Reviewers considered the phones a modest upgrade over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but several suggested waiting for the iPhone X.
Reviews of the newest iPhones, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, landed across the internet on Tuesday, with most major reviewers agreeing that they represent a modest improvement over the previous generation but remain overshadowed by the looming iPhone X.
Technology reviewers were able to test out the iPhone 8, which will begin shipping Friday, but have not yet spent much time with the iPhone X, which won’t be available until November but packs a significantly changed design and more features. Most reviewers were hesitant to offer a full-throated endorsement of the phones, except for those who know they won’t be spending $1,000 for the iPhone X (pronounced ten).
Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times said the phones “represent Apple’s platonic ideal of that first iPhone, an ultimate refinement before eternal retirement.”
At Time, Lisa Eadicicco wrote that the improvements meant anyone who doesn’t want to invest in the high-end X model will now have several options, and not everyone will need to spend the money to upgrade at all.
Several reviewers said the phones were stuck in the shadow of the iPhone X. Nilay Patel of The Verge said the phones were “not the future, and it’s not the cutting edge. It’s just the default.”
So what’s actually new? The most commonly cited improvements included the camera, wireless charging and augmented reality abilities.
Nicole Nguyen of BuzzFeed News wrote that the new iPhones had better cameras than the 7 and 7 Plus, but that the differences in images could be hard to spot.
David Pogue of Yahoo Finance said the wireless charging would be a feature iPhone owners would quickly grow to appreciate.
At CNN, Heather Kelly was impressed by the augmented reality potential.
As for battery life, Hayley Tsukayama of The Washington Post wrote that the phones would be sufficient for a typical day of use.
The processing power impressed reviewers, but some, including Geoffrey A. Fowler of The Wall Street Journal, questioned how much you would actually benefit from the technological feat.
Some reviewers criticized the design, which is largely unchanged in major ways from previous years. The biggest change was an all-glass back, which Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch said was a “love-it-or-hate-it” feature that he loved.
Chris Velazco at Engadget called the new models “familiar-looking phones that mostly operate the way people expect them to.”
Does it all add up to a device worth buying? Some, like Steve Kovach at Business Insider, felt the looming presence of the iPhone X made that less than certain.
