The iPhone X-Have Smartphones gone too far?

The Smartphone is now a must-have for many people in today’s society, ranging from young teenagers in pursuit of the tool for taking the perfect shots for their social media, to businessmen and women using their phones as a way of organising their lives. At the touch of the button you are able to order thousands of online items, share opinions with the world and prioritise tasks, however all of this comes at a price. With the yearly launch of a brand new model iPhone by technology giant ‘Apple’ comes speculation about the eye-watering prices, with the latest model (iPhone X) costing a staggering $999. In addition to the extortionate pricing, users of this new device can expect several new features including ‘Face ID’ a concept whereby the user uses their face to unlock the device. Despite this feature appearing handy on a superficial level, upon deeper inspection it can be argued that safety concerns are a problem. Many fear users may be at risk as if a user’s phone is stolen then in order to gain access, someone would simply need to use a photograph for less advanced systems of Face ID, which will dutifully follow no doubt from rival companies after its release. This is especially worrying considering the amount of personal information on people’s phones nowadays.

The high prices put people off a future purchase too. I spoke to a local business owner, who uses his current iPhone model (the 7) for organising bookings and responding to e-mails. I asked him how he felt about the new iPhone X, and he responded by saying: ‘I have been a fan of Apple for some time now. I have purchased several of their phone models in the past however I think that pricing a product at $999 is too much.’ He went on to say that ‘too much is being expected of phones nowadays, soon people will demand more and more from their Smartphones.’ This, in my opinion, begs questions about how reliant we are as a society on our phones and how if we continue to demand more from them, if we ourselves will become too dependent on technology, wishing for it to be the answer to our problems.