General reviews The iPhone X received positive reviews. Its display and build quality were strongly praised, and the camera also scored positively on tests. However, the sensor housing "
notch" at the top of the screen and the introduction of an all-new authentication method were polarizing for critics and consumers. The notch was heavily mocked by users on social media, although app developers responded either neutrally or positively to the changes it brought to the user experience in their apps and games. Face ID facial recognition was praised for its simple setup, but criticized for requiring direct eyes on the screen, though that option can be disabled within the
system preferences. The iPhone X's rear camera received an overall rating of 97 from DxOMark, a camera testing company–just behind
Google's
Pixel 2, which received 98 and short of the highest score of 99, awarded to
Samsung's
Galaxy S9+ smartphone.
Consumer Reports, a non-profit, independent organization aiming to write impartial reviews of consumer products, ranked the iPhone X below the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as well as below
Samsung's
Galaxy S8, S8+ and
Note 8, due to less durability and shorter battery life, although it praised the X's camera as "the highest-rated smartphone camera" it had ever tested. Chris Velazco of
Engadget praised the display, writing that, in his experience, the sensor "notch" goes from being "weird at first" to not being noticeable due to action in videos usually happening in the center. The build quality was given particular acclaim, being called "a beautifully made device" with the construction that "seamlessly" connects the front and back glass with the stainless-steel frame. Velazco noted that the new gesture-based interaction takes time to get used to, particularly the Control Center being moved from the bottom to the top right of the display. The camera, processor performance, and battery life were also given positive thoughts. Nilay Patel of
The Verge also praised the display, calling it "polished and tight" and "bright and colorful". He criticized the repeated lack of a headphone jack, the device's fragility despite Apple's claims of durability, and the sensor notch, calling it "ugly". Patel highlighted the fact that apps required updates to fit the new screen, writing that not all popular apps had received updates by the time of the review, resulting in some apps with "huge black borders" resembling the iPhone 8. He especially criticized the positioning of the sensor notch while holding the phone in landscape mode, causing the notch to go "from being a somewhat forgettable element in the top status bar to a giant interruption on the side of the screen". The cameras were given positive feedback for maintaining detail in low-light. Patel particularly praised Animoji, calling it "probably the single best feature on the iPhone X", writing that "they just work, and they work incredibly well". Finally, he wrote that Face ID was the whole foundation of the iPhone X, and stated that it "generally works great", though acknowledging the occasional misstep, in which users must "actively move the phone closer to your face to compensate". He specifically criticized the limited range of Face ID, with authentication only working when holding the phone 25–50 centimeters away from the face. The cost of repairing an iPhone is also very large compared to its predecessors. If the iPhone X is damaged by user damage (not a manufacturing defect), screen repairs cost US$279, and other repairs like replacing iPhone X batteries are more expensive. In a heavily negative review, Dennis Green of
Business Insider significantly criticized the impossible one-handed use of the iPhone X, writing that the new gestures to use the phone, such as swiping from the top down to access notifications and the Control Center, did not work when using the phone with only one hand due to not being able to reach the top. His review sparked outrage among
Twitter users, many of whom used condescending tones, which Green reasoned as "I don't know whether the anger was directed toward me out of loyalty to Apple or to justify their own choice to spend $1,000 on a phone. It was obvious that much of the criticism came from people who had never used the phone".
Macworlds Roman Loyola praised the Face ID authentication system, writing that the setup process was "easy" and that its system integration was "more seamless" than the Touch ID fingerprint authentication of the past. That said, Loyola did note the "half-second" slower unlocking time than Touch ID as well as needing to look directly at the screen, making it impossible to unlock with the phone next to the user on a desk.
Face ID security and privacy concerns Face ID has raised concerns regarding the possibility of law enforcement accessing an individual's phone by pointing the device at the user's face. United States Senator
Al Franken asked Apple to provide more information on the security and privacy of Face ID a day after the announcement, with Apple responding by highlighting the recent publication of a security white paper and knowledge base detailing answers. Inconsistent results have been shown when testing Face ID on identical twins, with some tests showing the system managing to separate the two, while other tests have failed. Despite Apple's promise of increased security of Face ID compared to the Touch ID fingerprint authentication system, there have been multiple media reports indicating otherwise.
The Verge noted that courts in the United States have granted different Fifth Amendment rights in the United States Constitution to biometric unlocking systems as opposed to keycodes. Keycodes are considered "testimonial" evidence based on the contents of users' thoughts, whereas fingerprints are considered physical evidence, with some suspects having been ordered to unlock their phones via fingerprint. Many attempts to break through Face ID with sophisticated masks have been attempted, though all have failed. A week after the iPhone X was released, Vietnamese security firm
Bkav announced in a blog post that it had successfully created a $150 mask that tricked Face ID, though
WIRED noted that Bkav's technique was more of a "proof-of-concept" rather than active exploitation risk, with the technique requiring a detailed measurement or digital scan of the iPhone owner's face, putting the real risk of danger only to targets of espionage and world leaders. Additionally,
Reuters reported in early November 2017 that Apple would share certain facial data on users with third-party app developers for more precise selfie filters and for fictional game characters to mirror real-world user facial expressions. Although developers are required to seek customer permission, and are forbidden to sell the data to others, create profiles on users, or use the data for advertising, alongside being limited to a more "rough map" rather than full capabilities, they still get access to over 50 kinds of facial expressions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Democracy and Technology raised privacy questions about Apple's enforcement of the privacy restrictions connected to third-party access, with Apple maintaining that its App Store review processes were effective safeguards. The "rough map" of facial data third-parties can access is also not enough to unlock the device, according to
Reuters. However, the overall idea of letting developers access sensitive facial information was still not satisfactorily handled, according to Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU, with Stanley telling
Reuters that "the privacy issues around of the use of very sophisticated facial recognition technology for unlocking the phone have been overblown. ... The real privacy issues have to do with the access by third-party developers".
Notch controversy Much of the debate about the iPhone X has revolved around the design of the Face ID sensor housing, dubbed "notch" by the media, at the top of the display.
The Outline described it as "a visually disgusting element", and
The Verge posted a report focusing on public criticism and people mocking Apple's "odd design choice", but not every reviewer was equally negative in their opinions. Third-party iOS developers interviewed by
Ars Technica said that, despite the work of restructuring design elements in their apps, the notch did not cause any problems, with some even arguing that the notch was a good push to simplify their designs. Two weeks after the iPhone X's release, Apple approved a "notch remover" app through the App Store, that adds a black bar at the top of images, which can then be used as a wallpaper to make the notch visually disappear. The approval was done despite the company's user interface guidelines discouraging developers from specifically masking the design. The iPhone X was not the first device with a notch; both the
Essential Phone and Sharp Aquos S2 were announced before it and had a display notch, albeit much smaller, but the iPhone X arguably popularized it. == Issues ==