What’s New in the iPhone X
By Mark GurmanMark Gurman
|

Updated Sept. 11, 2017 with the name of the 2017 iPhone's premium version

In June, Apple Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told Bloomberg: “We don’t feel an impatience to be first. It’s just not how we’re wired. Our thing is to be the best and to give the user something that really makes a difference in their lives.” He was talking about the unveiling of the HomePod, Apple’s late entrance to the smart speaker market pioneered by Amazon. But Cook could just as well have been talking about the next iPhone.

Due out this fall, the new smartphone arrives with lofty expectations. After all, this is the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone, a gadget that upended the industry and created an ecosystem of apps and accessories. However, the new iPhone won’t be a case-study of innovation, more a matter of perfecting features that are already out there in rival devices. Time and again, Apple has followed this “best, not first” philosophy, seizing on technologies and features bungled by rivals and implementing them well enough to spur widespread adoption. Proof of concept? More than 1.2 billion iPhones sold in the last decade.

Of course, plenty of other companies have employed the follow-and-perfect model. To cite one recent example, Facebook has debuted several photo features invented by social-media upstart Snap. But arguably no one does this better than Apple. The next iPhone will seamlessly mesh screen and charging technologies invented by others with such Apple innovations as a 3-D face scanner that unlocks the phone in a few hundred milliseconds. Apple declined to comment.

What’s New in the IPhone X

3D facial recognition sensor to unlock phone and make payments NEW

SmartCamera/

improved scene and object detection NEW

Infrared sensor to allow for in-the-dark facial recognition NEW

Inductive charging

Palm, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and Apple Watch

Reconfigured cameras for better augmented reality apps NEW

Longer power button

Stainless steel edges

iPhone 4 and 4S

Slimmer bezels

Samsung S8, Essential Phone, LG G6

Glass front and back iPhone 4 and 4S

INSIDE

iOS 11

(New software specific to Apple)

Nearly all-

screen design

Samsung S8 and Essential Phone

Tap to Wake

Android phones

Faster A11 processor, 10nm design NEW

OLED screen

Samsung S8, Motorola Z2 Force, OnePlus 5 phone

Virtual home button NEW

Samsung S8, Pixel, Essential Phone

SmartCamera/

improved scene and object detection NEW

3D facial recognition sensor to unlock phone and make payments NEW

Infrared sensor to allow for in-the-dark facial recognition NEW

Reconfigured cameras for better augmented reality apps NEW

INSIDE

Longer power button

iOS 11

(New software specific to Apple)

Stainless steel edges

iPhone 4 and 4S

Faster A11 processor, 10nm design NEW

Slimmer bezels

Samsung S8, Essential Phone, LG G6

Nearly all-

screen design

Samsung S8 and Essential Phone

Glass front and back iPhone 4 and 4S

OLED screen

Samsung S8, Motorola Z2 Force, OnePlus 5 phone

Tap to Wake

Android phones

Inductive charging

Palm, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and Apple Watch

Virtual home button NEW

Samsung S8, Pixel, Essential Phone

SmartCamera/

improved scene and object detection NEW

Infrared sensor to allow for in-the-dark facial recognition NEW

3D facial recognition sensor to unlock phone and make payments NEW

Reconfigured cameras for better augmented reality apps NEW

Longer power button

iOS 11

(New software specific to Apple)

Stainless steel edges

iPhone 4 and 4S

Faster A11 processor, 10nm design NEW

Slimmer bezels

Samsung S8, Essential Phone, LG G6

Nearly all-

screen design

Samsung S8 and Essential Phone

Glass front and back iPhone 4 and 4S

OLED screen

Samsung S8, Motorola Z2 Force, OnePlus 5 phone

Tap to Wake

Android phones

Virtual home

button NEW

Samsung S8, Pixel, Essential Phone

Inductive charging

Palm, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and Apple Watch

As previously reported by Bloomberg, Apple plans to release three new phones: successors to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus as well as a new, revamped model that sits at the high-end. All will have the usual upgrades like faster processors, but the revamped model is where Apple will flex its best, not first, muscles, as well as some features that haven’t been tried before.

The two most noticeable involve the screen. The display will use a technology called OLED, which makes for better color reproduction and deeper blacks and whites. The screen will also take up nearly the entire front of the phone, save for thinner bezels and a notch at the top of the front to fit in the camera and new sensors. OLED screens have been the core of Samsung’s devices for the past few years, while the nearly all-screen front with no home button design was popularized by Samsung’s S8 and also appears in the Essential Phone Android co-founder Andy Rubin debuted last week.

Better Late Than Never

While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there first.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

App Store

Apple

July 2008

Android

Oct. 2008

BlackBerry

April 2009

Palm

June 2009

OLED screen

Samsung (i7110)

Feb. 2009

Samsung (Galaxy)

Nov. 2011

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

After Samsung, HTC and others led on AMOLED displays, Apple finally adds the high contrast screens to iPhone

HTC

Feb. 2010

Inductive charging

Palm

June 2009

Samsung

April 2015

LG

Sept. 2013

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

Google

/ Nexus

Oct. 2013

Super-sharp

“retina” screens

iPhone 4

June 2010

LG

Oct. 2011

HTC

April 2012

Samsung

May 2012

LTE (faster internet speeds)

HTC

Mar. 2011

Motorola

Sept. 2011

Samsung, LG

Oct. 2011

iPhone 5

Sept. 2012

Fingerprint scanner

Motorola

April 2011

iPhone 5S

Sept. 2013

Samsung

April 2014

Mobile payments

Google (Wallet)

May 2011

iPhone 6

Sept. 2014

Google (Android Pay)

March 2015

Samsung

Aug. 2015

AI assistant

iPhone 4S

Oct. 2011

Microsoft

April 2014

Google

May 2016

Amazon

July 2017

Water resistant

Sony

Jan. 2013

Samsung

June 2013

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

64-bit (high-speed) processor

iPhone 5S

Sept. 2013

HTC

Aug. 2014

Samsung

April 2015

Dual-lens camera

HTC

April 2014

LG

Feb. 2016

Later efforts are for capturing depth information and adding bokeh in photos

Earlier dual-lens cameras focused on taking 3D photos—later efforts were to aid better photography

Huawei

April 2016

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

Pressure-

sensitive screen

Apple Watch

April 2015

iPhone 6S

Sept. 2015

Huawei

Oct. 2015

No headphone jack

LeEco

April 2016

HTC, Essential Phone, several others followed shortly after

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

Slim bezels & all-screen front

LG

Feb. 2017

Samsung

April 2017

Essential Phone

Aug. 2017

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

3D sensor

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

The added front-facing sensors will be for unlocking the phone with facial recognition

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Better Late Than Never

While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there first.

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

App store

Apple

July 2008

Android

Oct. 2008

BlackBerry

April 2009

After Samsung, HTC and others led on AMOLED displays, Apple finally adds the high contrast screens to iPhone

Palm

June 2009

OLED screen

Samsung (i7110)

Feb. 2009

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

Samsung (Galaxy)

Nov. 2011

HTC

Feb. 2010

Inductive charging

Palm

June 2009

LG

Sept. 2013

Samsung

April 2015

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

Google/Nexus

Oct. 2013

Super-sharp

“retina” screens

iPhone 4

June 2010

LG

Oct. 2011

HTC

April 2012

Samsung

May 2012

LTE (faster

internet speeds)

HTC

Mar. 2011

Motorola

Sept. 2011

Samsung, LG

Oct. 2011

iPhone 5

Sept. 2012

Fingerprint scanner

Motorola

April 2011

iPhone 5S

Sept. 2013

Samsung

April 2014

Mobile payments

Google (Wallet)

May 2011

Google (Android Pay)

March 2015

iPhone 6

Sept. 2014

Samsung

Aug. 2015

AI assistant

iPhone 4S

Oct. 2011

Google

May 2016

Microsoft

April 2014

Amazon

July 2017

Water resistant

Sony

Jan. 2013

Samsung

June 2013

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

64-bit (high-speed) processor

iPhone 5S

Sept. 2013

HTC

Aug. 2014

Samsung

April 2015

Earlier dual-lens cameras focused on taking 3D photos—later efforts were to aid better photography

Dual-lens camera

HTC

April 2014

LG

Feb. 2016

Huawei

April 2016

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

Later efforts are for capturing depth information and adding bokeh in photos

Pressure-

sensitive screen

Apple Watch

April 2015

iPhone 6S

Sept. 2015

Huawei

Oct. 2015

No headphone jack

LeEco

April 2016

HTC, Essential Phone, several others followed shortly after

iPhone 7

Sept. 2016

Slim bezels & all-screen front

LG

Feb. 2017

Samsung

April 2017

Essential Phone

Aug. 2017

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

The added front-facing sensors will be for unlocking the phone with facial recognition

3D sensor

iPhone X

Sept. 2017

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

Better Late Than Never

While Apple invented the modern smartphone, it has since mostly played catch-up with competitors. A few times it got there first.

App Store

Apple July 2008

Android Oct. 2008

BlackBerry April 2009

Palm June 2009

OLED screen

Samsung (i7110) Feb. 2009

HTC Feb. 2010

Samsung (Galaxy) Nov. 2011

iPhone X Sept. 2017

After Samsung, HTC and others led on AMOLED displays, Apple finally adds the high contrast screens to iPhone

Inductive charging

Palm June 2009

LG Sept. 2013

Google/Nexus Oct. 2013

Samsung April 2015

iPhone X Sept. 2017

Super-sharp “retina” screens

iPhone 4 June 2010

LG Oct. 2011

HTC April 2012

Samsung May 2012

LTE (faster internet speeds)

HTC Mar. 2011

Motorola Sept. 2011

Samsung, LG Oct. 2011

iPhone 5 Sept. 2012

Fingerprint scanner

Motorola April 2011

iPhone 5S Sept. 2013

Samsung April 2014

Mobile payments

Google (Wallet) May 2011

iPhone 6 Sept. 2014

Google (Android Pay) March 2015

Samsung Aug. 2015

AI assistant

iPhone 4S Oct. 2011

Microsoft April 2014

Google May 2016

Amazon July 2017

Water resistant

Sony Jan. 2013

Samsung June 2013

iPhone 7 Sept. 2016

64-bit (high-speed) processor

iPhone 5S Sept. 2013

HTC Aug. 2014

Samsung April 2015

Earlier dual-lens cameras focused on taking 3D photos—later efforts were to aid better photography

Dual-lens camera

HTC April 2014

LG Feb. 2016

Huawei April 2016

iPhone 7 Sept. 2016

Later efforts are for capturing depth information and adding bokeh in photos

Pressure-

sensitive screen

Apple Watch April 2015

iPhone 6S Sept. 2015

Huawei Oct. 2015

No headphone jack

LeEco April 2016

iPhone 7 Sept. 2016

HTC, Essential Phone, several others followed shortly after

Slim bezels & all-screen front

LG Feb. 2017

Samsung April 2017

Essential Phone Aug. 2017

iPhone X Sept. 2017

 

3D sensor

iPhone X Sept. 2017

The added front-facing sensors will be for unlocking the phone with facial recognition

Other likely new features, spotlighted by code strings inside of an accidently released software package for the upcoming HomePod, include the ability to tap the phone’s screen to wake it up and inductive charging. The tap to wake feature has been available on Android phones for several years, while inductive charging first made its appearance in consumer handsets with the Palm Pre launch in 2009. Apple first entered those waters with the Apple Watch charger in 2015.

Apple is bringing some new ideas to the table. To replace the home button, the company is creating a software-based controls area at the bottom of the phone, which could be a step up from the basic controls on home button-less Android phones. Like the iPhone 7 Plus, the new device will feature two rear cameras, but now they’ll sit one atop the other rather than side by side, a configuration that could make augmented reality apps work better. This iPhone upgrade will also mark the first time that a smartphone maker’s complete lineup will use the same, more efficient 10nm processor (Samsung’s S8 features two different types of that chip depending on where you buy it). Upgrades to core technologies aside, the new iPhone’s crown jewel will be a 3-D facial scanning sensor that will unlock device and authenticate purchases—an industry first.

If history is any guide, the new iPhone will be a huge hit. Millions are already locked into the Apple ecosystem and trust the company to deliver its signature performance and elegance—even if some of features have been around for years.