Can Apple Usurp Global Smartphone Market Again with iPhone X?

Apple’s launch of its latest device, iPhone X didn’t go exactly to plan following a live demo fail during the introduction of a key new feature.



The glass and stainless steel device with an edge-to-edge display that Chief Executive Tim Cook called “the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone,” created an embarrassing moment for the company when one of the features, the face ID, refused to work.

Apple Senior Vice President Craig Federighi during the launch, tried to unlock the phone with his face, during the on-stage presentation. But the hitch was only temporary as the device unlocked on the second attempt.

The iPhone X celebrates the 10th anniversary of Apple's smartphone, featuring a radical redesign and new technology.

The phone has a 5.8-inch OLED screen, which fills the entire front of the device. Apple has removed the iconic home button to make way for the display, replacing it with facial recognition software called Face ID in the new device. Face ID is used to unlock the phone, authenticate Apple Pay and cutomise the new animoji.

“It’s great to have a product but we’d have liked it sooner rather than later, more like the beginning of October or mid- October,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. Apple shares closed down 0.4 percent. They had traded as much as 1 percent higher during the launch event before reversing course. The shares are up almost 40 percent on the year. Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in New York, said he was not worried about the ship date and liked the new phones features, but also flagged a lack of surprises.

“It’s sell on the news,” he said. “They didn’t talk about the evolution of Apple beyond the iPhone and into artificial intelligence.” The screen on the iPhone X is about the size of the current iPhone 7 plus, though the phone is smaller. It features richer colors thanks to a new screen technology called OLED that other vendors are also rolling out.

Coming in space grey and silver, it will be available to pre-order from October 27 and will ship on November 3.

We are waiting anxiously to have a first-hand test of the device when it is finally launch in Africa to give you our review. We also wait to see if Apple could usurp Samsung and Huawei recent successes with the iPhone X.