iPhone X release date: Apple's new futuristic handset won't be available for months, company confirms

You might not be able to get hold of it on launch day, either

Apple's new iPhone X won't be available for months, the company has confirmed. And even then it might be very difficult to get.

The company announced the futuristic new handset at an event that also the launch of the less premium iPhone 8, an Apple TV and a new Apple Watch. But the premium phone took the limelight, being introduced at the end of the announcement.

And at the very end of that, Apple announced that the iPhone won't be released until the beginning of November. Even then, supply is expected to be constrained and so it might not be possible to get hold of the new handset until the new year.

Pre-orders for the phone will open on 27 October, Apple said. Then they'll actually hit the shelves on 3 November.

The new phone will cost 999 of your local currency, if you live somewhere that uses dollars, pounds or euros. It will also be possible to buy through the Apple upgrade programme, which will involve monthly payments of £56.45, Apple said.

To justify that wait and that money, Apple has packed out the new phone with features including facial recognition and a screen that goes over the entire front of the phone. It describes the phone as the handset of the future, and claims that it will decide the direction of smartphones for the next 10 years.

It's thought that the new design and those features are behind the wait for the phone. Unlike the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus – which use the basic design of the iPhone 7, which Apple has really been perfecting through the 6 and 6s – the X model uses an entirely new design and so production will be slower to start up.