The iPhone X dropped and selfie fans were ready to angle, pout and click… then they realized the camera is a bit too good.
“Shoot selfies with a depth-of-field effect that puts your face in sharp focus against an artfully blurred background,” Apple’s website boasts about its TrueDepth technology.
“Sharp focus” is something that actors and the people who watch them discovered when TV went high-definition. Remember how worried we all were that Jennifer Aniston wouldn’t be as pretty in high-def? (Thank goodness we dodged that nightmare.) The detail the new iPhone camera shows in photos seems to have a side effect — self-consciousness.
New iPhone X users tweet about their depressing selfies.
“But seriously the camera on the iPhone X makes me 100x more ugly,” one tweet reads.
“I wouldn’t have much use for the iphone X,” another Twitter user laments. “That camera is too good man all anyone would see is my dry ass skin and bags under my eyes in perfect HD quality.”
“Dry ass skin,” Apple. That’s the world we live in now. RIP selfies?
the iphone x camera makes me a little uncomfortable idk if i wanna see myself, or anyone else for that matter, that clearly
— ??? ???? (@purexdevotion) November 6, 2017
I wouldn’t have much use for the iphone X. That camera is too good man all anyone would see is my dry ass skin and bags under my eyes in perfect HD quality.
— Miami Dolphins 12-4 (@GuerreroBenny) November 6, 2017
But seriously the camera on the iPhone X makes me 100x more ugly.
— Trevor Velasco (@Tvelasco34) November 6, 2017
Im going to need all my friends to switch to Android, I am way too ugly for this new iPhone X camera.
— Ivan Escobar (@ivannotpablo) November 6, 2017
why the iphone x camera quality better than my actual eyes https://t.co/FNjm9c4lsK
— GRACE MORRIS (@garcemorris) November 4, 2017
The iPhone X camera, that one tweeter called “better than my actual eyes,” comes with a hefty price tag.
The iPhone X’s flashier parts cost Apple 25 percent more than the iPhone 8, but it retails 43 percent higher.
The iPhone X smartphone costs $357.50 to make and sells for $999, giving it a gross margin of 64 percent, according to TechInsights, a firm that tears down technology devices and analyzes the parts inside. The iPhone 8 sells for $699 and has a gross margin of 59 percent.
Several of Apple’s design choices for the X pushed up its price. In particular, its 5.8-inch (14.8 cm) edge-to-edge display and associated parts cost $65.50, compared with $36 for the iPhone 8’s 4.7-inch display, the analysis found.
That is largely because the iPhone 8 uses older LCD technology, while the iPhone X uses what is called “Super AMOLED” technology, which allows for more vivid colors and a thinner overall design.
Another pricey choice was the stainless-steel chassis of the iPhone X, which cost $36 versus $21.50 for the aluminum housing of the iPhone 8. Al Cowsky, the costing analyst for TechInsights, said the steel is less likely than aluminum to bend when flexed, a problem that dogged the iPhone 6 when it came out.
So, you can pay a thousand bucks to feel bad about yourself or buy a plane ticket home for Thanksgiving and deal with all that. Or, pick your chin up (or down… I’m no good with angles), channel your inner sexy minx and snap away in natural lighting. Ready that duck face!
Reuters contributed to this report.
