Comic: iPhone X– Keep It or Sell It?

hey siri, set a reminder to get up at 2:45 am on october 27th. Setting a reminder to give Apple all your money.

youre ordering an iphone x? of course im ordering one.

but are you keeping it? really depends what my favorite review site says.

Read more comics from The Pixel Project.

Rich Stevens

Pixel lover and cartoonist. Still have my original Apple IIgs. See more at clango.org or follow him on Twitter @rstevens.

14 Comments
  • There is no legit reason that the phone doesn't have a button on the back, at or below the Apple logo for TouchID. I don't want the phone to have to recognize my face to unlock. They even said it won't work for identical twins/more. I would prefer the secure enough fingerprint.
  • They said it won't work for identical twins, nothing more. No technology is perfect, and Touch ID has problems sometimes recognising my fingerprint, same for my friend as well. Face ID will work for practically everyone, the one SINGLE flaw is identical twins, which for the majority, isn't a problem
  • Well, maybe I'm thinking a little too legally, but they distinctly said it will work if you "GROW" a beard. Not if you currently have one. On top if that, having it work, and wanting it to work are two entirely different things. I don't want my phone knowing it is me each time vs someone else using my phone. The source isn't open, so I have zero way of knowing if any other data is going elsewhere. Yes, that could happen with any phone, yes it's a microphone and GPS, yes there's different privacy issues, but I don't want my phone watching me while I use it. You can't prove a negative, so it can't be proven that it isn't doing that. You'll tell me to use Android, and that's fine. But, it doesn't negate that Apple shouldn't have forced FaceID when they could have *EASILY* put a TouchID sensor at the back. Not Samsung positioning, Nexus/LG/Whatever else positioning. Edit: They'll probably do it for the 9, then the 11 won't have it. They wanted it to look like they went to the future to get 2019's phone after they skipped 2018's move of TouchID to the back.
  • TouchID is "stealing" your data just as much as FaceID. I'll say to you what I said to someone else: if you're really that concerned about privacy, you probably shouldn't be using a smartphone at all. Apple care more about privacy than many other companies, so there's that.
  • I don't mean that it is "stealing" data as much as it could be used more evilly at the flip of a switch. Right now you can say "Apple is a privacy focused company", so lets leave them flipping evil, or wanting to target someone who said something bad about Tim Cook. What if there's malware that gets on the iOS. As almost happened with something that 10.3.1 patched for some guy in the UAE. State actors would be able to easily definitively tie your face to your phone. They could say "We know so and so is using this phone, and it's GPS is here". With TouchID they don't know who the fingerprint is for. Just that it was used initially. They can do that now with the facetime camera, but it is not nearly as precise. It could be used for less precise things, just "Oh, we know so and so watched that youtube video of someone who said that thing we don't like". Again, hypothetical, but I still do not see ANY legit reason they didn't include a TouchID sensor where the Apple Logo is. They say you can boil a frog alive if you put it in a pot and gradually raise the temperature, because it won't notice. I'm noticing is all, and there is really no reason not to have both methods. I think Apple does some things great, security patches for most devices and alike is great, but this forced "we know what you want better than you do" isn't fun either. I'll leave you here with the last reply since we won't agree.
  • Unfortunately "we know what you want better than you do" is a common theme with Apple, especially in iOS. I can see why they wouldn't put both in, one of Apple's target audiences is for people who are new to technology, suddenly they're presented with two forms of authentication (three if you count passcode), they'll get confused as for which one to use. Choice is a great thing but as you already know that's not really a common theme on iOS, you get what you're given, but what you're given generally works really well. You're speaking a lot of "ifs" and "buts", I'm pretty sure Apple are trying to capture as little as possible with the Face ID setup, and if it needs to be, it will be sent to Apple and to Apple only. What if there's malware? Well that's always a risk you have to take. The more features you put on a phone, the more dangerous it is if malware infects it, but you don't ask people to stop using a kitchen knife because it has the ability to stab someone because it's in the wrong hands.
  • I personally hate the idea of having a Touch ID sensor on the back of the phone. For one a case now needs a second hole in the back to accommodate it and the Apple logo which cases cut out a hole for already. And I would rather have Touch ID under the display which Apple has patents for and will probably include when the technology works. Face ID is stored in the Secure Enclave just like Touch ID and have so far NOT been broken in to because you can’t not even if you are jail broken. And iOS doesn’t get malware unless your stupid. Those devs in China got Xcode from a non Apple source that had malware bundled with it. That is the devs fault not apples. And apple removed those app updat s as soon as they found out about the malware. Unlike on android which you hear about malware ridden apps frequently. Apple takes security more seriously than any other company. They aren’t going to steal FaceID data. There’s nothing to worry about
  • iOS doesn't get malware unless you're jailbroken, that or you're running some really old version which has a known exploit vulnerability. You can be on the latest iOS and download the most strange looking apps from the app store, but you will never get malware, possibly apps that steal your information (on giving permission, of course) or spam you with notifications (again, on giving permission) but apart from that, nothing more. Face ID is a great advancement in technology in order to unlock the phone, and I hate when people have to put a negative on something which is a positive. Scaremongering and sensationalism
  • https://www.imore.com/apple-has-patched-pegasus-malware-heres-what-you-n... It does get malware. That was the *THEN* current version. I'd heard of this for 10.3 too, hence 10.3.1/2. Scaremongering for the sake of scaremongering is stupid. I am pointing out (scaremongering) that I do not think it is hard for zero day malware to do this. Let alone Apple either being coerced, hiring some rogue employees, or becoming evil enough to do this. They block apps for whatever the PC topic of the week is, Confederate flags were banned yet German WWII flags (can't say the azi word here) aren't. If we don't push back on this, there is nothing to stop them when they finally flip the switch, and go Brave New World and say "We know when you're even looking at bad stuff, so don't do it". The tech is there, I shouldn't have to trust they're not doing it. I already put a lot of trust in them not listening in on the mic, and yes, the whole phone is a spy device, but there are levels I think are a bit overboard, and this is one of them. Short version is, there is no legit reason they can't have both. Someone mentioned the sensor behind the screen, iirc, the rumor was that didn't work well. I doubt Apple would bring that back (except in the 9 then drop it in the 11) because then that's a backstep.
  • The reason was that Face ID supersedes Touch ID, there's nothing much more to it than that. Apple said Face ID is more secure, I believe them but I'm sure tests will be done after release. There will also be several situations where Face ID can be used where Touch ID could not before, for example when doing physical exercise which causes you to sweat and be unable to use Touch ID, if your hands are dirty, if your hands are wet, etc. Sure there will be cases where Face ID doesn't work either, but they will be much far and few.
  • It will work if you have an identical twin. Its just that your identical twin can also unlock your phone. However, if you have an evil identical twin who is willing to fake your identity, you have a lot more to worry about and sort out, than worrying about him/her unlocking your phone.
  • Most likely if you have an identical twin, which most people don't, you're not gonna care all that much, unless like you said they're the child spawn of satan. If Face ID works as good as Apple makes out, then the identical twin issue will quickly be forgotten about
  • Just saw this, yes, it's not a huge number, but it is a backstep for them. http://epc2006.princeton.edu/papers/60568 says it's rising, and up to .4% of births, so .8 percent of the population. Likely able to round up to 1% with triplets and such. Apple is making this harder for 1% of the population intentionally. They are ostensibly saying "You were born wrong, too bad". They're making "single birth privilege" a thing. Yes, it takes an evil twin, but again, fingerprint on the back works. Needs an extra hole in a case, but it works.
  • Fingerprint didn't work well for some people, including myself. It's a step forward for me, whilst it might be a step backward for some other people. I think overall it's better but that's just my opinion. I guess Apple avoided having both Touch ID and Face ID to prevent confusion as for which to use, they just wanted to keep it simple and just have one method of authentication (aside from passcode)