Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone X sets a new gold standard for the next decade of iPhones. Coming hot on the heels of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the iPhone X steals the show despite sharing nearly identical internal hardware. The X (pronounced “ten”) is a beautiful, modern sculpture, and iPhone owners finally have a reason to show off their phones again.
A STUNNING DISPLAY
Turn on the iPhone X, and it’s easy to forget almost every other phone released this year. Apple’s following the “bezel-less” smartphone design trend, where the edges around the screen melt away to offer an immersive all-screen experience. Technically, other phones may have slightly smaller bezels, but we like the approach Apple took here.
Most of the time, anyway. The notch cut out of the screen to accommodate the front-facing camera can be a little distracting. We prefer the notch on the Essential Phone, which is just a tiny black dot compared to the iPhone’s wide black stripe. iOS gracefully splits the top status bar in half around the notch, and many native apps also tailor their designs to it, but it’s easy to feel a break in immersion when watching YouTube videos and movies on Netflix.
When the iPhone X first launched, many apps did not support the full display. More than a month after its release, most popular apps support it, but there are still many that don’t. It’ll likely stay that way for a few more months as developers take the time to update their apps.
- iPhone X with an unsupported app.
- iPhone X with a supported app.
The OLED display goes a long way in making amends for these quibbles. The 5.8-inch screen has a 2,436 x 1,125-pixel resolution (458 pixels per inch), and it’s razor sharp. Colors are vibrant, blacks are finally as pitch-dark as many other OLED Android phones, and it was easy to read in direct sunlight. You’ll have a hard time pulling your eyes away from this screen.
The X is a beautiful, modern sculpture, and iPhone owners finally have a reason to show off their phones again.
As on the iPhone 8 and iPad, Apple’s True Tone technology detects the lighting condition you’re in, and adjusts the screen’s tint to make it more readable. It works extremely well, and made the screen warmer — and easier on the eyes — in our harsh office lighting.
The phone’s all-glass rear is almost the same as the iPhone 8 Plus, except the dual-camera setup has turned to a vertical orientation. Apple says the front-facing depth sensors and cameras took up a lot of space up top, and the rear camera wouldn’t fit sideways. With only the Apple and iPhone logo printed on the glass, the back looks minimal and sleek. The vertical orientation is a dead giveaway you have the iPhone X, as it’s a pretty unusual camera orientation and placement on a phone.
One noticeable difference is the power button, which now perhaps should be called the “lock button.” Still situated on the right edge, it’s more elongated than before, which makes it easier to find and press. We say lock button because to turn off the iPhone X, you need to press the lock button and the volume up or down buttons. Tapping on the lock button just wakes or turns off your screen, but you can double tap it to activate Apple Pay, or press and hold it to launch Siri.
The mute switch is on the top left, and the volume rocker sits below. There’s still no headphone jack, and the only port is for your Lightning cable at the bottom edge, between the bottom-firing speakers. For music, you’ll either have to pair wireless earbuds with the Bluetooth 5 technology on board, or you can embrace the dongle life with the included Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter.
What we like most about the iPhone X is its size. It feels compact — it’s slightly larger than the 4.7-inch iPhone 8, but it has a bigger screen than the 5,5-inch iPhone 8 Plus. The X is comfortable in the hand, and it feels remarkable to have so much more screen real estate than a cumbersome “plus-sized” phone.
SPEEDY AND A GESTURE-BASED IOS
You’ll find the same A11 Bionic processor from the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus powering the iPhone X. We haven’t seen any flaws in performance — the interface is fluid, and switching between apps is fast. Games like Monument Valley 2, Transformers: Forged to Fight, and the augmented reality game The Machines ran smoothly. Our iPhone X benchmark scores reaffirmed our experience.
- Antutu: 206,010
- Geekbench 4 CPU: 4,231 single-core; 9,877 multi-core
The Antutu score is slightly less than what we’ve seen on our iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which received respective scores of 214,492, and 222,462. It’s still higher than any other Android smartphone we’ve tested. The Google Pixel 2, for example, scored 146,876, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8received 167,946. Geekbench scores were nearly identical against the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, but it absolutely eclipsed the Android competition. That’s not to say those Android phones are slow: They’re incredibly high-performing phones that do the job well. The iPhone X, though, executes things a little better.
If you swipe it up and pause, you will see all your previous apps for some quick multitasking. You can also switch between apps by sliding your finger from the bottom left to the bottom right, kind of like drawing an upside down U. All the animations are beautiful and responsive, and it’s fun to execute largely because it’s so new. We’ve fully acclimated to the new gestures after more than a month of use. Our main gripe, however, is accessing the Control Center. We constantly find ourselves opening it when intending to open the Notification Center, especially when using the phone one-handed.
Hardware actions are also different. Trying to quietly activate Siri? Just tap and hold the lock button. Taking a screenshot is easy too — tap the lock and volume up buttons at the same time. You’ll even get the option to mark the screenshot up. You can press and hold the lock and volume down button to turn off the iPhone, or to access SOS emergency services, and double-tapping the lock button brings up Apple Pay.
These gesture-based interactions are a thoughtful way of navigating the home button-less iPhone X. The animations are slick, fluid, and futuristic. iOS 11 also brings a whole lot more customization, such as the redesigned Control Center, and you can check out our in-depth iOS 11 review to see what’s new.
FACE ID AND ANIMOJIS
Face ID is the hallmark of the iPhone X, and a huge gamble for Apple, since it completely replaces Touch ID. Instead of swiping a fingerprint, just look at your phone, and it unlocks.
In our initial review, we didn’t think it worked well and found it slower to be Touch ID. It has since improved greatly, and Apple told us there’s a quicker way to use Face ID. Rather than raising the phone, waiting for the padlock to unlock, and then swiping up to go to the home screen, simply swipe up the lock screen when you want to go to your home screen. You’ll see a quick Face ID animation — if it recognizes you — and voila, you’re through.
Comparing it with Touch ID on an iPhone 8, we noted the fingerprint sensor is ever-so-slightly faster, but the difference is quite small. Face ID is fast. There are still moments when Face ID would not recognize us, but these have been getting less and less frequent. Apple said Face ID gets better over time because it’s continually updating its model of you, which is why it recommends to never reset your Face ID profile
