Preparing For iPhone X: 5 Things Mobile Marketers Need To Know
On September 12th, Apple held a long-awaited event revealing their latest versions of iPhones, including the one to rule them all – the iPhone X. With every new iPhone release, marketers encounter fresh challenges and opportunities in the wake of the latest innovations and features transforming how consumers use their phones. The iPhone X presents the most number of updates an iPhone has ever seen, but gives marketers only a few weeks to prepare for the October 27th pre-order.
Here are 5 aspects of the iPhone X you need to know to keep your brand on top of the shifting mobile marketing landscape.
Augmented Reality
A11 Bionic, “the most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone” according to Apple, makes it likely that producing augmented reality content will be cheaper and easier than ever before. With this chip, designed specifically for AR apps, immersive 3D games and machine learning, the traditional brick and mortar platform is tested; now consumers are able to become immersed in an experience, store, etc. without ever leaving their home. No matter what type of marketer you are, if your brand is on mobile, you should begin to understand how your brand could integrate this AR technology with its consumers.
Photo and Video
The iPhone X has redesigned the previous rear-camera, now a duel 12-megapixel system, complete with a new color filter, deeper pixels, and an improved processor, promising to deliver overall better photos. Additionally, the new camera delivers “the highest quality video capture ever in a phone”, shooting 4K video up to 60fps and 1080 slo-mo up to 240fps. Marketers should focus their attention on this updated camera feature. Having the ability to operate quality photos and videos on smartphones can improve and legitimize brands’ online efforts, in addition to driving mobile engagement with consumers, offering to share contributing user generated content.
QR Codes
Upon release years ago, QR codes seemed to be revolutionary for marketers, but quickly became obsolete when users were prompted to download outside apps or an extension of sort, overall not being intuitive enough. Now, Apple aims to bring back the use of QR codes with the ease of the iPhone X; with iOS 11, QR codes can be scanned directly from the camera. Integrating this feature into users’ phones allow scanning the best experience QR codes have yet to offer; for marketers that may benefit from them, you may want to look into the returning codes.
Display
Perhaps one of the biggest changes in recent years is the iPhone ‘s display screen. Gone is the home button, making the largest screen in iPhone’s 10-year history possible. Though the width of the iPhone X’s display stays consistent with iPhones 6-8’s 4.7” display, the new phones’ 5.8” height gives 20 percent additional vertical space for content, according to Apple. The screen itself, dubbed a Super Retina Display, allows users the most advanced photo and video experience. Take advantage of the iPhone X’s photo and video quality and features and strive to create quality content that your consumers can engage with, and view from their high quality screens. Make sure you view Apple’s iPhone X overview for specific guidelines to ensure the best outcomes for your specific content.
Mobile Payments
Apple Pay has been letting users make payments using an iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac since 2014, but with iOS 11, Apple is looking to further advance the usage of their payment option. To add an additional layer of security, the iPhone X uses facial recognition to help ensure users that mobile payments are just as safe as traditional methods. By using a state-of-the-art TrueDepth camera system, Apple promises protection of privacy. If more users become keen to this payment option, mobile marketers may be in luck. With a larger number of people more willing to use their phone as a method of pay, perhaps they’ll be more willing to make online purchases straight from their smartphones.
Every new piece of technology, device and update brings new challenges to marketers, but how they’re used is entirely different across platforms. The iPhone X presents all marketers with opportunities to utilize the features to revolutionize brands. While there are many changes that may take time getting adjusted to, on both the brand and consumer ends, now, more than ever, mobile marketers should take a deep look into their brand and understand how these functionalities can take them to the next level.
Cara Vedral is a senior advertising student at Temple University and marketing associate at Flackable, a national public relations and digital marketing agency. Follow Cara on Twitter. Connect with Cara on LinkedIn.
