Apple has updated its iPhone X line with three new models. The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max offer enhanced and bigger versions of the premium smartphone and will be available from this month to replace the original iPhone X. The iPhone XR introduces a cheaper model with LCD screen, launching in October, according Telecompaper. The iPhone XS comes with a 5.8-inch OLED 'Super Retina' display, the same as the X model introduced last year. Its price is also the same, starting at EUR 1,159. It comes with a stainless steel frame and scratch-resistant glass front and back, as does the iPhone XS Max. The latter comes with a bigger 6.5-inch OLED screen, Apple's biggest yet, and also offers what Apple says is its largest battery capacity to date. The top model starts at EUR 1,259.
The Apple iPhone XR comes with a lower price tag of EUR 859, with an aluminium rather than steel frame, only one back camera and a 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina screen, putting it in a similar range to the iPhone 8.
The new iPhones do away with the fingerprint sensor in order to focus on Apple's Face ID facial recognition system. Apple said the facial scanning is faster in the latest phones. No Touch ID scanner means the phones also miss the home button, relying instead on gestures and taps on the screen to navigate.
Faster 7nm processor
Apple also introduced the new A12 Bionic processor for the new X range. This comes with a hexa-core application processor with quad-core graphics processor and a new octa-core neural processor. The processor is made on 7nm production technology, making these iPhones the first in the world to benefit from the new chip method.
The improved technical specifications and smaller scale of the chipset means that the processor is faster while also being more efficient and energy saving. The hexa-core processor comes with two 'performance cores' that Apple claims are up to 15 percent faster and 40 percent more energy efficient than its previous generation processor. The additional four 'efficiency cores' are up to 40 percent faster and 50 percent more efficient than the Apple A11 Bionic processor, the company said.
The Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will be available with a choice of 64, 256 or 512 GB internal storage and both include 4 GB RAM. The iPhone XR offers a choice of 64, 128 or 256 GB storage and 3 GB memory. Apple has also added dual-Sim support to the new phones and a gigabit LTE modem. All three run the new iOS 12, which will roll out to existing users from 17 September.
The XS models come with double 12-megapixel cameras on the back, with OIS and 2x optical zoom as well as a wide-angle lens and 'Smart HDR' support. The XR offers just one 12-megapixel camera on the rear, with f/1.8 aperture wide-angle lens, and also has the new Depth Control feature for creating bokeh effects. All three have a 7-megapixel front camera which includes infrared and the dot projector for Face ID.
In shops from 21 September
The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are available for pre-order from 14 September in more than 30 countries and will be in shops from 21 September. Over 25 more countries will get the phone from 28 September. They are available in the colours silver, space grey and gold. The iPhone XR goes on pre-sale 19 October and will be in shops from 26 October. It comes in the colours black, white, coral, yellow, red or blue.
