On iPhone's 10th Anniversary, Apple Has A Go At A Big Redesign

By Alina Selyukh

Published September 11, 2017 at 12:32 PM CDT

Back in 2007, the hype around Apple's new phone was all about the keyboard 鈥� or lack thereof.

"In fact, some experts think the days of the telephone keypad are numbered," NPR's Laura Sydell of the release of the very first iPhone by Steve Jobs. It's fair to say, the forecast triumph of the on-screen keyboard has proved true ().

This year, the iPhone turns 10. On Tuesday, Apple will unveil the latest iteration 鈥� and this time, watchers are raising a similar question about the password: Are the days of the phone passcode numbered?

Apple's anniversary smartphone, expected to be called the , is anticipated to include a facial-recognition technology that would unlock the phone by scanning and recognizing the user's face. This is expected to replace the Touch ID feature on the latest phones that unlocks the devices by scanning users' fingerprints.

The face-scanning technology would be one of several hyped elements of the iPhone X, slated to be Apple's fanciest handheld yet, potentially priced . (This comes on the heels of Samsung's release of the Galaxy Note 8 $960.)

Its release is an important mile marker for the company. Apple made its name as a design visionary and a bold innovator (think ) and now faces increased pressure to continue to revolutionize the device and make money selling it.

Judging by , iPhone X is likely to represent the first major redesign of an iPhone in several years. It's expected to expand the screen to the furthest edges of the device and, most notably, do away with the home button.

The home button has marked the bottom of the iPhone screen since the very beginning. Experts say will be the biggest change of the iPhone. Instead of having this designated button, the iPhone X is expected to follow suit of Android and other devices that rely on an on-screen bar to switch between apps.

In his rapid-response "," Wired writer David Pierce calls the move a "remarkable statement of confidence" by Apple, which assumes that users are comfortable enough navigating the iPhone to be taught a whole new behavior. And yet, he writes:

And Apple might be hedging its bets as well. On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to present the overhauled iPhone X alongside two other, more familiar-looking devices, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. These would represent more traditional upgrades on the current 7th generation.