Apple has X factor with €1k iPhone

APPLE’S latest iPhone has smashed through the €1,000 mark, but that didn’t stop long queues forming at its worldwide launch yesterday.

The iPhone X went on sale yesterday, with Irish technophiles busy searching for handsets that ranged in price from €1,179, for the 64GB version, to €1,349, if opting for the 256GB storage option.

Across the world, people queued at Apple stores yesterday, on the tenth anniversary of the launch of the first iPhone.

One of the first in line at London’s Regent Street store was Marco Pierre White Jr, son of the Michelin-star chef.

The reality TV star, 22, was pictured in a hoodie and covered in blankets as he queued to buy one for his girlfriend.

The iPhone X is the first Apple smartphone to feature facial recognition technology, known as Face ID, which is used to unlock the device. It is also the first to have an edge-to-edge OLED screen, allowing more vivid colours.

Most handsets today are bought on the basis of a 24month package, which spreads the cost but also puts up the final bill.

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney, who runs The Complaining Cow website, questioned Apple’s prices, adding: ‘For crying out loud, who on earth pays this sort of money for a phone?’

Among Irish networks, Three told tech website buzz.ie that it would have ‘some’ handsets for sale in a number of its stores yesterday. Meanwhile, Vodafone told the website earlier this week that it was due to accept deliveries of the handset yesterday, and ‘expected its second delivery’ on November 10.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Thursday that the iPhone X was ‘off to a very strong launch’. According to Apple, the handset was available yesterday in more than 50 markets, including China, Singapore, Australia, India and Japan.

There were reports of fights outside the San Francisco Apple Store as iPhone fans jostled to determine who was first in line for the new handset. The queue outside the NYC Apple Store on Fifth Avenue stretched almost an entire block.

Sales of the iPhone X will super-charge profits at Apple, which is the world’s richest corporation in terms of stock market value at $830billion.