Good Things Come in Threes!

As Apple launch, not one but three new iPhones all in one go, and a plethora of jargon-filled lengthy reviews flood the Internet, we thought we’d bring some simplicity to your life with a “plain English”, simply laid out features and benefits overview, to help you decide whether it’s the 8, 8 Plus or X (pronounced ‘ten’) that will best suit your needs.

Let’s start by looking at shared features. All three new iPhones:

• Are water and dust resistant like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• Have glass front and back – the most durable glass ever in an iPhone. Apple claim that these new generation iPhones won’t need cases – let’s reserve judgement on that one for now!
• Have wireless charging – all three devices can be placed on an inductive charging pad, such as Apple’s upcoming Airpower mat or third-party options from accessory makers
• Are “fast charge capable” – can be charged to 50 percent battery life in 30 minutes using Apple’s 29W, 61W or 87W USB-C Power Adapters. Power adapters are sold separately or included with 12-inch MacBook and late 2016 or later MacBook Pro models
• Have A11 Bionic – all three phones have an A11 chip which provides faster performance than the A10 chip in the iPhone 7, and a Neural Engine enabling facial recognition improvements in the cameras
• Have 3D Touch – deeply press the screen to preview emails, messages and other content, and access convenient Quick Actions
• Have the same front-facing camera – 7-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture and Retina Flash
• Have 4k video recording at up to 60FPS and 1080p HD video recording at up to 60 FPS
• Are 4G LTE Advanced with VoLTE (for superior call quality), Bluetooth 5.0, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and NFC with reader mode
• Have similar battery life for Internet use and video playback over wireless
• All new display – Retina HD display with True Tone, a wide colour gamut, best colour accuracy ever, wide viewing angles and 3D Touch.

True Tone technology

Automatically adjusts white balance to match the light around you to provide a better viewing experience and reduce eye strain

Wide colour gamut and improved colour accuracy

Makes everything on the screen brilliant and life-like

Wide viewing angles

Dual-domain pixels give a much-improved view of the screen from almost any angle.

iPhone 8

• Retains iconic circular Home button and Touch ID
• Other than new glass back, looks virtually the same as the iPhone 7
• 4.7-inch Retina HD display (1334×750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi)
• 1400:1 contrast ration (typical)
• Options for 64GB or 256GB of storage
• Wide-angle camera – the new 12 megapixel camera has a larger, faster sensor, a new colour filter, deeper pixels and optical image stabilisation for photos and videos
• Talk time the same as an iPhone 7 (up to 14 hours)
• Available in Space Grey, Silver and Gold
• Height: 138.4mm
• Width: 67.3mm
• Depth: 7.3mm
• Weight: 148g

iPhone 8 Plus – features in addition to those on the iPhone 8

• Other than the glass back, looks virtually the same as the iPhone 7 Plus
• 5.5-inch Retina HD display (1920×1080-pixel resolution at 401 ppi)
• 1300:1 contrast ration (typical)
• Options for 64GB or 256GB of storage
• Dual lens – wide-angle lens (f/1.8 aperture) and telephoto lens (f/2.8 aperture)
• Portrait mode – gives photographs sharper foregrounds and more naturally-blurred backgrounds thanks to wide-angle and telephoto lenses
• Gives studio lighting effects thanks to dual cameras and new facial landmarking
• Optical zoom – wide-angle and telephoto lenses enable optical and digital zoom of up to 10x for photos and 6x for videos
• Optical image stabilisation for the wide-angle lens
• Longer battery life – roughly the same as the iPhone 7 Plus and same as iPhone X for talk time (up to 21 hours) and audio playback over wireless (up to 60 hours)
• Available in Space Grey, Silver and Gold
• Height: 158.4mm
• Width: 78.1mm
• Depth: 7.5mm
• Weight: 202g

iPhone X – what does Apple’s new flagship smartphone have in addition to the iPhone 8/8 Plus?

• Has a more eye-catching design – stainless steel frame sandwiched between a nearly edge-to-edge OLED display on the front and glass on the back
• 5.8-inch Super Retina HDR display (2436×1125-pixel resolution at 458 ppi)
• 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical)
• OLED display – benefits include improved colour accuracy, contrast ratio and true blacks
• All-screen design keeps size and weight to between that of the iPhone 8 and the 8 Plus
• Options for 64GB or 256GB of storage
• Has lost the iconic circular Home button and as a result has lost Touch ID. Instead there is an elongated multi-purpose side button
• Has Face ID instead – for unlocking phone and iTunes purchases
• TrueDepth front camera enabling portrait mode
• Animoji – Apple’s new set of emoji-style characters animate based on the iPhone user’s facial expressions. They are possible thanks to the 3D sensors of iPhone X’s new TrueDepth camera system, which are capable of detecting your facial expressions in real time
• Dual optical image stabilisation – the iPhone 8 Plus only has optical image stabilisation for the wide-angle lens whereas the iPhone X also has optical image stabilisation for the telephoto lens
• Telephoto lens has a faster aperture than the iPhone 8 Plus (f/2.4 aperture)
• Only available in Space Grey and Silver (no Gold option)
• Battery life is on a par with iPhone 8 Plus (up to 21 hours talk time)
• Height: 143.6 mm
• Width: 70.9mm
• Depth: 7.7mm
• Weight: 174g

The iPhone 8 and the 8 Plus are fast, efficient smartphones.  They support wireless charging and share a long list of other advancements with the iPhone X, including camera improvements and phone durability, plus they still have the Home button for those who prefer to hang on to Touch ID. However, if it’s maximum display size vs. one-handed usability, superior display technology, the idea of Face ID rather than Touch ID, or the ability to post far superior selfies and personalised emojis on Facebook, that sets your pulse racing, then the iPhone X is the phone for you.

Make the Latest iPhones more Affordable for your Employees

Give your employees the opportunity to choose the right iPhone for them rather than the one with the right price tag.  A price tag of circa £1000, puts the iPhone X out of logical reach for many people.  However, by choosing to operate one of our employee benefits programmes, you will have the opportunity to offer the choice of this new generation of iPhones to your employees in a way that makes them affordable.

What is the benefit to you, the employer?

Our Technology and Smartphone scheme gives you the opportunity to provide a benefit as part of your overall staff benefits package that your employees and their families can use and enjoy every day. A constant reminder to them that they work for a great organisation that makes employee well-being its top priority; an organisation in which they feel truly “engaged”.

If you would like more information on running a Let’s Connect employee scheme for your organisation, simply complete the enquiry form below or call one of our employee benefit consultants on 0330 2000 231 – we would be only too happy to help.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Let’s Connect Team