Why I am not going to buy the iPhone X

APPLE has announced its premium iPhone X and while impressive, there is no way I am going to spend that much.

OPINION:

I CAN already hear the keyboard strokes of Apple fanboys getting ready to abuse me on Twitter, but there is no way I am paying $A1829 for the iPhone X.

The device has an edge-to-edge screen, with glass on the front and back and a surgical-grade stainless steel band around the sides — the company claims it’s the most durable device to date.

Apple has also made the device water and dust resistant, included the highest-pixel density ever seen on an iPhone and introduced facial recognitions technology.

There is also wireless charging, an improved camera and AR applications.

Sure, this all sounds impressive and for the most part it is. However, I don’t feel like the technology is groundbreaking enough for me to justify forking out $A1829 for the 256GB iPhone X or even $A1579 for the 64GB device.

My reasoning has to do with the fact most of the technology showcased by Apple already exists on other phones.

The biggest competitor to the 5.8-inch 64GB iPhone X is the 5.8-inch 64GB Samsung S8, which also has an edge-to-edge display, facial recognition and wireless charging.

And at just $A1199, the Samsung S8 is $A380 cheaper than the $1579 iPhone X. If you take into account Samsung’s ability to expand the storage to 320GB using microSD, it’s actually $A630 cheaper when compared to Apple’s $A1829 256GB model.

But surely you get much more bang for your buck with the iPhone X?

Not necessarily.

FACIAL RECOGNITION

While facial recognition is new for Apple products, the technology already exists on the S8.

To Apple’s credit it did mention they had tested the technology with Hollywood special effects experts to see if it could be fooled with masks and they had no luck.

The iPhone X also promises the technology can’t be fooled by pictures, which is something Samsung had to fix after the release of the S8.

While this sounds promising, users will have to wait for the product to be released to the public before it can really be tested against Apple’s security claims — hopefully it does live up.

Apple also claims FaceID will adapt to your changing face over time if you do things like add glasses or get an eyebrow ring (so 90s of you). But again this cannot be confirmed until months of use. And with the product failing already at the flagship event, it’s not looking great.

So what happens if you don’t want to use facial recognition or if it stops working as promised?

Well, with the iPhone X your only option is to use the passcode feature as the physical home button/fingerprint scanner has been removed for the larger screen.

This isn’t the case with the S8, which has the fingerprint scanner located on the rear of the device. It also offers options to use an iris scanner or passcode.

From my personal experience, I find the fingerprint scanner to be the quickest and easier way to unlock my device. Suffice to say it would have been nice for Apple to offer a few more options.

Apple’s iPhone X includes wireless charging for the first time.

WIRELESS CHARGING

Apple has also made it possible to kiss your charger cords goodbye with the iPhone X.

As expected, the company has introduced wireless charging with its latest products — something Samsung introduced on its phones two years ago.

The new model has been made to work with Qi wireless charging, with the company releasing its own wireless charging dock known as Airpower.

While a nice addition, wireless charging doesn’t offer the same speeds as a physical cable and this is where Apple has dropped the ball.

Unlike the S8’s USB-C charging port — the new industry standard — Apple has opted to stick with its Lightning cable. This is despite switching to USB-C on its latest laptop models.

This means unless Apple provide a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box with the iPhone X, you will need to purchase an additional $A35 cable to charge Apple’s premium smartphone on its latest laptops.

And given it was happy enough to embrace USB-C for its laptop range, why not do the same with the iPhone X?

WATER AND DUST RESISTANCE

Having smartphones that offer water and dust resistance are nothing new, but it’s a shame to see the iPhone X only has an IP67 rating.

This means the device is fully protected from dust and can also withstand being submerged in 1 metre of static water for up to 30 minutes.

Comparatively, the S8 offers an IP68 rating — making it fully protected from dust and able to handle being submerged in 1.5 metre of static water for up to 30 minutes.

While this is only a minor improvement, it’s hard not be annoyed given the price difference.

Samsung’s S8 offers many of the features of the iPhone X for a fraction of the cost.

DISPLAY

Apple’s iPhone X has a5.8-inch display that will offer 2436-by-1125 resolution, which is once again beaten by the cheaper S8’s 2960 x 1440 resolution.

As a first for Apple, the iPhone X includes the an OLED panel, which creates stunning colours and true blacks as each pixel creates light itself so there is no need for backlighting.

Again, this is an impressive feature for Apple to include, but the Samsung S8 has an AMOLED panel, which many believe is a step forward in Organic Light Emitting Diode technology.

Apple slightly tops Samsung with it’s high dynamic range (HDR), offering both Dolby Vision and HDR 10, but is this worth an extra $A630? I think not.

CAMERA

Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus introduced a new level of photography to smartphones and it’s iPhone X has continued the trend.

In terms of front-facing cameras, the cheaper S8‘s 8MP shooter is slightly better on paper when compared the 7MP camera offered by the iPhone X.

However, in terms of the rear-facing camera Apple takes the cake.

Despite both shooting in 12MP, the iPhone X has a dual camera on the rear of the device, which offers a better depth-of-field when compared to the S8’s single camera.

Although, it must be noted that Samsung’s Note 8 also offers a dual camera on the rear of the device.

And while the $A1499 Note 8 is more closely priced to the iPhone X, you do get all the benefits of the S8 mentioned in this article.

The Note 8 also offers a stylus and the ability to get a desktop experience using Samsung’s DeX, so if the camera was your decider, it would be worth taking that into account.

CONCLUSION

There is no denying Apple has released a solid product with the iPhone X.

It has the redesign fans had been calling for since the iPhone 6S and includes a number of good features.

The only problem is you can get the same features on other phones for a fraction of the cost.

So do I think it’s worth spending more than a laptop on an iPhone? Sadly not.

Will you be buying the iPhone X? Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.

Originally published as Why I am not going to buy the iPhone X