Apple's iPhone 8 & X - the good, the bad and the ugly
In what has become a September ritual - Apple announced their new iPhone line-up on Sept 12.
This year - we got 3 new iPhones, the 8, 8 Plus and the 10 year anniversary edition known as X (read as 10 according to Apple).
Here's my take on the good the bad and the ugly of these new devices..
The Good...
As Apple has been doing for years now - we see the continued evolution of their CPU - this year called the A11 Bionic. So continued processing power and efficiency gains. We also saw Apple's first foray into GPU which is incorporated into the A11 and not the lego model using Imagination Technologies GPU of iPhones past.
We also see continued improvements with Screens & Cameras with dual cameras available on the 8Plus & X. And finally after 5 years the addition of Qi wireless charging.
The Bad...
Only some minimal updates to the iOS UI. Specifically in the Control Center. And sure there are other new features like Apple Pay for friends, new filters and effects for photos, some improvements to Siri and Driving Mode - but overall if you have an iPhone 6 or > the UI really hasn't changed
Glass back. Being an owner of a Samsung S7 with a glass back to support wireless charging all I can say is invest in a good case. One of the real oxymoron's about todays smartphones is that the OEMs come up these really sleek designs and then you end up having to purchase some sort of industrial cover to protect them from day to day use.
Having come from the Nokia / Windows phone world where I had polycarbonite shells which were pretty much indestructible and could easily handle drops to hard surfaces like concrete - I learned pretty quickly with my S7 that they are as fragile as eggs and the repair costs are not cheap.
Finally Battery life - all comments state to expect the same for the 8 & 8 Plus as the 7.
The Ugly
I'm going to throw two items into this box. First is the new Face ID for the X. Apple removed the fingerprint sensor and replaced it with Face ID which I equate to Windows Hello feature. Post announcement interviews on Face ID revealed a number of use cases where Face ID may not recognize you - like with certain sunglasses or where certain clothing like scarfs or masks.
There was a very visible glitch at the announcement demo - which Apple stated was caused by too many faces being picked up by the scanner. Okay then so what happens in a crowd - like at a game or theme park or on a subway.
There are also some tricks for disabling FaceID like what they call squeeze - so grasping the phone on both sides by the buttons - so screen & volume.
I'm also not 100% on how it will handle registering multiple faces. With fingerprint - I had both my wife and my fingerprints registered - so if needed either of us could unlock the phone.
Finally there is the price for the X. At $999 the X is some $150 more than a Galaxy S8+ and that is for the 64GB model - Apple didn't even post a price for the 256GB - which I am estimating is around $1200 - maybe more.
For that $999 you get a phone which has a less powerful processor than the SnapDragon 835 in the S8 - no expandable storage, a smaller & lower resolution screen and similar cameras.
Bottom line
Okay the new iPhones are out - the 8 & 8 Plus follow the traditional evolutionary pace that Apple has followed for years. While the X provides some small glimpses of the future - I don't think it will move the needle in terms of sales volume for Apple. I do expect Apple to have a good Q4 (their Q1) with about 75M - 80M units - but that is a typical quarter for Samsung and with the S8 and Note 8 doing well - may knock the Apple volume down a little.
This year - we got 3 new iPhones, the 8, 8 Plus and the 10 year anniversary edition known as X (read as 10 according to Apple).
Here's my take on the good the bad and the ugly of these new devices..
The Good...
As Apple has been doing for years now - we see the continued evolution of their CPU - this year called the A11 Bionic. So continued processing power and efficiency gains. We also saw Apple's first foray into GPU which is incorporated into the A11 and not the lego model using Imagination Technologies GPU of iPhones past.
We also see continued improvements with Screens & Cameras with dual cameras available on the 8Plus & X. And finally after 5 years the addition of Qi wireless charging.
The Bad...
Only some minimal updates to the iOS UI. Specifically in the Control Center. And sure there are other new features like Apple Pay for friends, new filters and effects for photos, some improvements to Siri and Driving Mode - but overall if you have an iPhone 6 or > the UI really hasn't changed
Glass back. Being an owner of a Samsung S7 with a glass back to support wireless charging all I can say is invest in a good case. One of the real oxymoron's about todays smartphones is that the OEMs come up these really sleek designs and then you end up having to purchase some sort of industrial cover to protect them from day to day use.
Having come from the Nokia / Windows phone world where I had polycarbonite shells which were pretty much indestructible and could easily handle drops to hard surfaces like concrete - I learned pretty quickly with my S7 that they are as fragile as eggs and the repair costs are not cheap.
Finally Battery life - all comments state to expect the same for the 8 & 8 Plus as the 7.
The Ugly
I'm going to throw two items into this box. First is the new Face ID for the X. Apple removed the fingerprint sensor and replaced it with Face ID which I equate to Windows Hello feature. Post announcement interviews on Face ID revealed a number of use cases where Face ID may not recognize you - like with certain sunglasses or where certain clothing like scarfs or masks.
There was a very visible glitch at the announcement demo - which Apple stated was caused by too many faces being picked up by the scanner. Okay then so what happens in a crowd - like at a game or theme park or on a subway.
There are also some tricks for disabling FaceID like what they call squeeze - so grasping the phone on both sides by the buttons - so screen & volume.
I'm also not 100% on how it will handle registering multiple faces. With fingerprint - I had both my wife and my fingerprints registered - so if needed either of us could unlock the phone.
Finally there is the price for the X. At $999 the X is some $150 more than a Galaxy S8+ and that is for the 64GB model - Apple didn't even post a price for the 256GB - which I am estimating is around $1200 - maybe more.
For that $999 you get a phone which has a less powerful processor than the SnapDragon 835 in the S8 - no expandable storage, a smaller & lower resolution screen and similar cameras.
Bottom line
Okay the new iPhones are out - the 8 & 8 Plus follow the traditional evolutionary pace that Apple has followed for years. While the X provides some small glimpses of the future - I don't think it will move the needle in terms of sales volume for Apple. I do expect Apple to have a good Q4 (their Q1) with about 75M - 80M units - but that is a typical quarter for Samsung and with the S8 and Note 8 doing well - may knock the Apple volume down a little.
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