Are you sure Secure Enclave is Apple Thing? It’s more like ARM thing, Secure Enclave is Apple’s implementation of ARM’s TrustedZone. FaceID is just other forms of Biomatic verification thing. Microsoft used Retina scanning before, so it is just that. If you call FaceID an innovation, then Microsoft’s or other Anroid’s Iris scanning is innovation as well. Swift is just other programming language.
Apple is no longer the company that trying to be groundbreaking to me. They are just following the trend and trying to make the best product that following the trend.
Implementation of technology is also innovation. Apple didn't invent touch displays either but they certainly implemented them far better than anyone had ever done before. Authentec was a purchase they made but I certainly think that the full implementation of Touch ID ultimately changed the game.
I also want to add this to what I'm saying above and tag @
dmylrea because he asked what was innovative about the iPhone X.
Understand that Apple could have gone full screen years ago. It's a relatively easy, although inelegant solution, to remove Touch ID or to move it to the back of the device and extend a screen to the edges. To many regular users it appeared as though Apple was "behind" in this regard.
To fully grasp the pipeline and the roadmap you have to understand everything Apple did to get to the iPhone X design. The roadmap literally goes back to the lead up and release of the iPhone 5S with Touch ID, and more importantly Secure Enclave. The acquisition of Authentec in 2012. When Apple decided to use biometric data they also felt it was important to secure that data locally on the device. Secure Enclave does this and is still the method being used to secure data for Face ID today.
It seems obvious that the ideal design of a smartphone is an edge to edge display regardless of the total size/footprint of the device. It just makes sense to want as much screen as possible even if you only want a 3.5 inch phone. For Apple to achieve this they have to remove that big home button on the bottom of the phone. They could have moved it to the back but that's a bad solution. They could've just removed it entirely and opted for the old passcode but that's taking steps back in efficiency and security as well as the implications for things like payments. So what do you do? Face ID is the answer.
So what did Apple ultimately do? They built a system of cameras capable of accurately and consistently gathering biometric data. They improve their processor technology to be fast enough to immediately run that data so that the user doesn't have to wait for their phone to unlock. Then if you care about the security of the user you need a Secure Enclave to protect the biometric data being gathered.
Sure you can slap a big display on any phone and make it edge to edge but that hardly puts you ahead in hardware. It shows a lack of understanding of what innovation is, how incrementally it occurs, and how thorough Apples approach is. At it's core, examples like this are why Apple inches forward, iteration by iteration while other OEMs always seem to be chasing gimmicks and touting half baked "features."
And I'm not saying it always works out perfectly for Apple. They mess up. But the iPhone X was clearly the result of years of work and preparation for what Apple felt like was the best implementation of a full screen device. And you know what? It's a pretty great phone.
