AFP, San Francisco :
With its new iPhone X, Apple is setting the ambitious goal for itself of reinventing the smartphone, again.
The flagship handset marking the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release, is set to hit stores Friday, and with it the California tech giant is out to rev its momentum in a global smartphone market seeing slowing growth and tougher competition.
Apple upped the ante by boosting the starting price of the new handset to $999 for US customers, a price which will be higher in other markets and with extra options.
Apple shares have climbed with the approach of the launch date, seeing a jump this week after it said pre-orders for iPhone X are “off the charts.” It will be available Friday in more than 50 markets.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook described the iPhone X as the future of the smartphone, packed with technology including facial recognition, cordless charging and an edge-to-edge screen made of organic light-emitting diodes used in high-end televisions.
“It is a good example of the present, but it isn’t the future,” said independent technology analyst Rob Enderle.
Enderle said the iPhone X “is a collection of technologies that haven’t been together before, but they haven’t broken any new ground.”
Still, analysts interviewed by AFP see signs of strong demand for iPhone X, perhaps fueled by the company’s famously devoted fans who have shunned freshly released iPhone 8 models to wait for the 10th anniversary device.
Apple is expected to benefit from its image of being a company offering products of status and style.
Gartner principal research analyst Tuong Nguyen said Apple “can reveal a thing a rival delivered three years ago and suddenly the market goes wild.”
Apple has become the world’s most valuable technology company by refining existing technologies, like the smartphone, and making them easy, fun, and fashionable.
With its new iPhone X, Apple is setting the ambitious goal for itself of reinventing the smartphone, again.
The flagship handset marking the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release, is set to hit stores Friday, and with it the California tech giant is out to rev its momentum in a global smartphone market seeing slowing growth and tougher competition.
Apple upped the ante by boosting the starting price of the new handset to $999 for US customers, a price which will be higher in other markets and with extra options.
Apple shares have climbed with the approach of the launch date, seeing a jump this week after it said pre-orders for iPhone X are “off the charts.” It will be available Friday in more than 50 markets.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook described the iPhone X as the future of the smartphone, packed with technology including facial recognition, cordless charging and an edge-to-edge screen made of organic light-emitting diodes used in high-end televisions.
“It is a good example of the present, but it isn’t the future,” said independent technology analyst Rob Enderle.
Enderle said the iPhone X “is a collection of technologies that haven’t been together before, but they haven’t broken any new ground.”
Still, analysts interviewed by AFP see signs of strong demand for iPhone X, perhaps fueled by the company’s famously devoted fans who have shunned freshly released iPhone 8 models to wait for the 10th anniversary device.
Apple is expected to benefit from its image of being a company offering products of status and style.
Gartner principal research analyst Tuong Nguyen said Apple “can reveal a thing a rival delivered three years ago and suddenly the market goes wild.”
Apple has become the world’s most valuable technology company by refining existing technologies, like the smartphone, and making them easy, fun, and fashionable.
