Head-To-Head: Apple iPhone X Vs. iPhone 8 Plus

Face-Off

The X is here at last. This week, Apple began shipping its reimagined take on the iPhone -- the iPhone X -- after seeing demand from buyers that the company described as "off the charts." Initial units reportedly sold out in minutes, and delivery dates have now been pushed well into December. However, the X is not your only option for a next-gen Apple smartphone. The iPhone 8 Plus will still give you a lot of the advancements that you'll get with the iPhone X, and for a lower price. Which is the better fit for you? In the following slides, the CRN Test Center looks at how Apple's iPhone 8 Plus compares with its iPhone X on specs and price.

Display

There are a few things that set the iPhone X apart from the iPhone 8 Plus, and arguably the display is first and foremost. Unlike the 8 Plus, which features the familiar bezels above and below the screen, the X features only a minimal border around its display -- giving it a nearly edge-to-edge appearance. (We say "nearly" because there is still a very noticeable notch cut out at the top, for cameras and other sensors.)

That's not the only difference on the display. The iPhone X has more screen space, at 5.8 inches diagonally, versus the 5.5 inches of the iPhone 8 Plus. And the X goes with OLED technology for improved colors and contrast, while the 8 Plus sticks with LCD. Lastly, the iPhone X features 2,436 x 1,125 resolution on the display, compared with the 1,920 x 1,080 resolution of the iPhone 8 Plus.

Authentication And Navigation

Famously -- or infamously -- Apple has done away with its Touch ID fingerprint authentication on the iPhone X. Apple has removed the Home Button entirely, in fact, and has instead introduced a two-step process for unlocking and accessing the phone. With the new Face ID facial recognition capability, users unlock their phone by looking at its front-facing camera, and then swiping upward to access the device. A new gesture has also been introduced for switching between apps in the phone. The iPhone 8 Plus, meanwhile, retains the Home Button and Touch ID for unlocking and navigating between apps.

Body And Overall Size

The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X are both getting some changes in their body design from past iPhone models, with glass covering the backs of the devices. The iPhone X, however, goes further in terms of using premium materials, by integrating stainless steel to form the frame of the device. The iPhone 8 Plus will retain aluminum as the main metal for the frame, though Apple says the aluminum used is stronger than in the past.

In terms of overall size, the iPhone 8 Plus is the larger of the two devices, despite having less screen space than the iPhone X. The 8 Plus measures 6.24 inches x 3.07 inches, equaling 19.16 square inches on one side. The X measures 5.65 inches x 2.79 inches, equaling 15.76 square inches on one side -- thus making it 18 percent smaller overall than the iPhone 8 Plus.

Battery Life And Charging

One advantage for the iPhone 8 Plus is on promised battery life -- though it's only a slight advantage. Apple promises 13 hours of internet usage on a charge for the 8 Plus versus 12 hours of internet usage for the X.

Both the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus work with Qi wireless charging pads, which are sold separately. The devices also support fast-charging with the right equipment; Apple pledges up to a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes for the phones.

Processor

The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X both feature a new-and-improved processor -- the A11 Bionic. The processor includes six cores in contrast to the previous four-core A10 Fusion. Two of the cores are intended for high performance, providing 25 percent faster processing than on the A10. The other cores are for maximizing power efficiency of certain tasks, and are 70 percent faster, according to Apple. In addition, the A11 Bionic integrates the first Apple-designed GPU, which offers 30 percent faster graphics than the A10. So whichever iPhone you pick, you can expect a welcome boost in performance.

Camera

Apple has taken its dual-camera approach, initially introduced with the iPhone 7 Plus and continued with the iPhone 8 Plus, and extended it to the iPhone X. Both the X and 8 Plus feature a pair of 12-megapixel cameras -- wide-angle and telephoto -- with optical image stabilization. Special features available on both phones’ cameras include "portrait lighting," which improves the lighting of the contours over a subject's face. Meanwhile, the cameras in both phones are calibrated for use with augmented reality apps, and include sensors such as a new gyroscope that will aid in AR, according to Apple.

Storage

While the iPhone X has a leg up over the iPhone 8 Plus in a number of areas, the amount of available internal storage isn't one of them. Both the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X start with 64 GB of storage at the base level, and offer one other storage configuration -- 256 GB.

Price And Availability

At last check, Apple said the iPhone 8 Plus is available for delivery within a few days. The iPhone X will require a lot more patience: Delivery times have now been pushed out to between five and six weeks.

The fact that you can't get an iPhone X right away may push some potential buyers to look more closely at the iPhone 8 Plus, but an even bigger factor could be the price. The iPhone X is priced $200 above the iPhone 8 Plus at the base 64-GB level; the X starts at $999, and the 8 Plus at $799. The same goes for the 256-GB model, with the iPhone X running $1,149 and the iPhone 8 Plus priced at $949 in that configuration.

Buyers will thus have some decisions to make about whether the new design for the iPhone -- which is, of course, a first-generation release that's bound to have some issues -- is worth the extra couple of hundred dollars.