This past Tuesday, Apple announced their much-rumored iPhone X (it’s totally pronounced TEN btw). Steve Jobs introduced us all to the iPhone a decade ago, so it’s only fitting for the 10th Anniversary Edition iPhone to be called X. It features 5.8 inches of edge-to-edge, OLED display with an all glass design that allows for wireless charging. Sorry, the headphone jack is still missing. Although, I’m sure the Strange Parts dude could hook you up. The coolest feature of iPhone X however, is the new TrueDepth Camera System, which ushers in this next generation of smartphones.
What’s TrueDepth, you ask? Well, it’s pretty standard stuff really. Just combine an infrared camera with a flood illuminator, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, 7MP front facing camera and a dot projector. Flood what? Dot huh? It’s basically the first step towards full blown Augmented Reality! Apple’s iPhone X, combined with ARKit, will set the standard for mobile AR moving forward. This technology is going to take your Snapchat filters and emojis to the next level. Yes, I’m happy to announce that in 2017 you will finally be able to communicate with your friends, family and colleagues via talking poop emojis. We have arrived!
Seriously though, what better way to introduce this seemingly complex technology to the masses than with simple little emojis?! Animojis to be exact. That fancy dot projector will shine 30,000 tiny, invisible dots onto your face. This then creates a face map that tracks and detects 50 facial muscle movements. Voila! Your facial expressions are captured and transformed into emojis that come to life, creating Animojis. While it’s a bit silly, it’s also a kinda fun and it will change the way we communicate and share experience with each other. Hey, it has its practical uses as well. TrueDepth also brings us a new, even faster way to unlock, authenticate, and pay using Face ID. The new A11 bionic chip learns your face, recognizes you even in the dark and adapts to your physical changes. A quick glance is all it takes now! Apple AR doesn’t stop at TrueDepth though.
There will be plenty of other entertainment and commercial based AR applications that exist, thanks to the backbone of Apple’s mobile AR strategy, ARKit. The AR app revolution will be unleashed on September 19th, with the release of iOS 11. Check out my blog on Apple’s ARKit to learn more about some of the AR use cases that are being developed for these next gen devices like iPhone X(TEN).
