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Why I'm Holding Out For The iPhone X

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This article is more than 6 years old.

I’m in the market for a new iPhone, so I was anxiously awaiting the big reveal from Apple to find out which rumors were true and what the latest iPhone has in store. Maybe I missed an Apple speculation memo, but I was not expecting both an iPhone 8 and an iPhone X. Now it looks like my next smartphone will be the iPhone X.

Let me start by saying there is nothing wrong with the iPhone I already have. It is an iPhone 6S with 128GB storage capacity. I’ve been having some issues lately with battery life, but overall it’s in perfect condition. I was mainly looking to upgrade because A) I sat out the iPhone 7 models and feel “overdue” for a new device, and B) my son has a 16GB iPhone 6S and he is dying for me to upgrade so he can have my 128GB model.

My initial inclination was to go with the “modest” approach and simply get the iPhone 8. It is roughly the same size and weight as the iPhone 6S—it is slightly heavier and thicker than its predecessors. It has the same size and resolution display, and the same Touch ID fingerprint sensor. There are a number of minor improvements between the two: The iPhone 8 is water resistant, the display is a little brighter, it has a quad LED flash, optical image stabilization for the camera, and a 7 megapixel front-facing camera. The things that would probably make the most difference, though, are the new A11 Bionic hexacore processor, larger battery with wireless charging, and the fact that I’d have to move up to 256GB of storage.

One of the things I use the iPhone for most, however, is taking pictures. So, the quality of the camera is actually one of the primary considerations. The iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X both have cameras that are superior to the iPhone 8. They have dual cameras with 2x optical zoom and RAW image capture.

The thing is, I had an iPhone 6S Plus briefly and I was not a fan. That device is simply too large in my opinion. It didn’t fit comfortably in my pocket. It was a bit unwieldy to use in one hand. I quickly dumped it in favor of the smaller iPhone 6S. So, I really, really don’t want the iPhone 8 Plus.

The iPhone X is only slightly larger overall than the iPhone 8, but it has a significantly larger 5.8-inch display because it has no bezel and the display goes literally from edge to edge. The display is also OLED with an 1125 x 2436 resolution—a pixel density of 459 ppi.

I’m on the fence about the Face ID facial recognition. It seems less practical and less secure than the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and Apple didn’t help convince me with the silly Animoji “feature” that lets you use the facial recognition to act out facial expressions on cartoon animals.

On the other hand, it’s very impressive that Apple was essentially able to take a Microsoft Kinect camera and shrink it down into an iPhone. I’ve been using Windows Hello facial recognition to log into my Surface Pro and I love it.

I wouldn’t necessarily wait the extra month and spend the extra money for most of the features, but the size of the iPhone 8 Plus is a deal-breaker for me. I want the better camera capabilities and the iPhone 8 Plus is off the table, so the iPhone X it is.

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