IPhone X wants to know your face
Apple had plenty of people talking Tuesday as it made several much-anticipated product announcements. Here are five things to know about Apple’s Tuesday event:
Three new iPhone versions. Rumors about Apple’s new iPhones were right on the money with iPhone 8, 8+ and X models announced. The advanced iPhone X (pronounced “Ten,” as in the iPhone’s 10th anniversary) has no physical “home” button and a strange-looking notch at the top full of sensors and cameras that allow for facial recognition. Apple hopes facial recognition will replace the fingerprint sensor that iPhone users have come to rely on to get into their phones.
Wireless charging: In an area where Apple has lagged behind Samsung smartphones, wireless charging is now a reality on all three new iPhone models. Apple is introducing a wireless charging mat, called AirPower, in 2018
that can charge multiple devices at the same time.
Apple Watch and Apple
TV upgrades. Apple spent almost as much time on non-iPhone products, including a new Series 3 Apple Watch that includes cellular capabilities (so you don’t have to tote your iPhone around, too, when you jog) and an Apple TV with 4K HDR capabilities. CEO Tim Cook said the Apple Watch is now the bestselling watch in the world. The company also touted design changes to its Apple Store retail locations that will include a more town-square feel, including live music performances. How much is too much? Reactions online to iPhone 8 and 8+ were generally positive, but some skepticism about the iPhone X with a $999 price tag was evident, particularly in criticisms of Apple switching to facial recognition and an all-glass front with no home button. “iPhone X will be useless if your face is chewed off by a shark,” joked Ars Technica technology writer Jon Brodkin.
Tribute to Apple’s
founder. With the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone and the dedication of the new Steve Jobs Theater in Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., campus, the event was a tribute of sorts to late founder Steve Jobs. It began with Jobs in a voiceover discussing Apple’s work to bring technology to the masses. “I think it is only fitting that Steve should open his own theater,” Cook said as he kicked off the Apple event. “It’s taken some time, but we can reflect on him now with joy instead of sadness.”