iPhone X: 7 little things to know about Apple’s premium model

We’ve got our massive roundup of Apple news from last night’s event over here, but it was obvious that Apple’s premium device, the iPhone X, took centre stage.

Between the powerful A11 chip, Essential-style screen design and OLED display, there’s a lot to like about the new phone. But here are a few tidbits that may have gone under the radar…

Telephoto shots should be better on iPhone X than 8 Plus

The iPhone 7 Plus debuted the secondary telephoto camera next to the main shooter, offering 2x lossless zoom. But the big issue is that low-light photos look pretty crap.

This year’s Plus-sized variant packs a largely similar telephoto camera, but the iPhone X offers a larger aperture and OIS too. This means that it’ll take more light in, delivering brighter shots on paper.

But the addition of OIS is a great move too, which should make for shots with less handshake-induced blur.

The A11 chip might be a first in one notable way

Apple has been designing its own iPhone processor and CPU cores for several years now, being one of the few companies able to do this.

Now, with the A11 chip, the firm is taking it one step further by designing its own GPU, in the form of tri-core silicon. By comparison, Samsung and Huawei use designs from ARM, while Qualcomm (which doesn’t make its own phones) uses Adreno graphics tech that stems from ATI/AMD.

In other words, Apple, which is already leagues ahead when it comes to merging software and hardware, is taking one massive step up here.

It still uses the same charging cable, so keep that dongle

Good news if you’ve got an older Mac or PC: the new iPhone X maintains the current charging cable, according to Apple’s website.

The bad news? Well, if you’ve got a new Macbook or Macbook Pro, which lacks legacy USB ports, you’ll need a dongle to hook your phone up to it.

The most expensive model crosses the $1000 barrier

Apple devices don’t come cheap at all, but if you balked at the iPhone 7 Plus price, you might want to look away.

The iPhone X will cost US$999 for the 64GB model, but those wanting more storage can get the 256GB model for US$1149. Not a huge leap but still bigger than the traditional US$100 leap between storage variants.

It’s rated IP67

Much like last year’s models, the premium iPhone is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. Pretty handy then, but how does it stack up to rivals?

Well, both LG and Samsung’s flagships feature IP68 dust and water resistance. Basically, they’ll go beyond the one metre for 30 minutes mark set by IP67.

Android wireless charging pads should work

Got a Samsung wireless charging pad for the Galaxy S7? Or maybe you’ve got one for another phone? Either way, chances are good that they’ll work on the iPhone X.

Apple has decided to use the existing Qi standard for wireless charging, being a rare case of the company using an industry standard that’s already widely adopted.

Fast charging is in

Apple has been late to the fast-charging party as well, so we’re glad to see the company tout the tech for the iPhone X. What kind of times are we looking at?

The Cupertino company promises up to 50% battery capacity in 30 minutes. Pretty fast and on par with some of the faster rival handsets.