The 10th anniversary of the iPhone marks a crucial landmark for Apple and yesterday saw the launch of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X, as well as the updated Apple Watch and Apple TV. We’ve been keeping track of all the rumours up to this point, but now Apple have officially confirmed the exciting features that are coming our way.
While we’ve had the iOS 11 beta on devices in our test lab ready to test on for a while now; as with every major iOS release, we’ll be pre-ordering an 8, 8 Plus and X all ready for their release day.
For any existing devices that are compatible with iOS 11, we’ll obtain new versions of each to roll up to the latest iOS, while maintaining our huge collection of legacy compatibility environments on older iOS versions.
It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly the uptake of iOS 11 will be. Current stats has iOS 10 at 89% of users with 9% on iOS 9 and only 2% on 8 or below. When iOS 10 was released it only took around 2-3 weeks for 50% switchover. Will the iOS 11 roll out be as fast? It will be available to download from 19 September 2017.
iPhone 8 / 8 Plus
The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will have an all-glass build and will be available in silver, space grey and a new blush gold colour, which is similar to the old rose gold that we saw with previous versions of the iPhone. There will be a 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch version, and it will have an upgraded processor and camera.
As always with Apple devices, it looks like a beautiful piece of kit – however, we wonder whether early adopters will skip this version and look to get their hands on the X instead.
Release date: 22 September 2017 (pre-order 15 September 2017)
Key features of the iPhone 8/8 Plus:
- Wireless charging capabilities
- Shipped with iOS 11
- 12MP Dual-lens camera
- 4K video up to 60fps
- All glass design
- A11 Bionic processing chip which features six cores
iPhone X
The real star of yesterday’s event though was the iPhone X, pronounced iPhone 10, which has seen quite a radical redesign of our beloved iPhone. The iconic home button has been removed to provide a nearly bezel free design. There is however a notch at the top that houses the front facing camera and probably one of the best features, 3D facial recognition that can be used to unlock the phone and is also compatible with Apple Pay.
Another great feature (although perhaps a bit of a fad) built off the back of the 3D camera is Animoji! Animoji are a new form of moving emoji that can be customised using facial recognition software. Users can scan their face and the animoji will match their expression in a short animation.
Key features of the iPhone X:
- 5.8” screen
- Shipped with iOS 11
- No more iconic home button
- A nearly bezel free design
- 3D Facial recognition
- New portrait lighting feature
- Wireless charging
- A11 Bionic processing chip which features six cores
As with any Apple announcement, you always get your fair share of detractors, but here at Zoonou we can’t wait to get our hands on these handsets!
For more information on our Device lab and the large range of devices we have available to test on, please see our Device Lab page. For more details on our compatibility testing service please contact us at info@zoonou.com and one of our team will get back to you. If you’d like to get in touch about anything else, please head over to our Contact page.
Article Published: 13/09/2017
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Published by Jordan Stanley
on the 13th September 2017
Accessibility Test Analyst and Device Library Manager at Zoonou