Apple unveils $999 iPhone X, with face recognition
CUPERTINO (AFP) — Apple laid claim to the future of the smartphone on Tuesday with a 10th anniversary iPhone X, touting the device as the next generation of mobile computing.
The iPhone X was one of three new iPhone models unveiled at the first event at Apple’s new “spaceship” campus, as the California tech giant sought to spark fresh momentum in a global smartphone market seeing slowing growth and tougher competition.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook, speaking at the inaugurative event at the new campus theater named for the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, said the newest flagship handset is a milestone for the company a decade after the first iPhone release.
“Ten years later, it is only fitting that we are here in this place, on this day to reveal a product that will set the path for technology for the next decade,” Cook said, calling the iPhone X “the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone.”
The iPhone X has an edge-to-edge 5.8-inch “super retina” display that has improved resolution, and uses facial recognition to unlock the device.
Apple upped the ante by boosting the starting price of the new handset to $999 for US customers. It will be available starting Nov. 3 in more than 50 markets.
“I think it will have very strong appeal to the Apple core and the high-end 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 and iPhone 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 iPhone X 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.
Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategies called the new flagship iPhone X “an engineering marvel, especially when compared to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8.”