Given that the iPhone 7 launched last year you’d expect the iPhone 8 to be this year’s Apple flagship, but while an iPhone 8 was indeed launched, and does better the iPhone 7, it’s not the top of the range.
This year a very special phone called the iPhone X has taken that spot. It’s a vision of the smartphone future while the iPhone 8 is more stuck in the present, but just how different is it really?
To answer that and help you decide which – if either – of these phones are for you, we’ve put the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 head to head.
iPhone X (143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm) vs iPhone 8 (138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm)
The iPhone X and iPhone 8 have some design similarities, as both have a glass back, marking a change from their metal predecessors. They also both have a metal frame and are IP67 certified dust and water resistant (so they can be submerged one metre deep for up to 30 minutes) but that’s largely where the similarities end.
Viewed front-on the differences are enormous, with the iPhone X having almost no bezel around its screen, with just a small notch at the top to house important sensors and the front-facing camera.
The iPhone 8 meanwhile has the more familiar Apple design of large bezels above and below the screen, the bottom one housing a home button and fingerprint scanner, which the iPhone X lacks.
Their dimensions and weights are very different too. The iPhone X is 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm and 174g, while the iPhone 8 is 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm and 148g.
The iPhone X is a bigger and heavier phone then, despite the lack of bezel, but it also has a far larger screen, so that’s understandable.
Finally, you get slightly different colour choices, with the iPhone 8 coming in Silver, Space Grey and Gold, while the iPhone X is just available in Silver and Space Grey.
iPhone X (5.8-inch 1125 x 2436) vs iPhone 8 (4.7-inch 750 x 1334)
The iPhone X has the biggest screen Apple has ever put on a phone, specifically a 5.8-inch one. It’s also the highest resolution at 1125 x 2436 and the sharpest at 458 pixels per inch.
The iPhone 8 meanwhile has a far more compact 4.7-inch 750 x 1334 screen with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch.
Another difference is in the display technology used, as the iPhone X is Apple’s first Super AMOLED phone, delivering superior contrast and more vibrant visuals than the LCD iPhone 8 – though the latter still has a great screen.
And despite the iPhone X having a far bigger screen than the iPhone 8 the dimensions aren’t vastly larger, thanks to the lack of bezels around it.
There are some things both phones have though, such as True Tone, which automatically adjusts the white balance of the display based on your surroundings.
iPhone X (hexa-core A11 Bionic 3GB RAM) vs iPhone 8 (hexa-core A11 Bionic 2GB RAM)
Both the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 have a hexa-core A11 Bionic chipset. That’s Apple’s latest mobile chip and is enormously powerful, vastly outpowering the iPhone 7, so these are both very speedy handsets and able to easily rival the most powerful phones of 2017.
The iPhone X does have an edge though, as it has 3GB of RAM, while the iPhone 8 has just 2GB. That’s likely to be especially handy when multitasking.
iPhone X (Dual 12MP rear 7MP front-facing) vs iPhone 8 (12MP rear 7MP front-facing)
This is another area where there’s a big difference between the phones, as while they both have 12MP cameras, the iPhone X has two, while the iPhone 8 has just one.
That extra lens means the iPhone X can optically zoom without losing any quality and can also use ‘Portrait Mode’ to create a bokeh effect in images – blurring the background to emphasise the subject.
However, both phones have optical image stabilisation and a quad-LED flash. They’re also both capable video cameras, able to shoot in 4K at up to 60fps and in 1080p at up to 240fps.
There’s also a big difference in their front-facing cameras, as while they both have 7MP ones the iPhone X is also capable of scanning your face and identifying you that way, so you can unlock your phone and authorise purchases just by looking at it.
The iPhone 8 has no such skills – though remember it does have a fingerprint scanner, which the iPhone X doesn’t.
iPhone X (64/256GB 4G) vs iPhone 8 (1821mAh 64/256GB 4G)
We don’t yet know the size of the battery in the iPhone X, but we do know that the iPhone 8 has a 1821mAh one and the iPhone X’s will likely be a lot larger to power its larger screen.
Apple has said that both phones can last for up to 13 hours of video or 12 hours of internet use, but the iPhone X will apparently last longer than the iPhone 8 for calls and audio.
Both phones can apparently be charged up to 50% in just 30 minutes and both also support wireless charging – enabled by the new glass-backed design.
Both the iPhone X and iPhone 8 are available in 64GB and 256GB sizes and both have the same selection of connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC (though only for Apple Pay).
The iPhone 8 is up for pre-order now and hitting stores on September 22nd. It starts at £699 for a 64GB model and rises to £849 for a 256GB one. Contracts meanwhile start at around £42 per month with £99 upfront.
The iPhone X won’t be available to pre-order until October 27th and won’t arrive in stores until November 3rd, but we know that it starts at £999 for a 64GB version and goes up to £1,149 for a 256GB one, so expect contract pricing to be higher than any phone before it.
The iPhone X and iPhone 8 are both flagships fit for 2017, but where the iPhone 8 is the expected, fairly modest upgrade on the iPhone 7, the iPhone X is an entirely different beast with a bigger, better screen, a more futuristic design and features to match, such as a Face ID scanner and a dual-lens camera.
The iPhone X also has more RAM, but the iPhone 8 should still have plenty of power and is far more affordable. If you want something compact or can’t justify spending a grand on the phone then the iPhone 8 should make a fine choice, but for a taste of the future the iPhone X is the only option.
