features richer colors thanks to a new screen technology called OLED that other vendors are also rolling out. But in an embarrassing moment for Apple Senior Vice President Craig Federighi, the face ID unlocking did not work on his first attempt during the on-stage presentation.
Apple executives also stressed the phone’s capabilities in augmented reality, in which digital images are overlaid on the real world. But their remarks suggested that the phone does not have the full panoply of 3D-sensor chips that some had expected.
Wireless carriers in the United States, whose fierce battle for customers could tempt them into renewing the practice of subsidizing phones, immediately began to offer discounts. T-Mobile US Inc said customers on a payment plan can trade in their iPhone 6 or newer and receive up to $300 off over 24 months.