It’s Your Call: Which New iPhone is Better

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iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus Credit: wcctech

Priscilla Song, Staff Writer

Last month, Apple announced three new iPhones coming out this fall. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were released on September 22, while the iPhone X pre-orders started October 27 and shipped out on November 3. The new phones bring many innovative changes to the world of technology and phones.

First of all, what is the meaning of iPhone “X”? X is the Roman numeral for the number 10, which, according to Apple, stands for the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. Many users were confused as to why Apple skipped over the iPhone 9 and went straight to 10. The iPhone X is a special edition phone commemorating the iPhone’s tenth year since its birth.

The iPhone X and 8 were both announced at the same time, but there are differences between phones, other than that the X retails at a whopping $999 and the 8 Plus at $799. The signature trademark of iPhones is the home button on the front screen. But the X does not have that anymore. “It’s all screen,” says Apple. Owner of an iPhone 7 Plus, Stephanie Song (‘20) said, “It looks more like a Samsung now.” One other way that Apple has “copied” Samsung is the new facial recognition. Samsung introduced unlocking a phone with facial recognition in April, 2017, with the Galaxy S8. However, the facial recognition with Samsung didn’t get positive reviews. Forbes.com said, ““How will Apple’s iPhone 8 get face recognition right when the Note 8 got it so wrong?” CNET said, “We tried it on our own Note 8, and sure enough, it’s still possible to fool it with a flat photo.” Users tried to trick the system by holding up a photo from another phone, and the S8 accepted that picture and unlocked the phone. Although Apple came out with the facial recognition later, it is highly anticipated that the system will be safer than Samsung’s. Fortune.com said, “While a random fingerprint could dupe Touch ID with a success rate of one in 50,000, Face ID improves upon that figure twenty-fold to one in one million.”

Another new feature of the iPhone X is Portrait Mode selfies. Portrait Mode came out in the iPhone 7 and is a quality of the camera app. When switched to Portrait Mode, the camera focuses on an object and blurs out the background. The iPhone 8 has Portrait Mode also, but the iPhone X will have Portrait Mode Selfies. This new feature will allow selfies to look more professional and with a better light. The iPhone 8 also has a new camera sensor. The camera app also offers a dual camera and a variety of studio lights in the portrait lightings.

The iPhone 8 still has the normal parts as the previous iPhones, but it has a glass back in order to allow wireless charging.“Since the back is glass, that’d be riskier. It’s hard enough to keep my front screen clean and not cracked,” said owner of an iPhone 6s, Sarah Kim (‘19). The wireless charging is also available in the iPhone X. It works by putting the phone on a charging pad. The iPhone 8 also has improved camera qualities and a longer battery life than the 7.

Although there are many changes in the new iPhones, there are still some features about the phones that don’t satisfy users. Apple took away the earbud jack when they released the iPhone 7. Users need wireless earbuds or can use the adapter to listen with their regular earphones. Wireless Apple Earpods cost up to $159. This is inconvenient for most users. “I wish they put the earbud jack in. Sometimes I want to listen to music but I only have 10%,” said Grace Chong (‘17), a longtime Apple user.

It is obvious there are still quite a few things people think Apple needs to fix about the the iPhone X and 8.