Comparing iPhone X to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus; Which One to Pick

No one can say that Apple didn’t pull out all the stops for the introduction of its 10^th anniversary iPhone models Sept. 12. Because of its roller-coaster record of smartphone sales in the past year, Apple knew it had to introduce dramatically new iPhone models to catch buyers’ attention. The iPhone X has that attention-grabbing new design, featuring an OLED display, all-glass front panel and a Face ID feature that will uses facial recognition instead of scanning fingerprints for security verification.

Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone X have glass backs, but that’s their only similarities. The iPhone X’s screen nearly entirely covers its face and it has no physical home button. A thin bezel frames the display with a notch at the top for the camera, earpiece and sensors. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have a traditional iPhone design with a home button under the screen.

The most notable difference between iPhone X and the iPhone 8 models is that the Touch ID fingerprint sensor remains in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, but has been removed for new technology in the iPhone X.

Apple has included Face ID, which scans the user’s face to verify their identify, in the iPhone X. Face ID will enable access to iOS 11 features and approve payments via Apple Pay. According to Apple, Face ID is faster and more accurate than Touch ID. And, Face ID’s failure rate is just one in 1 million—half that of Touch ID’s.

The iPhone 8 models and the iPhone X support wireless charging, enabled by the glass finish on their rear panels. The devices use the Qi wireless charging standard, according to Apple, so currently available accessories from third-party vendors will work with the smartphones.

All three models have good-quality cameras, but there are differences. The iPhone 8 has a single-lens, 12-megapixel camera that supports digital zoom up to 5x. The iPhone 8 Plus has a dual-lens rear-facing camera featuring wide-angle and telephoto support, with the lenses arranged horizontally on the rear panel. The iPhone X also has dual 12-megapixel lenses, but the lenses are arranged vertically and feature optical image stabilization.  

There are major differences between the smartphones’ screens. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus use LCD technology for their 4.7- and 5.5-inch screens. The iPhone 8 has a 326-pixel-per-inch resolution, while the iPhone 8 Plus features 401 pixels per inch. The iPhone X, meanwhile, has a 5.8-inch OLED screen with a contrast ratio is a whopping 1 million to 1 and a resolution of 458 pixels per inch.

Apple’s iPhone X ships with the A11 Bionic chip, featuring 64-bit architecture and six cores. The chip also has an embedded M11 motion coprocessor and “neural engine” technology to handle sophisticated tasks. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus also have the A11 Bionic chip, which means all three devices should offer far better performance than last year’s iPhone 7 line.

Battery life varies with Apple’s new iPhones. The iPhone 8 offers up to 14 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. Both the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X feature up to 21 hours of talk time on a single charge—one-third more time than the iPhone 8.

Both the iPhone 8 line and iPhone X will run on iOS 11, but the software’s functionality will be different on the flagship handset. Because the home button is gone, users now must swipe up to access the operating system’s multitasking pane. Swiping down reveals control panel information. Apple has remapped other gestures that also used the home button, including screenshot capturing.

Apple’s iPhone X will be available for pre-order Oct. 27 and will hit the market Nov. 3. The smartphone is available for a starting price of $999 with 64GB of storage. The 256GB option goes for $1,149. Apple’s iPhone 8 costs $699 for 64GB and $849 for 256GB of storage. The iPhone 8 Plus is priced at $799 for 64GB or $949 for the 256GB version. Pre-orders for the iPhone 8 line begin Sept. 15 and the device will be available Sept. 22. All three models will be unlocked to work on any carrier network.