Death of home button as Apple launches new Face ID-only iPhones

CUPERTINO - Apple sounded the death knell of the home button with the launch of three new iPhones during a media event held in Steve Jobs Theater at the tech giant’s campus Apple Park.

The new iPhone Xs, Xs Max and Xr all feature full-screen design without the home button that has been a feature since the first iPhone launched 11 years ago.

Instead, all the new iPhones will use only face recognition technology, or Face ID, for user authentication. It is a bold move by Apple, considering many iPhone users are still very used to the touch button, or Touch ID’s fingerprint authentication.

Last year, when the iPhone X was launched, Apple still has the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus that both come with a home button. However, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 are still available for sale.

The new iPhone Xs is the direct successor to last year’s iPhone X, sporting the same 5.8-inch Oled screen but with updated and faster A12 Bionic processor, better water resistance, all-new image sensor of rear dual-camera system, improved TrueDepth camera system for advanced Face ID among the improvements.

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Catering to users who want bigger screens, Apple also launched the iPhone Xs Max with the similar specifications as the iPhone Xs, but with a bigger 6.5-inch Oled screen.

Both iPhone Xs and Xs Max will be available in silver, black and a new colour option - gold.

However, Apple has not forgotten the budget market with the iPhone Xr. It features the same design and processor as the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max, but comes with a cheaper 6.1-inch LCD screen that has less contrast and dynamic range as well as less power efficient compared to Oled screens.

The cheaper iPhone Xr only has a single rear camera, unlike the rear dual-camera system of iPhone XS and XS Max. However, it comes in more colours including red, blue, yellow, black and white.

The price of an iPhone Xs starts from $1,649 for the 64GB version, while the iPhone Xs Max’s pricing starts from $1,799 for the 64GB version. Both will be available in Singapore on Sept 21.

The iPhone Xr will be priced starting from $1,229 for the 32GB version and starts selling on Oct 26 as well. Pre-orders for iPhone Xr starts from Oct 19.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.