- Hey guys, this is Austin.
Any other year and this phone would be called the iPhone 7s.
It has a new design with a glass back, upgraded cameras,
faster internals, and even a new feature
in wireless charging.
And yet, all of this is under the shadow of the upcoming
iPhone X, which really does beg the question,
why does the iPhone 8 exist?
Of course, plenty of companies have a wide variety
of phones to choose from, ranging from budget options
all the way to the incredibly expensive, and surprisingly,
Apple is actually no exception this year.
You have options ranging all the way from the $350 iPhone SE
to the $450 iPhone 6s, the $550 iPhone 7.
Of course you've got the $700 iPhone 8, as well as all way
up into the top of the range, the $1,000 iPhone X.
The issue is that Samsung has already been shipping
a truly next generation-feeling piece of hardware
with the Galaxy S8.
Not only is it going to cost you about the same amount
as the iPhone 8, but it's been shipping for the better part
of a year already.
In a vacuum, the iPhone 8 is a nice design, however,
when you put it side by side with the Galaxy S8,
that iPhone really does look a lot less like a brand-new
2017 flagship, and a lot more like a 2014 iPhone 6.
Apple has made some small improvements to the iPhone 8,
most notably including their True Tone tech.
So this is borrowed from the iPad, and it adjusts
the white balance of the display to better suit
the environment that you're in.
It's a cool feature, and of the course the iPhone
still has a solid IPS display.
When you put it side by side with the Galaxy S8,
it is absolutely no contest.
The AMOLED display of the S8 not only has far better color,
brightness, and especially contrast,
but the Infinity display means that not only does it have
curved edges, but essentially no bezel on top and bottom
of the phone, either.
This is pretty much the approach that Apple is taking
with the iPhone X, and I would actually argue that
they're taking it even farther.
So yes, you do have to deal with the notch,
but in exchange, the rest of the phone is pretty much
entirely screen.
There is essentially no bezels in sight.
The only issue is, is that the iPhone X costs a whopping
$300 more than both the S8 as well as the iPhone 8.
It's not all bad, though.
The iPhone 8 shares a lot of specs with the X,
including very, very similar cameras.
So paired with better processing and new sensors,
this is actually a surprisingly big leap over the previous
generation of iPhones.
It brings it a lot closer to stuff like the Galaxy S8,
as well as the Pixel, especially when you consider just
how much detail you're able to get in a single image.
(laughing) You want to be in the video?
This is like actually perfect.
This is the iPhone 8.
- Is that the iPhone 8?
- It's the iPhone 8 right now.
What are you guys' names?
- I'm Davey.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Dayna.
- I guess there's a little occasion going on today,
or something?
- We just got married.
- Congratulations!
- Can I take some pictures with this?
- Yeah.
- Alright, let's do it.
- Alright, ready, and (clicks) that looks really good.
(laughing)
Alright, let me try some portrait mode here.
That's pretty nice, right?
- [Davey] That's awesome.
- [Dayna] Oooh!
- It messed up a little bit with the veil, but that's
pretty nice.
- Yeah, that's pretty good.
- That's super good.
- Video on the 8 is really impressive.
It's second to only maybe the LG V30.
So the stabilization works really well, especially when
you're hand-held, and you do have some new 4K shooting
modes, including 4K 24, which I'm actually a big fan of,
but you also can shoot at a pretty impressive
4K 60 frames per second.
We're also getting an upgraded 240 frame per second mode
and a full 1080p.
So the last iPhone could do 240, but it was at 720p,
and honestly, it was pretty grainy.
With the iPhone 8, you're getting surprisingly usable
footage, especially when you slow it down by 10 times,
some of the results can actually look surprisingly good.
You're also getting the Apple A11 Bionic chip.
Now I'll spare you all the technical details,
but both the iPhone 8, as well as the iPhone X,
which share the same spec, are very, very fast.
Put the iPhone 8 side by side with not only the 7,
but also the Galaxy S8, as well as the Note 8,
you'll see that the iPhone 8 is hands down the fastest
phone out right now in Geekbench.
It's a similar story on the graphics side with GFXBench,
although here it's less of a runaway victory, but the iPhone
still does win out.
It's impressive enough that I slightly lost my mind
and compared it to the PlayStation 4.
You guys can check that video out if you want to see
how they stack up, but suffice it to say
the iPhone is very, very fast.
It's not perfect, though.
While the glass back doesn't get as warm under extended
gaming, like the iPhone 7 did, when you compare it
side by side with the Galaxy S8, as well as the Note 8,
you will see that the iPhone 8 does exhibit some
thermal throttling.
In actual use, though, the iPhone 8 is incredibly snappy,
and that should be shared with the iPhone X.
That is a surprisingly common thread between the
8 and the X.
Not only do they both support wireless charging,
but they also have fast charging via
a USB-C Lightning cable, which my friend Danny Winget
tested, and it actually stacks up fairly well compared
to a lot of other Android flagships.
You're also getting the same IP67 water resistance
on both the 8 as well as the X.
Now I don't have a X in to test just yet, but I can
say that the iPhone 8 speakers sound phenomenal.
It's the same basic stereo design from the iPhone 7.
It's much louder, much richer, it really does put
not only other Android phones to shame, but it's really
the first phone in years that's come close to matching
HTC's BoomSound.
So yes, the iPhone 8 does give up the bezelless OLED display
from the X, but in return, the X gives up TouchID.
Now FaceID is interesting, and there's no doubt
that Apple's put a ton of really interesting technology
into it, but it is the only option short
of using a passcode.
There are tons of situations where I would rather pull
my phone out and use TouchID on the iPhone 8,
versus hold the X in front of my face and hope that it
actually unlocks.
Even if it's a perfect setup, I would still prefer
to have the option of using TouchID.
At first glance, the iPhone 8 seems like a weird choice
in a 2017 world of super-thin bezels, but look past
the screen and everything else is there.
To me, the iPhone X is looking like a classic
first-generation Apple product.
It's a beautiful design, and there's a ton of potential,
but it's also really expensive, and if the supply rumors
are true, it is going to be quite a while before it's
easy to actually get your hands on one.
I can understand why someone might want to pick up
an iPhone 8 today.
It might not even be crazy to skip the X altogether
and wait for the next generation, which hopefully brings
the same design, but with a lower price,
and hopefully stuff like TouchID will be readded.
But, what do you guys think?
Should the iPhone 8 exist in 2017?
Let me know in the comments below, and I will
catch you on the next one.