The iPhone X, also known as iPhone 10, is a smartphone device manufactured and owned
by Apple Inc. Announced in September 2017, the device is the eleventh release of the iPhone
series developed to improve users' experience on earlier released iPhone generations. The
smartphone is currently available in most retail phones and tablets shops and online shops across
the world. Upon its release, iPhone X has received many positive reviews concerning its display,
photoshoot experience and ease of use. Today, the iPhone X is the most popular IOS device with
over 350 million users across the world (Strassberger 1). However, the smartphone has been
mocked by users over social media platforms due to several cons in its properties and its
performance. This essay seeks to investigate and assess specific properties that iPhone X has that
may influence the user's experience. iPhone X is an excellent product characterized with a high
definition display, reliable safety in authentication, excellent photography experience, and fast
performance although the phone is costly, has an unfriendly operating system, and it is
vulnerable to shock.
First, this paper takes the reader through iPhone X’s display. This decision is informed by
the fact that the physical appearance of a mobile phone is the first influencer of one’s decision of
whether or not to purchase it. Given the various criticisms leveled against the iPhone brand
because of its small screen, the advancement in the iPhone X display is worth noting. The edge-
to-edge LED display isolates iPhone X from most smartphone brands available in the market.
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The organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) presents excellent image quality, better contrast, and
brightness level and a wider ultra-high-definition color range. It also yields faster refresh rates,
excellent video experience, and saves on power consumption (Jia 427). With 5.8 inches
diagonally, the phone presents a larger display than all the former iPhone generations. As an
extension of the iPhone X display value, the Apple Company ensured that it has superior
resolution power to the previous releases. The movable notch at the top of the screen allows the
phone’s user to take clear pictures, contrary to previous releases where obstacles such as a
moving finger could affect the clarity of the photographs taken. Tin addition, the fact that the top
part of the screen is fitted with a light sensor improves the quality of the screen’s display as it
automatically adjusts brightness based on external lighting.
Another feature that influences buyers’ decisions when purchasing mobile phones is
security. It implies that the customers favor phones that make it hard for unauthorized
individuals to access their sensitive files. The Apple Company considered such concerns during
the manufacture of iPhone X. The phone's facial recognition feature, known as Face ID, provides
safer authentication in accessing the phone's data. This feature enhances security to personal data
and sustains anti-theft properties. Face ID is supported by the front-facing camera, which is easy
to set up. To use this feature, a user needs to place the phone in front of his face, within a meter
distance, with the phone facing him. The Face ID feature analyzes about 30,000 invisible marks
on the face and develops a face map (Bud 5). This feature ensures accuracy in preventing
unauthorized access to the phone's data. The facial recognition process takes a maximum of one
second. Since facial recognition is instant, the phone offers an instant verification of a person.
This yields faster processing than former phone unlock features that take more than a second to
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process. The feature not only confirms privacy and data security but also yields faster access and
accurate verification.
In addition, customers insist on a large storage space for their mobile phones, so they do
not have to delete important files to create enough space for additional media. In light of this
need, iPhone X has a high-speed processor, large internal storage space, and a high random
access memory, which combine to yield excellent performance. It has an A11 Bionic chip
processor with 64-bit architecture. This nature of the processor is considered best in the field of
computer engineering and technology (Sima 39). Its processing power sustains the speed of up to
2.5 GHz so that the opening of applications happens in a flash speed. iPhone X comes with either
64gb, 128gb or 256gb internal storage capacity and can hold up to 512GB external flash drive.
This space is sufficient for storing data such as photos, music, and video. The range of the
phone's storage capacity makes it possible for prospective customers to choose the size that suits
them best. The 128gb and 256gb versions are meant for people who love keeping multiple music
files, photos, and videos in one device while the 64gb version suits people who like streaming
stuff online and prefer saving less on the phone's internal storage.
Pictures have been said to tell stories of experiences more than words could do. In such a
way, a good mobile phone should have the capacity to capture a user’s important event with
quality. One needs to look no further as iPhone X is built to satisfy this need in the customers. It
offers excellent photography experience for its users. It has a dual-lens rear camera that provides
a telephoto and a wide-angle lens that shoots at 12 megapixels each. The main camera lenses
allow an f/2.4 aperture, which can take up to 2436 by 1125 resolution on photos. It can take 4K
videos of up to 60 frames per second and 1080 pixels' videos of up to 250 frames per second.
The front camera is 7 megapixels with f/2.2 aperture. It is used for Face ID property, video
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calling, and selfie photos. The front camera can capture 750p video at 240 frames per second and
1080p video quality of up to 30 frames per second (Stein 1). It is also capable of taking animated
emoji placed in front of the user's face that rhyme with the user's facial expression. The high-
quality video recording and taking of photos make iPhone X and excellent product among other
phones.
Despite the various product pros associated with the usage of iPhone X, the phone's
initial and maintenance cost is relatively high, limiting its affordability for many smartphone
users. The manufacturer's suggested retail price for iPhone X ranges from $999 for the 64gb
version, $1,149 for 128gb version, and 1,299 for 256gb version in the year 2019 ("Here Are the
Prices of the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR – TechCrunch"). This made iPhone X the most
expensive phone, and not affordable for many people. However, several competitor phone
brands that have the same features as iPhone X came at a much less retail price The phone's fast
charging property also comes with a cost. To enjoy a fast charging feature, the user needs to
spend a further $74 to buy the USB-C adapter and cable. This makes the phone's maintenance
cost very high, unlike competitor products that offer the fast charging feature for free. Also, the
replacement of the phone's hardware is generally costly especially because manufacturer rights
are fully owned by Apple Inc.
iPhone X is generally a fragile phone that may only take a single accident for the screen
to break. Upon release, CNET drop-tested the iPhone X's endurance to shock and it cracked with
a three-foot drop (Orellana). Dropping the phone face down from even shorter heights instantly
shuttered the screen. Dropping the phone on its side did less physical damage, but still left the
screen non-functional. Dropping iPhone X on its back smashed the back glass, damaging the
phone's outlook and the loose shards of glass made it unsafe to hold. That was much worse than
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former iPhone generations, not to mention other smartphone brands available in the market.
Also, the phone's body is made of glass which gives it a slippery feel. This body increases the
chances of accidentally dropping the phone, expanding its vulnerability to shock, causing
hardware damage.
The phone runs IOS that is not user-friendly, which limits its ease of usage. Despite the
operating system offering excellent performance to professional users, it is hard to get along with
for beginners. The system limits file-sharing options with devices using other operating systems,
such as Windows and Android. Also, system updates for apps are not open source and thus the
phone users would have to incur extra charges to receive system updates. Other operating
systems, such as Linux, are fully open source and thus their users update their devices
conveniently without having to incur an extra cost. iPhone X's operating system only supports a
single subscriber identification module (SIM), making the phone inconvenient for users with
more than one SIM. The IOS applications are relatively large compared to other mobile
platforms (Lazareska and Jakimoski 116). Although the phone has a large internal storage space,
most of it is taken by the phone's operating system and installed applications, leaving a smaller
proportion for keeping other files such as photos and music.
In sum, the iPhone X is an excellent product that attracts prospective user's preferences.
Built to suit the present day's technological demands, the phone is built with an OLED display
that presents a magnificent performance with a wider ultra-high-definition color range, high
image quality, and better contrast and brightness level. The Face ID feature installed in iPhone X
enhances security to personal data stored in the device and provides safer authentication in
accessing the phone's data. The phone also has a high-speed processor together with large
internal storage space and random access memory. These three together with a sublime
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photography experience collaborate to present excellent performance to the phone user.
However, iPhone X is associated with several flaws in that the phone is availed at a relatively
high price, it is highly vulnerable to shock, and it uses a rigid operating system. This calls for
proper investigation by the prospective user to determine the phone's conveniences before
purchase.
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Works Cited
Bud, Andrew. "Facing the Future: The Impact of Apple FaceID." Biometric Technology Today,
vol. 2018, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 5-7.
"Here Are the Prices of the IPhone XS, XS Max and XR – TechCrunch." TechCrunch,
12 Sept. 2018, techcrunch.com/2018/09/12/here-are-the-prices-of-the-iphone-xs-xs-max-
and-xr/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
Jia, Hepeng. "Who Will Win the Future of Display Technologies?" National Science Review,
vol. 5, no. 3, 2018, pp. 427-431.
Lazareska, Lazarela, and Kire Jakimoski. "Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of
Android and iOS Systems and Converting Applications from Android to iOS Platform
and Vice Versa." American Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, vol. 6,
no. 5, 28 Oct. 2017, p. 116,
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1c28/2488a7e7d5d57ccf48b93a9beb531a5277e1.pdf?_ga=2.19
8969967.1145857505.1583995065-805984827.1583697644. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
Orellana, Vanessa H. "IPhone X Drop Test: It Cracked on the First Drop." CNET, 4 Nov. 2017,
www.cnet.com/news/apple-iphone-x-drop-test/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
Sima, Dezső. Apple’s Mobile Processors. nik.uni-obuda, 2018. users.nik.uni-
obuda.hu/sima/letoltes/Processor_families_Knowledge_Base_2019/Apple%27s_processor_lines
_2018_12_23.pdf. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
Stein, Scott. "IPhone X Review: This IPhone XS Predecessor is Still a Contender." CNET,
12 Sept. 2018, www.cnet.com/reviews/apple-iphone-x-review/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020.
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Strassberger, Cory, and Remco Sikkema. "Democratising Mocap: Real-Time Full-Performance
Motion Capture with an iPhone X, Xsens, and Maya." ACM SIGGRAPH 2018 Real-