Would you stand in line to buy an iPhone 8? Me neither.

When Apple unveiled the iPhone X (overshadowing the iPhone 8 release back in October), it generated huge buzz in the Twittersphere. Both models have wireless charging, a super retina OLED display and doing away with the home button in favour of an edge-to-edge screen. However, it was one feature that got people out of their seats – Face ID.

The iPhone X has features like the ARKit as an augmented reality platform for developers to create their own experiences (as part of the iOS 11 release). It also has true tone colour display that provides an unprecedented level of detail for images and Animojis that mimic your facial features.

Your smartphone is the most personal device and we’re not only extremely protective of it in fear of losing it. But also picky when it comes to what’s on it. So, marketers need to walk a fine line between personalization and being intrusive.

The iPhone X is undeniably the most technologically advanced device in Apple’s history. Likely to make the Silicon Valley heavyweight the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, surpassing Samsung. However, it does come with new challenges for marketers.

To help you create engaging campaigns by utilizing the full capability of Apple’s marquee device, here are all ways the iPhone X is bringing us into a new era of mobile marketing:

Face ID Technology

The most revolutionary new feature in the iPhone X. The facial recognition system uses a TrueDepth front-facing camera that creates a 3D map of your face to unlock your device, replacing fingerprint identification on the home button — which has also been removed.

There are also 12 Animojis let you send voice messages through an animated pig, robot, and even the poop emoji. This is done through the Face ID facial recognition system that uses a TrueDepth front-facing camera system and can track 50-plus facial motions.

This great for marketers because it’s said that 90% of human communication is nonverbal. This means the wealth of data that can now be compiled using TrueDepth is invaluable for market insights. Beyond using emojis to show how someone feels through text, facial recognition can tell the real story of how people feel about a piece of content or a brand through real-time analytics then optimize dynamically with marketing automation.

There will inevitably be pitfalls. However, there will also be many scenarios where consumers are willing to share their true feelings through facial expressions for the convenience, personalization, and rewards they’d be provided in return such as improved user experience.

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What You Need to Know about Animoji

The same 7-megapixel TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID enables a new feature called “Animoji.”

Apple is elevating augmented reality to a whole new level and marketers should take notice of the opportunities that Animoji presents for highly engaging campaigns.

“Augmented reality mobile content will go beyond gaming, as we have seen before and offers new ways to visualize content and personalize mobile experiences, expanding to industries such as retail, sports, and entertainment,” said Roman Taranov, CEO of RGK Mobile. “Advertising will follow suit, taking on new formats and offering an immersive user experience.”

Animoji is an especially useful tool for engaging teens and millennials. That’s because young people are moving away from texting towards a broader medium of “messaging” – most notably Snapchat.

The iPhone X Notch is Annoying

Most would agree an obstructing notch on an otherwise elegant device is an odd design choice.

Not only does it cut off part of the screen in videos, but can also disrupt app functionality. It has generated a lot of backlash online ever since the first leak of the iPhone X’s design, with some saying “Steve Jobs would never let that happen.” It’s a compromise on design, but fortunately, video and photo display will automatically add a top bezel and require a double tap to go edge-to-edge.

The notch was included to accommodate Face ID and the front-facing camera (with Portrait mode). This is likely to be resolved in future iPhone models, however for marketers and developers in 2017, it’s an obstacle.

Some developers have already created rough examples of content flowing around the notch, but Apple’s own developer guidelines appear to forbid it:

“Don’t mask or call special attention to key display features. Don’t attempt to hide the device’s rounded corners, sensor housing, or indicator for accessing the Home screen by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Don’t use visual adornments like brackets, bezels, shapes, or instructional text to call special attention to these areas either.”

It seems developers will have to work around the notch, rather than avoiding it when creating iOS apps.

Introducing the ARKit

For years, augmented reality was far too expensive and its technology was not all that appealing. This changed on Sept. 12 with the release of iOS 11. Apple’s latest software update included the ARKit’s addition to the App Store. A platform for developers to build AR apps and add AR to their existing apps.

Major brands have already jumped onboard with AR. Most notably is “IKEA Place,” developed by the Swedish furniture company back in 2013 to allow users to render furniture in their living room before buying. It works by first scanning the room, then gives an accurate gauge on the size of the space before browsing a catalog of 2,000 pieces of IKEA furniture.

IKEA was quite ingenious really in recognizing the opportunity that AR. Especially for retailers by saving a prospective customer from visiting a store location as well as reducing returns for furniture that was the wrong size/style. They were also well before its time because other furniture chains are having to catch up four years later.

What is True Tone Display?

Although “True Tone” was first introduced on the iPad Pro, Apple announced that it would be adding the colour enhancing feature to all 2017 iPhones. It works as a white-balance-compensating system that determines the right percentage, intensity, and temperature for display. True Tone is also the technology that switches your phone to “Night Mode” at a set time with warm light that helps you fall asleep.

For marketers, True Tone gives you the freedom to expand your colour scheme. This means you can finally design landing pages, logos, and emails with hues and saturation that are always on-brand.

Mobile marketing can no longer be an afterthought for brands. More than half of all users are on mobile devices so meeting prospects and leads where they are is crucial. One of the most powerful tools for engagement is email – especially email on mobile. That’s why your marketing strategy must incorporate mobile and email holistically. Download the Neil Patel Guide to Email Marketing to optimize your campaigns to increase opens, click-throughs, and conversion:

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