The rumour mill loves an Apple story and the 2017 iPhones have had their fair share and then some. This year's models mark a decade since the launch of the original iPhone so it's no surprise how much of a twist the mill got its knickers in over the last year. 

The iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X are now official though so without further speculation or rumour, here is everything you need to know about the three new iPhones.

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Naming

  • Three models 
  • Called iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X
  • iPhone 8=iPhone 7S, iPhone 8 Plus=iPhone 7S Plus, iPhone X is premium model

Traditionally, the next iPhones should have been called the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus following on from last year's iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. That wasn't the case this year though, with not only three models instead of two announced, but a change up in names too.

Apple has skipped the incremental "S" model naming to move straight to iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus for the two standard iPhone models. It also introduced a third model, a more premium device, which is called iPhone X. The letter X is 10 in roman numerals, tying the new device in with the anniversary of the iPhone.

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Design

  • iPhone 8 and 8 Plus look similar to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
  • iPhone X offers different design
  • All waterproof

Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus design

The Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus feature similar designs to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus respectively, though they change things up in terms of materials. Still offering a super slim build, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have an aluminium frame like their predecessors but rather than aluminium rears, they feature glass backs with a seven-layer colour process available in Silver, Space Grey and Gold.

Both are IP67 water and dust resistant as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were, and both are compatible with wireless charging thanks to their glass backs. The iPhone 8 has a single camera lens on the rear which is slightly raised from the back of the device, while the iPhone 8 Plus has a dual-camera lens in a horizontal format, like the iPhone 7 Plus.

The Apple logo is positioned towards the middle of both devices on the rear, the iPhone logo towards the bottom and neither have a headphone jack, like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Both have the TouchID fingerprint sensor on the front below their displays, while the volume rocker and power button remain in the same positions as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

The iPhone 8 measures 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm and weighs 148g, while the iPhone 8 Plus measures 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5mm and hits the scales at 202g.

Apple iPhone X design

The Apple iPhone X is the new premium iPhone, sitting above the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in terms of both design and the features it offers. It has a surgical grade stainless steel frame with slim, rounded edges and a glass rear, meaning the new premium device is also compatible with wireless charging like the 8 and 8 Plus.

On the rear, you'll find a vertically-arranged dual camera system that is positioned in the top left-hand corner, slightly raised and surrounded by a metal trim. The True Tone Quad-LED flash is positioned in between the camera lenses rather than to the side or below. The Apple logo sits in its traditional place in the middle towards the top of the rear, the iPhone logo is present towards the bottom of the rear and the Lightning port is flanked by speakers either side on the bottom edge of the device, as expected.

The front is where the biggest changes can be seen with an almost all-screen finish, like we have seen on the likes of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8 smartphones, as well as the LG G6 and V30 devices, all of which launched earlier this year. Like these devices, there is no physical button on the front of the iPhone X, meaning it's bye bye for TouchID. 

The front-facing camera, which is capable of facial recognition, something Apple is calling FaceID, is present at the top of the screen, along with a range of sensors. FaceID will use a 3D depth-sensing module to unlock the phone and authenticate payments through Apple Pay, while the home screen is accessed via a swipe from the bottom of the screen. The volume buttons and silent toggle remain on the left edge of the iPhone X, while the power button remains on the right edge. 

It measures 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm, weighs 174g and comes in two colour options of Space Grey and Silver. 

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Display

  • 4.7-inch, 5.5-inch and 5.8-inch screen sizes
  • 8 and 8 Plus have LCD displays, iPhone X has OLED display
  • All have True Tone technology

Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus display

The Apple iPhone comes with a 4.7-inch LED-backlit Retina HD display, which is the same as the iPhone 7 it succeeds. It has a resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 326ppi and it features a standard 16:9 aspect ratio.

The Apple iPhone 8 Plus meanwhile, comes with a 5.5-inch LED-backlit Retina HD display, the same as the iPhone 7 Plus. Its resolution is set at 1920 x 1080 pixels, which means a pixel density of 401ppi and it too has a standard aspect ratio of 16:9.

The IPS display on both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have a P3 wide colour gamut, along with a 625 cd/m2 max brightness and 3D Touch, which is Apple's version of a pressure-sensitive display, allowing for various functions and features depending on the force with which you press. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus also offer True Tone technology, something that was previously introduced on Apple's iPad Pro range.

Apple iPhone X display

The Apple iPhone X has a 5.8-inch display but its super narrow bezels and what is thought to be a 19:9 aspect ratio mean its footprint is actually smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus, as you may recall from the measurements above.

The front of the device is predominately screen, like the Samsung Galaxy S8, but there are no bezels anywhere on the iPhone X, with the screen reaching from edge-to-edge and corner-to-corner, leaving just a small tab at the top for the front camera and its accompanying sensors.

Apple has traded the LED-backlit IPS display from the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus for an OLED screen that its calling Super Retina, meaning richer and more vibrant colours, deeper blacks and likely an improvement in battery life. It also increases its resolution to 2436 x 1125 pixels for a pixel density of 458ppi.

In addition to all the features found on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, including 3D Touch and the P3 wide colour gamut, the iPhone X also offers HDR compatibility and Dolby Vision support, like the LG G6. It also offers the True Tone display technology.

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Camera

  • iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X have dual camera
  • Facial recognition on iPhone X called FaceID
  • Dual OIS on iPhone X

Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus camera

The Apple iPhone 8 comes with a single 12-megapixel rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation and digital zoom up to 5x. It has wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos and it has a Quad-LED True Tone flash with something Apple is calling Slow Sync on board.

The Apple iPhone 8 Plus meanwhile, has a dual-rear camera setup offering two 12-megapixel sensors, one of which is a wide-angle sensor, the other a telephoto sensor. The wide-angle sensor has a f/1.8 aperture, while the telephoto lens has a f/2.8 aperture. There is optical image stabilisation on board, along with optical zoom and digital zoom up to 10x.

Like the iPhone 8, it also has wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos and a Quad-LED True Tone flash with Slow Sync, but it also offers Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting, the latter of which is a new feature that will launch in beta mode.

Both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are capable of 4K video recording from their rear cameras up to 60fps and they also offer 1080p slo-mo video support at either 120fps or 240fps. The two devices also come with a 7-megapixel front-facing camera with an f/2.2 aperture, Retina Flash and 1080p video recording.

Apple iPhone X camera

The Apple iPhone X offers advancements in camera capabilities over the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. It comes with a dual camera setup on the rear again, like the iPhone 8 Plus but it is in a vertical format rather than horizontal.

The resolution remains the same as the iPhone 8 Plus with two 12-megapixel sensors, one wide-angle and one telephoto and the aperture is the same too with the wide-angle offering a f/1.8 aperture and the telephoto offering f/2.8. All of the features from the iPhone 8 Plus carry through to the iPhone X, including optical zoom and digital zoom up to 10x, a wide colour capture, a Quad-LED True Tone flash and Portrait mode, as well as the beta version of Portrait Lighting.

What the iPhone X offers on the rear camera that the iPhone 8 Plus doesn't is dual optical image stabilisation, something Samsung recently announced on its Galaxy Note 8 smartphone. In terms of video recording, the iPhone X has the same capabilities as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, with 4K recording up to 60fps, slo-mo video at 1080p up to 240fps and optical image stabilisation for video.

The front camera on the iPhone X is where the biggest differences lie compared to the iPhone 8 Plus though, with a TrueDepth camera on board capable of facial recognition, rather than a FaceTime HD camera. The resolution remains at 7-megapixels, the aperture stays at f/2.2 and all the same features are on board as the iPhone 8 Plus but because of the various sensors, the iPhone X can also offer Animoji, which is animated emojis. Yes really.

The iPhone X also offers Portrait mode on the front camera, and Portrait Lighting in beta on the front camera, both features of which aren't available on the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus. 

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Hardware

  • A11 Bionic chip
  • 64GB and 256GB storage options
  • Wireless charging with Qi

Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus hardware and specs 

The Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus both run on a new processor called the A11 Bionic. It has a Neural engine and embedded M11 motion coprocessor on board and Apple has claimed the new chip is 25 per cent faster than the A10 processor and 70 per cent more efficient, while the GPU is 30 per cent faster and uses half the power than the A10.

The two devices will come in 64GB and 256GB storage options, with Apple ditching the 32GB starter model for the 2017 handsets. The company doesn't reveal the RAM capacity, though it is thought the iPhone 8 has 2GB of RAM, while the iPhone 8 Plus has 3GB of RAM.

Both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have TouchID on board for biometric security, allowing users to unlock their devices and pay for items with Apple Pay using their fingerprint, like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Battery life remains the same as the iPhone 7 for the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 7 Plus for the iPhone 8 Plus, with up to 14 hours and 21 hours talk time respectively.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus also offer wireless charging, as we mentioned previously. They will be compatible with Qi chargers but they can also be charged via the traditional Lightning port and they are fast-charge capable with up to 50 per cent in 30 minutes. Neither has a 3.5mm headphone jack, but both come with a Lighting to 3.5mm adapter in the box like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus did.

Apple iPhone X specs

The Apple iPhone X also runs on the A11 Bionic chip, like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus meaning a similar power performance across all three devices is likely. It is thought the X has 3GB of RAM like the iPhone 8 Plus is considered to but as we said, Apple doesn't officially disclose this information so we can't be sure.

Storage options are also the same as the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus at 64GB and 256GB. Where the iPhone X differs in specs compared to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is not only the increased battery life, which is said to be two hours longer than the iPhone 7, but the premium model also offers FaceID over TouchID.

FaceID is enabled by the TrueDepth camera for facial recognition and it can be used to not only unlock your device, but pay with Apple Pay too and it will recognise you even if you change your hair, take off your make up or add glasses. Apple has also ensured it can't be tricked with photographs or masks.

Wireless charging is on board the iPhone X, as it is the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and it too works with Qi chargers. You can also charge it via Lightning and it supports fast charging too, offering up to 50 percent in 30 minutes, like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Software

  • iOS 11
  • Coming to older iPhones 19 September

Apple always launches its new iPhones with the latest software build, which for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X is iOS 11. Apple previewed some features of the new build at its developer conference in June, including updates to Maps, Control Centre and Siri.   

There were also some big advancements in AR revealed, as well as CarPlay and the App Store is also getting a whole new look. You can read all about the features in our separate feature. The new software will also be available to older iPhones from 19 September.

Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X: Release date and price

  • 12 September announcement
  • Pre-orders for iPhone 8 and 8 Plus starting 15 September, on sale from 22 September
  • iPhone X pre-orders from 27 October, on sale from 3 November

Apple unveiled the three new iPhone models on 12 September. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will be available to pre-order from 15 September, hitting shelves on 22 September.

The iPhone X meanwhile will be available at a slightly later date, with pre-orders starting on 27 October, with an on-sale date of 3 November.

In terms of price, the iPhone 8 will start at £699, the iPhone 8 Plus will start at £799 and the iPhone X will start at £999. 

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