Apple Introduced the iPhone X With Face ID Five Years Ago Today

[knirirr]

For these past 5 years I've been seeing lots of discussion about which is "best" in terms of security, speed and ease of use, what if one's hands are wet, one is wearing a face mask, the phone's on a table or needs to be pulled out of the pocket to pay, what about twins, siblings etc. etc. etc.

I'm quite prepared to believe any of the FaceID advocates about the enormous convenience of this new system. But, I don't care, as I find it unbelieveably creepy. The tracking smartphones already undertake is bad enough, but a facial recognition sensor watching me all the time I use it is a line I won't cross. Even though I could afford any current iPhone and would like a nicer camera, I'm still on the 8 Plus (the SE's screen is too small for me). Whilst this state of affairs continues I don't feel any pressure to upgrade my watch, either.

All that's keeping me on iOS at the moment is the fact that the Apple watch is very useful, with nothing else quite up to the same level, plus the usual green bubble/shared location/shared reminder complaints that I'd have to deal with when using an Android phone. I'd put up with the complaints and inconvenience if a decent replacement for the Apple watch appeared. Perhaps the forthcoming Pixel watch will fit the bill? Even Google's horrid "web and app activity" requirement to use the watch doesn't feel as unpleasant as that facial recognition system.

 

[webkit]

The phone is such a mature product they are putting all of the new functionality in the pro phones and the standard iPhone has barely changed since the 12

I think that has basically been the goal since the Pro level phones were introduced. To use my previous analogy, the Pro models are for those who want a better cut of steak than the regular iPhone but the regular iPhones are still quite good and have been top sellers for Apple. Over the years, Apple has simply expanded its iPhone lineup to provide more choices for consumers not unlike what other phone makers do.

 

[BenTrovato]

Been on faceID for 5 years now and still prefer touchID. Use both everyday and the only reason I haven't upgraded my iPad.

 

[lexvo]

I found face-ID was working surprisingly good for a first gen product. The X is a great phone. When I upgraded to the iPhone-13 I gave it to my wife and she's using it intensely every day.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

You specifically said "all products in their line up." How can you not count non-Pro phones? Non-Pro phones are all Apple had for many years. Non-Pro phones have continued to be improved and are significant to the iPhone lineup. Even under Steve Jobs, Apple offered varying levels of computers and other products.

If there was a restaurant that had previously only offered one steak option (sirloin) but then added filet mignon to the menu, would you argue that the restaurant now overpriced all of their steaks even though sirloin was still offered at lower prices? I assume not but that’s basically what you are saying here regarding iPhone prices.

Apple only had one phone level in the early years ("sirloin") but eventually expanded their offerings to include other, higher level "cuts of steaks" which naturally would come at higher prices than the regular "sirloin" phones.

Many of today’s much improved iPhones are actually pretty reasonably priced (at least after adjusting for inflation) compared to prices of iPhones from years ago. One example being the iPhone 4 versus iPhone 14 comparison in my previous post.

My point was, before iPhone Pro models came into existence the regular iPhone was the only one available and they had the latest and best technology inside them.

Apple introduced those Pro models so they could create another tier just for profit increase, moving those best features that would have been in the regular iPhones and locking them behind iPhone Pro models at higher prices.

If they didn't create the Pro range then the regular iPhone, the iPhone 14 for example, would have the triple camera, Dynamic island, 120Hz always on display etc. But they would be forced to adopt a mid range pricing strategy in order to attract all customers and maintain their relevance the market place.

Some may argue that they wouldn't put those features in the iPhone at all if the pro range didn't exist. However, I believe they would because they would want to compete in the market so would have to put these features into the phone to compete with other brands.

During the Steves Jobs era the products were only differentiated by screen size and storage size and thats it. All the products were identical in tech specs otherwise.

 

[cbaca51]

I remember the X was hated lol. Loved it and got it day 1