Jony Ive talks iPhone design and more in interview

Nov 30, 2017 07:20 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s iPhone X has pretty much cannibalized the iPhone 8 following the major upgrades that the company introduced on the anniversary model, and judging from a design perspective, even Apple executives acknowledge the huge difference between older and newer devices.

Apple design chief Jony Ive, for instance, reckoned in a recent interview with Smithsonian Magazine that the iPhone 7 Plus “seems to me a rather disconnected component housed in an enclosure,” also adding that the iPhone X edge-to-edge approach is something that Apple has “aspired to for years.”

iPhone X does introduce several innovations, at least for the Apple ecosystem, in terms of look. The biggest of them is the debut of an OLED display with very small bezels and a controversial notch at the top and housing the facial recognition modules, the FaceTime camera, and other tech.

And while the iPhone X is often praised for its design and high build quality, Ive admits that it takes time to achieve such results because “we don’t get it right all the time.”

In a separate interview earlier this month, Jony Ive said the iPhone X was the most difficult iPhone to build, revealing that the plan wasn’t necessarily to complete device development in time for the 10th anniversary iPhone, but to only get this model right.

Production challenges

Apple has struggled to deal with iPhone X production challenges, including for the display itself and the facial recognition system, but sources familiar with the matter revealed that the company is now in the process of aligning production with demand.

Waiting times for the iPhone X have been reduced to one to two weeks, with some of the orders that were initially projected to ship in early December already completed.

Analysts estimate the first quarter of 2018 to be particularly successful for the iPhone X, especially as supply challenges would be addressed and the device would also become available for walk-in customers worldwide.