Apple’s iPhone X is VERY expensive.

But you can pick it up on a select few contracts with ZERO payments upfront for the handset.

And this is great if you REALLY want the latest and greatest iPhone without paying too much upfront.

You will pay A LOT for this phone, as well as running it, but if you’re a die hard Apple fan, chances are you’ve already made peace with this in your mind.

The idea of no upfront cost for the iPhone X is definitely a big USP right now. It means you get the best iPhone around, right away, for just the monthly cost of running it.

This means you pay a monthly fee, which nets you data and calls, and nothing for the handset itself.

Normally, you pay a BIG upfront fee for an iPhone and then an even bigger monthly one to run it.

Not with these deals.

Best iPhone X Deals (April 2018)

#1 – (THREE) 24 Months (£57 per month) | Unlimited Minutes | Unlimited Texts | 8GB Data (No Upfront Cost) – Get Deal

#2 – (O2) 24 Months (£59 per month) | Unlimited Minutes | Unlimited Texts | 16GB Data (No Upfront Cost) – Get Deal

#3 – (EE) 24 Months (£73 per month) | Unlimited Minutes | Unlimited Texts | 30GB Data (No Upfront Cost) – Get Deal

Why You’d Buy iPhone X (And Not The iPhone 8...)





Here’s a piece Mike wrote about his first week with the iPhone X.

It’s a blow-by-blow account of what he experienced, how his perceptions of the handset changed, and what he’s looking forward to in 2019.

I’m going to admit it: I made fun of the iPhone X when Apple first unveiled it.

It was too much money, the notch was horrible, there wasn’t enough reason to upgrade from my iPhone 6s.

Is The iPhone X Worth £1000?

But then while travelling in Japan the week the iPhone X came out, I held one for the first time–and I immediately fell in love.

The moment I had it in my hand was the first time in years I had experienced any excitement over an Apple device.

It’s also the first time in a long time that I felt Apple had its groove back and now understood that Apple without Steve Jobs is NOT a problem.

Needless to say, when I returned to America I ordered one and got it a little over a week ago.

Using it for only a week is hardly enough to give a thorough verdict of the device, so instead, I’ll give you my hot take outlining the top takeaways I have on the device.

It’s The Most Beautiful Device Apple Has Ever Made

That’s not hyperbole. The iPhone X is literally the most beautiful device Apple has ever made. If you’re interested, before the iPhone X I considered the original iPod mini the most beautiful Apple device ever. But the iPhone X has exceeded that beauty and the beauty of every Apple device before and since.

There’s one thing I now know that people who haven’t held one in person need to keep in mind: the photos and videos you see of the iPhone X online do not do it justice.

It’s all glass front and back, the curved stainless steel rim, and that OMG its jaw-dropping display is a work of art. Yep: not kidding. I should caveat that with the notice that I’m only talking about the silver (aka “white”) iPhone X.

The same level of beauty and the impeachable design of the device looks somewhat less on the black “space grey” model. It’s why in the first time in my life I opted to buy the white model over the black iPhone.

The Notch Is NOT A Problem

Like many of you, I made fun of the notch when I first saw it. But as I said above, so many of your preconceived notions about the device change as soon as you hold it in person.

The notch looks beautiful and the “horns” it forms on the display gives it a unique form factor that, without a doubt, distinguishes it from any other smartphone on the market.

It also serves as a great physical reminder that swiping down from the top of the different sides of the display results in different functions being called up (Notification or Control Center).

I Don’t Miss Touch ID At All

Even more controversial than the notch was the jettisoning of the Touch ID fingerprint reader in favor of Face ID facial recognition.

When Apple announced the iPhone X wouldn’t have Touch ID I thought it was the worst mistake the company had ever made.

I LOVED Touch ID. But after using the iPhone X for a week now, I don’t miss Touch ID at all.

Matter of fact, I’m glad it's gone. Face ID is flawless and much faster than Touch ID.

It removes the manual step of authentication by performing it automatically and sometimes it literally feels like magic that my iPhone X seems to “just know” it’s me using the phone. Face ID lets me pick up my phone and open my password protected apps and just get on with my work without doing a thing.

It’s Still Too Much Money For Most People

All of the above being said, the iPhone X is A LOT of money–and it's still priced too high for most people.

If the phone were £200-300 less, I would say it’s a no-brainer for most people to get if they want a top of the line flagship.

But at £999–£1149 it is definitely a premium product that in actuality doesn’t give you any more productivity benefits than a £500 phone does.

Yet I will say thanks to the screen, Face ID, and the incredible industrial design, you DO feel like the iPhone X is a £1149 device.

In other words–it earns its price tag. However, a Ferrari earns its price tag too, but it’s still too much car for most people.

It Will Only Get Better

The great thing about the iPhone X is that it's a giant leap forward into that future where our smartphones are literally just a slate of glass and nothing else.

With the elimination of the home button, 99% of your interaction with the device is through the screen.

And since the screen is just the physical manifestation station of the software behind it, Apple now has the ability to add completely new software features to the phone that radically alter how it works or what it does–something they couldn’t do when they were depended on a physical Home button as the main interaction point of the device.

This is exactly why Jony Ive has even said that today’s iPhone X will do completely different stuff a year from now.

Apple's A11 CPU For The iPhone 8 & iPhone X is INSANE

Pretty much since the modern smartphone debuted ten years ago, iPhones have always beat Android devices in real-world usage tests.

These are tests that measure how quickly a phone operates when doing common things like opening large files, playing HD videos, playing graphics-intensive games, and doing less processor intensive stuff like sending emails, texts, and multitasking.

But looking at the specs of an iPhone compared to an Android phone you wouldn’t think this would be the case. Today’s average Android phone has 4GB–6GB of RAM, while the average iPhone has only 2GB.

More RAM equals a quicker device, right? Well, if everything else is equal, that’s pretty much true. But the reason why Apple could always do more with less is that it designs its own processors–the A series of chips–and it ALSO designs the operating system.

And this is what Apple has built its iPhone business around: do more with less. This keeps component costs nice and low and allows the company to make MASSIVE margins on pretty much everything it releases.

The company’s iPhones pack in plenty of power and they do it with lesser specs than you’d find inside an Android phone. Case in point: Apple’s iPhones – notably the none-Plus versions – have more in common with mid-range Android phones than phones like the Galaxy S8.

And yet, Apple’s iPhones consistently outperform the competition where it counts – power management, efficiency, and software parity.

Yet more details have emerged about Apple’s A11 chipset and the word is good – very good, indeed. According to the leaked information found inside the iOS 11 GM, Apple’s A11 CPU will feature six cores, including two high-power Monsoon cores and four low-power Mistral cores. All cores are independently addressable.

There is no fusion here either: ALL cores will run all at once. And this is a huge deal, as it will place Apple’s A11 CPU miles in front of the Android/Snapdragon-powered competition. Apple will detail the improvements it has made to the A11 chipset, later on, today, during the iPhone X Edition and iPhone 8 launch.

The first benchmark for Apple’s new A11 chipset have dropped and, well, they’re beyond impressive, as you can see below:

The score sees the A11 chipset knock-up a single-core score of 4061 and a multi-core score of 9959, which is a HUGE figure and will almost certainly be palpable when the phone is used.

To put that figure into context, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus managed just 3500 and 6000 in the same test, meaning the iPhone 8/iPhone X Edition are around 1.8 times as fast.

No Android phone maker can claim to design both the CPU and operating system. This advantage of making both the CPU and OS gives Apple the ability to refine both to work as efficiently as possible together–thus reaching performance speeds other Android handsets could only dream of.

Yet earlier this year, there was much hullabaloo when an Android device DID finally outperform Apple’s latest flagship, the iPhone 7 Plus. In side-by-side (though unscientific) tests, the OnePlus 5 with its massive 8GB of RAM “narrowly beat” the iPhone 7 Plus. You can check out the test in the video below.

So that settles things then, right? Just add more RAM and an Android CAN beat an iPhone, right? Well, not so fast. While it’s true that OnePlus 5 did “narrowly” beat the iPhone 7 Plus, the OnePlus 5 is using 2017 tech and specs, while the iPhone 7 Plus still has 2016 hardware–namely the A10 CPU.

So while for now Android fans can claim there is officially an Android that is faster in real-world tests than the iPhone 7 Plus, they shouldn’t get too comfortable. That’s because in early September Apple is expected to unveil its 2017 flagship, the iPhone 8.

"Apple’s guidance for Q4 is for revenue between $49 and $52 billion compared to $46.9 billion from the same quarter a year ago," notes 9to5Mac. "While this represents some growth due to the upcoming iPhone anniversary, it suggests that if a super cycle does occur with the iPhone 8, it will happen in Apple’s 2018 Q1 or later."

Tim Cook told CNBC today that ARKit is going to make the iPhone even more invaluable to consumers:

“The smart phone is becoming even more important to people because it’s going across so much of your life and you can tell by some of the things we did at WWDC that that will only continue,” Cook told CNBC’s Josh Lipton. “And with things like AR… I think it becomes even more essential than it currently is. I know it’s hard to believe, but I think that’s the case.”

In addition to a host of new features including a bezel less screen, a 3D camera, and facial recognition, the iPhone 8 will also include Apple’s new, next generation CPU, the Apple A11 chipset–and its speed is said to be mindblowing. A leaker by the name of “Ice Universe” has posted purported Apple A11 Geekbench 4 test results which show the iPhone 8’s A11 scored between 4300 and 4600 in single core testing, and between 7000 and 8500 in multi-core tests.

The single core test results of 4300 and 4600 even blow away the advanced A10X Fusion chip found in the latest iPad Pro (with a score of 3878) and the A11’s multi-core results of 7000 and 8500 destroy the 5523 multi-core result of the A10 Fusion chip found in the latest iPhone 7 Plus.

Apple A11 Geekbench4,：4600,8500 and 4300,7000，This is two different clock frequencies, and the final result may be between the two — Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 27, 2017

But what should really have Android fanboys worried is how the A11 stacks up against current Android chip leaders:

Apple iPhone 8 A11 single-core results: 4300 and 4600

Apple iPhone 8 A11 multi-core results: 7000 and 8500Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung Exynos 8895 single-core results: 1966

Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung Exynos 8895 single-core results: 1966

Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung Exynos 8895 multi-core results: 6502

And keep in mind, the Samsung Exynos 8895 chipset is the current leader among CPU’s found in Android phones. So it looks like come September, Apple is once again going to school Android handsets in what being a “speedy phone” actually means.

Whenever you talk about chipsets, you have the usual suspects – Samsung, Apple, and Qualcomm. But increasingly one name you cannot neglect is Huawei’s hugely impressive Kirin chip, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years.

The latest Kirin chipset launch recently, its called the Kirin 970, and it boasts some hugely impressive performance capabilities, as well as on-device AI capabilities, which will be a huge trend in the future.

"As we look to the future of smartphones, we're at the threshold of an exciting new era," said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

"Mobile AI = On-Device AI + Cloud AI. Huawei is committed to developing smart devices into intelligent devices by building end-to-end capabilities that support coordinated development of chips, devices, and the cloud.

“The ultimate goal is to provide a significantly better user experience. The Kirin 970 is the first in a series of new advances that will bring powerful AI features to our devices and take them beyond the competition.”

The Kirin 970 is powered by an 8-core CPU and a new generation 12-core GPU. Built using a 10nm advanced process, the chipset packs 5.5 billion transistors into an area of only one cm².

Huawei's new flagship Kirin 970 is Huawei's first mobile AI computing platform featuring a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Compared to a quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU cluster, the Kirin 970's new heterogeneous computing architecture delivers up to 25x the performance with 50x greater efficiency.

This, for me, is the iPhone 8’s biggest selling point and, to be honest, it’s not exactly something I can see many consumers getting too hot under the collar about. I mean, the iPhone 7 was plenty powerful enough for what most people use it for.

Desktop-grade is great, but when most people use their phones for web browsing, email, and Facebook, it kind of smacks of overkill. Personally, I’d rather the standard version of the iPhone 8 got a better display and some design changes. This would be more meaningful.

Of course, in the context of the iPhone X – the phone Apple REALLY wants you to buy – the inclusion of such a potent processor makes sense, it’s just one part of a very distinct package. And while I do not begrudge Apple for drilling down on this aspect inside the iPhone 8, I do believe a lot more should have been done with this handset, even more so since the company is charging more for it than last year’s model.