Apple and Qualcomm’s Billion-Dollar War Over an $18 Part

IPhone season, that extravaganza of novelty and surprise, began in mid-September with a two-hour-long presentation at Apple Inc.’s brand-new, spaceshiplike campus. Amid oohs, ahs, and an embarrassing number of standing ovations, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook introduced two phones. The iPhone 8, an updated version of the current model, is already out in the wild. True Apple devotees are holding out for the iPhone X, the 10th anniversary edition, which will cost $1,000 and go on sale in early November. “This really is the future,” Cook said.

The iPhone X—which will boast a full-screen display and facial recognition capabilities and is made out of a “special Apple-designed alloy that’s both durable and more pure,” according to marketing materials—is almost certain to be a hit. There will be block-length lines in front of Apple Stores, moody TV spots, and ecstatic unboxing videos. By Christmas, 75 million or so people will have bought new versions of a device that, before any of this pomp and circumstance, was already the most successful consumer product of all time.