IF SAMSUNG MADE iPHONES
... they’d look just like Apple’s X (but not so cool). And they certainly wouldn’t cost €1,200!
Apple iPhone X From €1,179, apple.com/ie
You’ve got to hand it to Apple. For ten years, they’ve basically relaunched the same product, year after year, with the price gradually creeping upwards – and the entire world has tuned in and cheered loyally.
Imagine if someone did the same for, say, toasters – with executives intoning ‘And on the end… a little section where you can fry an egg’, while fans wept with joy.
The problem for Apple is that phones are heading into toaster territory. They’re becoming one of those things where it’s really impossible to care what brand they are. They’re all just screens.
Naturally, iPhone X looks lovely – with its ‘all-screen’ look, it’s basically a Samsung phone, but made by Apple. I have no doubt Apple will do it better. Attention to detail is Apple’s thing.
But will the difference be enough? Apple harked back to the launch of the first iPhone this week – but during that decade, the gulf between Apple’s technology and its rivals has pretty much vanished.
Want an all-screen phone? Samsung does four or five models. Want one without a button? Google Pixel’s already there. Want a watch that can make calls, like Apple Watch 3? Huawei has sold one for months.
The one truly unique thing about Apple’s offerings is the outrageous price – but then that has always been Apple’s strong point.
Apple describes the iPhone X as ‘dictating the next decade’ in technology, but (along with a lot of others) I was rather hoping that our smartphone mania might have peaked.
Mine certainly has – and Apple’s latest crop hasn’t done much to raise my pulse rate.