Apple has paid homage to its late co-founder Steve Jobs for the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone unveiling its latest - and almost certainly most expensive - new version of the device, the iPhone X.
On Tuesday chief executive Tim Cook called it "the biggest leap forward" since the first iPhone. ("X" is pronounced 10, not the letter X.)
It loses the home button, which revolutionised smartphones when it launched; offers an edge-to-edge screen; and will use facial recognition to unlock the phone.
Apple also unveiled a new iPhone 8 and a larger 8 Plus with upgrades to cameras, displays and speakers.
Those phones, Apple said, will shoot pictures with better colours and less distortion, particularly in low-light settings. The display will adapt to ambient lighting, similar to a feature in some iPad Pro models. Speakers will be louder and offer deeper bass.
Both iPhone 8 versions will allow wireless charging, a feature thought to be limited to the anniversary phone. Many Android phones, including Samsung's, already have this.
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Key features of Apple's new smartphones
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus
- Both devices feature glass rears for the first time, while wireless charging capabilities have also been added.
- The two phones are both dust and water resistant, and feature 12-megapixel rear cameras.
- The dimensions of both are familiar - the 8 has a 4.7-inch screen and the 8 Plus a 5.5-inch display.
- In the case of the 8 Plus these are dual cameras, and also feature a new technology called Portrait Lighting for the first time.
- This uses machine learning technology to improve lighting on faces seen in portrait photography.
- The 8 and 8 Plus also house the new A11 bionic chip, which improves processing time and efficiency.
- The iPhone 8 will start at $1079, and the 8 Plus will start at $1229. Both can be ordered from September 15 and will be available on September 22.
iPhone X
- The special edition version of the iPhone, the X is a complete re-design of Apple's phone.
- It has the first edge-to-edge display, the first iPhone to use an OLED screen and the first Super Retina display.
- The 5.8-inch screen fills most of the front panel, and as a result the traditional home button is gone from the X. Instead users can swipe upwards to unlock the device and leave apps.
- The ID fingerprint scanner found in the home button has been replaced by Face ID, facial recognition technology that scans a user's face to unlock the device.
- It works in daylight and at night.
- The technology is also at work in Animoji, new animated emoji that users can animate using their own face, changing the expressions of the characters on screen, and sending them in messages.
- The dual real cameras on the X - both 12-megapixel also both feature optical image stabilisation for the first time.
- It is available in two colours - space grey and silver.
- In Australia the iPhone X will cost $1579 for the 64GB model and an eye watering $1829 for the 256GB one. It can be ordered from October 27 and will be available from November 3.
