Unless you’ve been hiding under a Google Pixel 2-shaped rock for the last few months, you’ll no doubt have noticed that the long awaited
iPhone X has just been released.
With a price tag of nearly £1,000, Apple’s latest offering certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. You’ve got to be
pretty keen on this to get your hands on it.
Let’s disregard the fact that it had sold out on pre-order so the wait will be slightly longer...
The launch made me think about the impact smartphones are having on our lives, why Apple has been so successful to date, and just how much we’re willing to spend when it comes to an accessory.
The always-on era
We live in an always-on society.
Where access to news updates is instant (accurate or otherwise), friends are a mere tap away and we can do things without even moving from our seats.
A quick survey of the office showed that our favourite apps included: Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, City Mapper, Headspace and BBC News – proving that we’re relying on our phones for a huge variety of reasons.
Whether it’s because we’re keen to be ‘always on’, or we can’t go an hour without checking in on our friends, our smartphone has become an extension of us and it’s shaping our society more than ever.
If you’ve got a smartphone you don’t need to worry about cooking dinner (hi Deliveroo), missing out on what your friends are up to (that list is endless), or not making it to the bank before it closes (thank you banking apps!) – all because tech has adapted to do this for you.
We are now living in the most convenient society ever, thanks to smartphones consistently changing to change our lives for us.
Pretty cool, right?
Convenience above all
Big businesses understand that extra time (and therefore a perceived lack of convenience) costs.
Take Amazon, for example.
It recently announced a move to a
one-hour delivery from the already speedy one-day option.
Why? Because it recognised that was what the customer wanted.
Google meanwhile gave us the Google Home. Adding to a long line of virtual assistants it does anything from turning on the lights to picking a playlist. Removing any inconvenience we had at home it strives to make our lives simpler than we even knew we needed them to be.
Both examples clearly demonstrate the new relationship businesses are building with customers thanks to the addition of convenience to most tech products.
A new era for Apple?
So what does this mean for the iPhone?
The increase of tech and its presence in our lives is reflected by the demand for the new iPhone with every release.
I genuinely believe people see their smartphones as an extension of themselves. Would they be willing to spend £1,000 on one if they weren’t?
That being said, I think the new iPhones will divide tech lovers this year.
By launching the iPhones 8 and 8 Plus which have been hugely popular, Apple proves that one size doesn’t fit all, and that as these devices become less of an accessory and more part of who we are it needs to tailor the device to the individual need for both style and functionality.
The dedicated iPhone users are holding out for the iPhone X, whereas your standard iPhone fan (guilty) will probably opt for the 8 or 8 Plus when the upgrade time comes.
And if we’re being brutally honest, Apple is always guaranteed to be the talk of the world on launch day.
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