iPhone 8, 8 Plus pre-order service goes live on Apple Store; all you need to know

As promised, Apple has commenced taking pre-orders for iPhone 8, 8 Plus series in select global countries.

Prospective consumers can order iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus beginning Friday, with shipping slated to begin on September 22, in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, the US and US Virgin Islands.

In US, unlocked Apple iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus prices range from $699 to $949. If interested to buy through carrier contracts, you can grab them for as low as $34.50 and $39.50 monthly payment, respectively. Or else, you can go for an upgrade program and get instant cash discount at Apple Store.

Official global price (unlocked) details of Apple iPhone X and iPhone 8 series:

When will Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus come to India?

The company has confirmed that the new iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone 8 will be launched in India on September 29 as part of the second phase of the global release schedule, which also include Andorra, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Whereas, the special iPhone X is slated to go on pre-order on October 27 and hit stores in global markets, including India, on November 3.

Apple iPhone 8: Should you Buy?

The new Apple iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus are very uninspiring, as they look pretty much same as their predecessors iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, respectively. But, come with moderate incremental hardware upgrades.

Key improvements is that the incorporation of the glass design, which makes the device look glossy and this can in turn to be a problem, as there are chances of the devices getting finger-print smudges, provided it has oleophobic coating, which the company has not confirmed so far.

Another notable aspect is that iPhone 8 Plus' dual camera supports AR (Augmented Reality). Each camera is individually calibrated with new gyroscopes and accelerometers for accurate motion tracking. AR benefits from new A11 Bionic handles world tracking, scene recognition and incredible graphics at 60fps, while the image signal processor does real-time lighting estimation. Apple iPhone 8 Plus' front camera will get new Portrait Lighting mode support via software update before the end of 2017.

Apple also finally incorporated the much need wireless charging capabilities in both iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone 8 and they also support fast charging, which according to the company, can charge the devices up to 50% within 30 minutes. [Full specs see below]

Apple iPhone X: is it worth the hype?

Apple's overly hyped anniversary iPhone X is not the greatest handset, contrary to what company claims it to be. It borrows several features such as bezel-less display, Face recognition, wireless-and-fast charging capability, AR support from Android phones, but the capabilities are much superior.

For instance, the Face ID; it makes use of the advanced TrueDepth camera system that makes use of IR laser sensor, Flood Illuminator (helps identify face even when its dark out), Dot Projector (30,000 invisible dots are projected onto the users face to build your unique facial map) and 7MP FaceTime snapper to accurately identify the owners face in 3D. It is much superior to any other face recognition technology seen in current flagship phones, as it has the ability to detect fake 2D photos and it is intuitive enough to learn subtle changes in the owners face over time and still be able accurately identify. This really sets new benchmark in biometric security technology. More on the key features of the iPhone X will be presented to you soon.

As far as the hardware is concerned, Apple iPhone X sports 5.8-inch (diagonally) OLED Super Retina display (2436x1125p) having 458 ppi (pixels per inch).

Under-the-hood, it houses new A11 Bionic processor with neural engine, M11 coprocessor, iOS 11, 64GB/256GB storage and bigger battery (2 hours more compared to the iPhone 7).

Key specifications of Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8: