Are you among millions of people who had been waiting out for the iPhone X instead of buying the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus? Well, the iPhone X pre-orders went live at around 3 a.m. Eastern Time today. If you were not among the lucky few, you must have missed your chance to get the iPhone X in desired color and storage in November. In less than 30 minutes, shipping dates for all models from all carriers in the US had been pushed back by 4-5 weeks. Now that consumers have seen the iPhone X euphoria and absorbed some of the reality, many people may want to go back and buy iPhone 8 Plus.
So many reasons to buy iPhone 8 Plus over the iPhone X
Yes, the iPhone X is Apple’s most beautiful smartphone ever. Yes, it is loaded with the latest and greatest features. Yes, Apple has told you that it’s the “smartphone of the future.” Yes, Tim Cook has somehow managed to convince you that $1,000 is a “value price” for the iPhone X. But it may not be the right choice for you, even if you’ve waited more than a month for the 10th-anniversary model.
The first reason you may want to buy iPhone 8 Plus is that you can get it right now. The iPhone X is facing production issues, and it would be in short supply through this year. Analysts and supply chain rumors have suggested that only 2-3 million units would be available at launch worldwide. Much of them have already been sold to pre-order customers. Only limited units will be available in stores on Nov.3, and there will be long queues in front of Apple Stores.
The second reason to buy iPhone 8 Plus over the iPhone X is that the latter is going to cost way more than $999. If you thought that you could somehow manage to squeeze out $1,000 for the shiny new iPhone X, you are in for a surprise! Apple’s smartphones don’t have a Samsung-like microSD card slot. Neither does Apple offer free unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos like Google Pixel.
So, you may want to buy the 256GB model rather than the 64GB variant. The 256GB iPhone X is going to set you back by $1,149. By comparison, the 256GB iPhone 8 Plus is $200 cheaper at $949. If you are buying such an expensive phone that has an all-glass front and an all-glass back panel, you’d want protective cases and an AppleCare plan.
AppleCare for the iPhone X is going to cost you $199, but it costs only $149 for the iPhone 8 Plus. If you buy iPhone 8 Plus, you can use your iPhone 7 Plus’s protective cases because the phones have the same design. All in all, you could save roughly $300 instantly by going for the iPhone 8 Plus instead of the iPhone X. You may argue that you’d pay for the new iPhone in installments, but don’t forget that the iPhone X would still be hundreds of dollars more expensive.
Is the talking poop emoji worth an extra $300 to you?
Now a big question is whether the iPhone X is worth all the extra money? We all agree that the anniversary iPhone is more beautiful than the iPhone 8 Plus, thanks to its bezel-less OLED display. But can you tolerate that top notch every time you look at your phone, every time you watch videos or play games? In a user poll conducted by 9to5Mac, less than 30% participants said they were fine with the notch or liked it. Some experts have described the notch as the “worst design decision” by Apple.
The iPhone 8 Plus comes with a proven Touch ID fingerprint security. Apple has moved to Face ID facial recognition technology with the iPhone X, which is yet to be proven in the market. There are still concerns about user security and privacy with the Face ID. Recently, Bloomberg reported that Apple had reduced the facial detection system’s accuracy rate to speed up the iPhone X production.
Besides the beautiful design and Face ID, the only reason Apple is charging you more for the iPhone X is that talking poop emoji. Is that worth an extra $300? Of course, no one can put a price on a talking pile of poop, so it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth the extra money. In all other aspects, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X are similar. Besides, you can get the 8 Plus in Gold color, while the iPhone X comes only in Space Gray and Silver colors.
The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X are powered by the same A11 Bionic chipset. They run the same iOS 11 operating system, and they both have a dual camera system on the back. They both have a neural engine to handle AI tasks, and they both are water- and dust-resistant. In terms of specs, the only major difference between the two is that the iPhone X has Face ID facial recognition system instead of the battle-tested Touch ID.
Another reason to buy iPhone 8 Plus is familiarity. If you are a long-time iPhone user, the iPhone X would require some getting used to. Due to the lack of the home button, you have to learn different gesture swipe functionalities to interact with the interface. With the 8 Plus, you’ll feel familiar with the device right out of the box.
People love Apple’s products because they are easy to use, offer a great experience, and they “just work.” The iPhone 8 Plus sticks to that philosophy while offering upgraded hardware, improved camera, and wireless charging. So what if it lacks the talking poop emoji?
