There has been quite a buzz about the new budget iPhone X for the users who want the experience of Apple iPhone X but don’t have very deep pockets. It has been confirmed that the new iPhone will not only be priced at the cost of iPhone 8 but will also have the same bezel-less design of iPhone X and come with facial ID recognition.
However, the bad news here is that this budget iPhone will not feature the dual camera that we saw in iPhone X. Rather it will feature just a single rear camera. Some interesting facts regarding the pocket-friendly smartphone have been revealed by the acclaimed KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo himself in a report picked up by Feng. The report states that the new iPhone X will have a display like no other.
Budget iPhone X: A Pocket-Friendly Smartphone
Kuo has said that the budget iPhone X is expected to have Cover Glass Sensor technology. This new technology will relocate the touch modules from the display panel to the surface glass. This will have a positive impact on the overall smartphone. It will make the new iPhone’s display lighter and shock resistant. He also mentioned that this feature won’t be added to the OLED display of iPhone X and iPhone X Plus until 2019.
However, the downside of incorporating this technology in the iPhone will be that it will increase the cost of the touch panel by almost 15%. This means that the company will possibly have to recover this cost by removing the 3D touch functionality of the phone. This seems like a weird move as 3D touch technology was introduced in 2015 and Apple has yet to include it in its iPad range. If Kuo is to be believed, and there are many reasons to do so, then the future of 3D touch technology may be in danger.
Apple’s finalized schematics tell us about some of the other features of the much awaited iPhone X. From the above render it can be seen that dimensions of the budget iPhone will be 147.12 x 71.52 mm (5.79 x 2.81-inches), making it bigger than the iPhone X. It is also possible that Apple may use this bigger size to adjust a 6.1-inch display.
To create differentiation and avoid any confusion, Apple may name budget iPhone X as ‘iPhone‘.
The display of budget iPhone X will not be OLED like the iPhone X, instead, it would sport LCD and it will also lack 3D touch technology. However, to compensate for the downgrade Apple may bundle fast charging wire without any extra price with the budget iPhone.
Apple may launch the budget iPhone, or call it iPhone, along with the two new iPhones scheduled for the launch within the next 2 months. Kuo has mentioned in his research note the Apple will follow an aggressive pricing strategy for all the three smartphones. The budget-friendly iPhone is expected to be priced at $600-$700. It is expected that the smartphone will have a metal back and that it might be available in a variety of colours.
It is being speculated that the Apple’s decision to launch a cheaper smartphone is influenced from the negative feedback by customers, primarily due to the high price of the iPhone X. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson had a survey that showed that a number of potential customers were unhappy with the pricing of iPhone X and he had predicted an iPhone X Lite version.
All in all, performance is always a concern when it comes to new experimental devices however the feature at such a price seem exciting.
