Apple iphone X Demand and Screen Repairs

Apple iPhone X demand is 'off the charts'

Apple is liking the early reaction to the iPhone X.

"We can see from the initial response, customer demand is off the charts," said an Apple spokeswoman.



Dutiful Apple fans were able to preorder the iPhone X starting at 12:01 a.m. PT this morning, and within 10 minutes, the shipping dates began to slip past the Nov. 3 launch date. Depending on the models, carrier and country, the delay in shipping is anywhere from a week to six weeks -- smack in the middle of December.

The increased demand for the iPhone X comes after a more muted reception for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which went on sale late last month. Results from the US carriers suggest sales of the phones, which saw only a modest change with a glass back and addition of wireless charging as the key upgrades, were bumpy.


This was the first time Apple staggered the release of its different models, with an early release of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X on Nov. 3. A few carriers noted the split in timing affected their own customer growth.

The iPhone X marks the first major redesign the phone has seen in years. Apple ditched its Touch ID home button and instead added its new Face ID facial recognition in the device. It also integrated a new OLED screen that stretches across the front of the display.

The device has another new feature: a higher price. The iPhone X starts at $999, £999 or AU$1,579 for the 64GB model, while the 256GB iPhone X costs $1,149, £1,149 or AU$1,829.

The phone market could use a jolt of excitement. Last year marked the slowest growth rate for the phone industry since it began, and Apple's iPhone sales dropped for four straight quarters. Total industry shipments rose just 2.5 percent to 1.47 billion, according to IDC, and they should increase only 1.7 percent this year. The firm expects phone shipments to keep growing through 2021, but the real boom days are over.

The company is set to post its fiscal fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday.

Apple will have iPhone X units available for sale at its stores and retail partners starting at 8 a.m. (local time) on Nov. 3, but the supply is expected to be limited. The company warned customers to get to the store early -- not that hardcore fans didn't already know that.   

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Apple iPhone X screen repair costs $279 without AppleCare

If you're among the lucky few who actually got an iPhone X last night, you might want to buy a screen protector, like right now.

Apple's new flagship phone, which starts at $999, £999 or AU$1,579, will cost a bundle to replace if damaged.




Apple's service pricing for the phone lists $279, £286 or AU$419 if you "need to replace your screen due to accidental damage or mishandling. Accidental damage isn't covered by the Apple warranty."

The cost for "additional damage that's not limited to the screen" is $550. Here's how Apple's repair costs break down for the iPhone X compared to other recent phones.


The exception is if you elect to get AppleCare+ coverage, which does cover accidental damage to the screen and other parts of the phone. It costs $199 in the US, £199 in the UK and AU$299 in Australia.

Or you could just get a screen protector and a robust case. On a phone that expensive, butterfingers might want both. 

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Why Apple's MacBook Pro Touch Bar drives me bonkers

A year ago, Apple overhauled its high-end MacBook Pro laptops with something the computing industry had never seen before: a touch-sensitive strip with a programmable display called the Touch Bar.
 
Its flexibility shows the function keys it replaces to be relics from computing's dark ages -- specifically 1971, when IBM added them to mainframe terminals, Apple said. "This is crazy, keeping 45-year-old technology around," marketing chief Phil Schiller said during the MacBook Pro launch event exactly one year ago.

To which I respond: Bring me back to the dark ages. Because for me, the Touch Bar is slower when I need to use it and causes serious problems when I don't.

When I bought a $3,000 15-inch MacBook Pro nearly a year ago, it was for the big screen, the big trackpad, the fast processor and the durable chassis. I kept an open mind about its Touch Bar, which seemed clever and something that could dramatically change how we use our computers. It could provide the tools you need at any given moment, reveal features you didn't know about and bring intuitive adjustment sliders to software like Photoshop. "The Touch Bar adapts to whatever software you're using," Schiller said. "It is incredibly useful, intuitive and really fun to use."

Alas, I don't see those benefits, and I find myself shying away from the Touch Bar instead of embracing it as I have with touchscreens on Windows and Chrome OS laptops. My displeasure is a personal reaction, and yours will depend on how you use your Mac, but I'm not the only dissatisfied Touch Bar customer.
 

Touch Bar beefs

 The first thing I noticed with the Touch Bar was that it's slower to adjust speaker volume and screen brightness, something I do many times a day. The old function keys were fixed in place and part of my muscle memory, but with the Touch Bar, I have to look down to aim my finger, and then there's a delay after the slider pops up to let me change it. Even though the volume and brightness icons are easy to understand, they're right next to each other, and still I often tap the wrong one.

Apple's Photos app uses the Touch Bar to preview filter effects and let you select one you like.

My experience is the polar opposite from Schiller's boast a year ago: "If you want to set the volume or brightness, it's easier than ever before -- just a slide or a tap."

Happily, Apple updated the volume and brightness controls in its new MacOS 10.13 High Sierra software, letting you flick your finger right or left on the Touch Bar button to adjust settings a couple notches. That's an improvement, but I still have to look to see what I'm doing, and the adjustment isn't precise. I also don't always swipe just the right amount to get it to work. The old function keys were much more reliable.

The second thing I noticed is that I often hit the Touch Bar when I don't want to, triggering actions I don't want. Worse, because it happens with just a gentle brush against the very sensitive strip, as opposed to the deliberate tap on a keyboard key, I'm not always aware I've done it.

For example, Safari shows open browser tabs in the Touch Bar, and I sometimes inadvertently switch tabs when trying to type a number on the keyboard. Or now that Google's Chrome has Touch Bar support, I mess up web forms by hitting the Touch Bar reload button. Thank goodness some websites warn me I might lose information I've typed in.

Fat finger error

One common situation: I'll be saving a document with the date "2017" in the filename. When I overshoot on the 7 just a bit, I hit the Touch Bar "save" button. Now I have to move over to the MacOS Finder and manually rename the file.

Another gripe is that there's no tactile feedback. I'm a touch typist who rarely looks at my fingers, but I've discovered with the Touch Bar how much that relies on constantly feeling my way around the keyboard. The smooth Touch Bar strip has no indication of where one button starts and another ends, so I have to look down to use it. There's no haptic feedback, either, which could be very helpful.

The virtual escape key is still a step backward for me. No longer can I rest my finger on it, ready to dismiss a dialog box.
Chris Pick, a mobile developer I met taking the train into work, also struggles with the escape key. "I have found that the Touch Bar is pretty useless for most of what I do," he said. Remapping the escape function to another key, like caps lock -- something several people recommended -- can help. But you have to reprogram your muscle memory, too.

Compounding my irritation is the knowledge that the Touch Bar added some significant cost to the premium I paid for this Mac. And that little screen down there is constantly shortening my MacBook's battery life.

End of the line?

Apple says the Touch Bar is the beginning of a journey, but some think it could be the end.
"It was a weird gimmick that didn't really work. I expect they'll remove it at some point," Endpoint Technologies analyst Roger Kay said. Steve Jobs was rightly concerned about the awkwardness of touch-screen laptops, he said, "but he didn't account for how useful touch would become. Kids just naturally pinch and zoom on screens when they see them and are disappointed when it doesn't work."

The Touch Bar has been a chore for me. By contrast, I've found the touchscreens on Chromebooks and Windows laptops to be intuitive and useful. I'm inclined to see things the way HP's PC chief, Ron Coughlin, does.

"We listen to our customers, and customers say they want a touchscreen. There is no piece of research that will lead you to a Touch Bar," he told me in a recent interview. "It feels to me like there is a dogma [at Apple] that says thou shalt not put touch in, and the Touch Bar was a way around that dogma."

There are Touch Bar fans, though. "Once you get used to it, it's great! I love the customization you can do with BetterTouchTool, mostly adding shortcuts for apps and actions," tweets Frédéric Harper.

The MacBook Pro Touch Bar can be good for exploring emoji you may not know even exist.

Higher hopes

Apple has higher hopes for Touch Bar technology, and I do see its potential in some areas -- for example, as a replacement for multiclick menu navigation options. The Touch Bar is great for picking emoji from hundreds of options, since it's a natural visual search and you can swipe through the list fluidly. Indeed, I wish Apple would make emoji search a default Touch Bar option, not one restricted to its Mail and Messages apps.

I also like the Touch Bar for controls when I'm using my Mac in full-screen modes, like scrubbing through YouTube videos in Safari, or turning the webcam on and off in Skype. I could see the Touch Bar as a useful replacement for the Mac's menu bar as Macs drift closer toward iPad interfaces. Perhaps if web apps like Facebook or software like Adobe Lightroom supported it, I'd find more bright spots.

These moments of satisfaction are one reason I'm cautious about declaring the Touch Bar dead to me. Apple isn't done with the technology.

"We unanimously were very compelled by [the Touch Bar] as a direction, based on, one, using it, and also having the sense this is the beginning of a very interesting direction," Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive told CNET when the machines launched. "But [it] still just marks a beginning."
So despite my displeasure, I'll keep an open mind. Maybe a year from now it really will help me get get more out of my Mac instead of less.