iPhone X news: release date, price, new features & specs

Apple has unveiled the iPhone X, which joins the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in Apple's all-new iPhone line-up. Here, we bring you everything you need to know about the iPhone X, including its release date, price, specs and features.

If you're wondering why this iPhone is called the X, let us explain. The iPhone X is actually pronounced iPhone 10 (with the X representing the Roman Numeral for 10 in the same way that Mac OS X used to). That's because 2017 is 10 years after the very first iPhone launched at Macworld Expo in 2007. So this is a sort of special, celebratory anniversary iPhone.

iPhone X release date

The iPhone X will be arriving slightly later than the other new iPhones unveiled by Apple at the event. You'll be able to pre-order the iPhone X from 27 October, before its official release on 3 November. 

iPhone X design

Almost everything about the iPhone X's design was leaked ahead of its launch, but while it's not much of a surprise it's still pretty awesome. It's made with glass and stainless steel, and is available in Silver or Space Grey.

It's water and dust resistant just like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were, too.

Edge-to-edge display

The iPhone X looks stunning, with an OLED display that stretches across the entire front of the phone for an edge-to-edge finish. Apple has called the display Super Retina, and it is 5.8in diagonally. 

The screen has a million-to-one contrast ratio and wide colour support, and there's also HDR that supports Dolby Vision and HDR10. It's finally a display that'll be able to compete with rivals from the likes of Samsung and LG. Expect to be blown away by it.

True Tone for the display itself means that it will adjust the white balance to match the surrounding light, too.

No more Home button

In order to make an edge-to-edge display, Apple has done away with the Home button on the iPhone X. iOS 11 has been redesigned to replace to Home button's functions. You'll now raise to wake the iPhone X, or tap the display. And to go back to the Home screen, you just swipe up from the bottom. Swiping up and pausing before letting go will open the multitasking screen, and pressing and holding the side button will launch Siri (as will saying Hey, Siri as usual).

Face ID

To unlock the iPhone X, you can use the new Face ID feature. We're pretty concerned about how this is going to work in practice. Apple has promised that it'll just work, but when Apple's Craig Federighi tried it in the live demo he had to go to his backup iPhone X because the first one didn't recognise his face properly. Whoops. The backup iPhone X worked brilliantly though, and it sounds like Apple has used some serious tech to make sure that Face ID doesn't recognise photos or masks.

Interestingly, Face ID means that there's no Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Apple says that Face ID is much easier and safer, with a one in a million chance of someone being able to access your phone, rather than one in 50,000 for the Touch ID. Everything that Touch ID did is now done by Face ID, including Apple Pay and access to secure apps.

A fun touch are new Animoji, which let you make emoji come to life with your own expressions. You'll then be able to send Animoji you create to your friends and family via iMessage.

iPhone X specs

The iPhone X is powered by an A11 Bionic chip. It has a six-core CPU design which Apple claims is the smartest and most powerful ever seen in a smartphone. 

It works with the Apple-designed GPU, which has three cores and is capable of powering AR at 60fps, as well as enabling new machine learning and 3D games.

it's set to be available with storage of 64GB or 256GB, but there's no microSD card slot (as with all of Apple's iPhones) so you'll need to choose wisely when you buy.

On the rear of the iPhone X is a dual-lens set-up, with both lenses 12Mp and both offer optical image stabilisation. One has an aperture of f/1.8, and the other f/2.4. It's paired with a new quad LED True Tone Flash with Slow Sync, which is designed to offer a more natural light.

On the front of the phone is the 7Mp TrueDepth camera that Apple has developed for Face ID but will also help capture great selfies. The TrueDepth camera is made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator for advanced face mapping.

And you'll now be able to use Portrait mode on both the front and rear cameras of the iPhone X. Previously limited to the iPhone 7 Plus (and now iPhone 8 Plus), and only the rear camera, Portrait mode will now be possible even when using the front-facing camera. There's a new Portrait Lighting feature, too, that offers five different lighting styles to improve your portraits further.

Apple claims that the new camera in the iPhone X is capable of capturing the highest quality video ever from a smartphone. It has improved video stablisation, offers 4K up to 60fps and there's 1080p slo-mo up to 240fps.

We're expecting some incredible photos and videos from this iPhone, that's for sure.

The iPhone X's cameras are also designed for AR, with new gyroscopes and accelerometers for motion tracking. This is made possible by the new A11 Bionic chip. This is the same chip you'll find in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, but the TrueDepth camera in the iPhone X will enable some additional AR features.  

iPhone X battery life & wireless charging

All of this new tech had us worried about battery life, but Apple claims that it's been improved. So much so that it should last two hours more than the iPhone 7, but we'll have to wait until we get our hands on it for testing to see how long it lasts in practice.

The iPhone X can charge wirelessly, and Apple has made a new charging mat which has room for the Apple Watch Series 3 and your AirPods, too. Apple calls this charging mat AirPower, and it'll be launching in 2018. If you don't want Apple's charging mat, others that work with Qi will be compatible with the iPhone X.

The iPhone X will run iOS 11, which is set to become available for other iPhones on 19 September