This week on The CultCast: The reviews are in! We’ll tell you what people love and don’t about Apple’s very hot, very new iPhone X. Plus: How to speed up Face ID; and we’ll tell you about the clever new strategy Apple used to build massive hype for the iPhone X launch, and why it really pissed a lot of folks off. And stick around for another episode of What We’re Into, where we reveal the weird and wacky stuff we’ve been doing that you should try too.

We finally have our hands on iPhone X and we couldn’t be more excited! It packs an incredible portrait camera, ditches the home button so it can squeeze and iPhone Plus-sized screen into a regular-sized body, and adds Face ID. Check out our roundup of all Cult of Mac’s iPhone X coverage including tips, tricks and how-tos.

In this week’s issue, you’ll find that story and more. Find out how Apple upended the typical review cycle by giving popular YouTubers early access to the iPhone X. Learn all the new gestures for iPhone X, and check out our roundup of the best wireless charging pads to juice it up. Check out Casetify’s new Stainless Steel Mesh Band for Apple Watch, and find out why it rivals Apple’s overpriced Milanese Loop. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Upgrading to iPhone X means facing a learning curve. Since Apple’s futuristic phone forgoes the familiar home button, iPhone X owners must learn a bunch of gestures.

Apple wants to make the transition as smooth as possible, so the company just uploaded a video to ease the pain of any iPhone X owner shellshocked by all that bright, shiny newness.

Availability of the iPhone X seems to be better than expected. While the phone was predicted to sell out almost instantly, there seems to be a good supply at some Apple stores.

The big flagship store in San Francisco’s Union Square appears to have plenty of phones still in stock, according to Traci Dauphin, my wife, who just left the store.

Thanks to Face ID, the iPhone X knows when its owner is looking at it, and can hide the content of your notifications until you do so. Now, if somebody else picks up your iPhone X and takes a peek at your incoming alerts, it will only see a list of the apps that have notifications for you. The content of the alerts remains hidden until you look at the screen, and Face ID expands the boxes to show you your messages.

The twist is that you can already do something very similar with Touch ID, just by changing one setting.

The iPhone X is almost here. Preorders have been taken, so now it’s time to spend the rest of the week until delivery choosing accessories for your new iPhone X.

Unlike the iPhone 8, which fits perfectly into (most) existing iPhone 7 cases, the iPhone X needs new clothes. Here are the best and/or most interesting iPhone 8 cases so far.

The iPhone X launch has caused massive lines of to form up outside of Apple stores across the globe, but due to limited supply, many are walking away empty handed.

Apple saw unprecedented demand for the iPhone X when it opened pre-orders last week. Shipping times quickly slipped to five to six weeks, causing fans who didn’t pre-order to line up early in hopes of getting the iPhone X.

Two battery cells and a “mystery chip” are some of the surprises under the hood of the iPhone X.

iFixit added the new Apple flagship handset to its teardown database and disassembled one to give users a glimpse of the X’s inner magic.

Using Apple Pay on the iPhone X is a little different than using it on the iPhone 8 and earlier. That’s because Apple Pay on older iPhones uses both the home button, and Touch ID, neither of which feature on the iPhone X. So how do you make an Apple Pay purchase with your new iPhone? It’s easy. Here’s how.

With the iPhone X making its way into customers’ sweaty hands, users can finally start putting the new handset through its paces. First priority? Coming up with a way to beat Face ID, apparently.

One developer claims to have already done it. But don’t get too concerned about any “Face-gate” just yet!

Thanks to the notch eating up a big chunk out of the top of the iPhone X screen, there’s not as much space up there for useful menubar widgets. The clock now sits alone at the top left, displaced by the notch. The cellular, Wi-Fi, and battery icons sit squashed together on the right side. But what about the carrier name? What about the battery percentage? Can they be displayed permanently in the menu bar?

No. But it doesn’t take much to reveal them.

As time goes on, the digital is becoming more and more synonymous with the visual. If you want to work in the digital space at all, it really pays to learn some graphic design or photo editing skills. So that means getting familiar with Adobe’s software.

Stainless steel meticulously weaves its way through the Mesh Band for Apple Watch — Casetify’s answer to the significantly more expensive Milanese Loop by Apple. And, Casetify’s version is just as stylish and functional as the behemoth brand’s band.

For penny-counters, you’ll save from $67 to $117 on Casetify’s silver and black stainless steel mesh bands, respectively, and gain an additional color not offered by Apple: rose gold. I’ve been wearing mine all week and am loving the quality and fit of this sleek metal band.

Casetify designs all its products to be super stylish and functional, and its latest collection of Stainless Steel Bands for Apple Watch is no exception. Check out these new bands in our Watch Store, and read on to learn more.

If you weren’t already excited about today’s iPhone X launch, maybe a bunch of pictures of grinning Apple fans will get you psyched for Apple’s smartphone of the future.

All over the world, the iPhone X party is raging as people pop into Apple stores to pick up their purchases. Check out a selection of the photos below.

Each generation of iPhone has brought with it a camera more amazing than the last. As users ogled over higher resolution, bigger sensors and new computational features, few saw the device’s evolution as more than just the making of a better camera.

But the iPhone X gives the camera a new job description — it’s not just a photography specialist anymore. How iPhone cameras function in the future will have little to do with the photographic image. And the iPhone X previews the innovations to come.

In the latest twist in the Apple versus Qualcomm battle, Qualcomm has sued Apple yet again — this time claiming that it has taken advantage of its access to Qualcomm code to help rival Intel by giving it information about Qualcomm’s technology.

The lawsuit lends credibility to a previous story suggesting that Apple may be planning to drop Qualcomm chips for new iPhones and iPads which will ship in 2018, and replace them chips made by Intel and MediaTek.

Apple’s spectacular quarterly earnings, which had previously seemed like they’d be the calm before the iPhone X storm, have pushed Apple over the $900 billion valuation in pre-market trading, making it the first company in history to do so.

AAPL shares were marked 3.2 percent higher in after-hours trading, indicating a record high opening price of $173.49 for Friday.

iPhone X will be even harder to obtain in San Francisco today. Three thieves stole more than 300 models worth over $370,000 from a UPS truck parked outside an Apple Store. Those who pre-ordered should still get theirs on time.

Apple surprised investors with its best Q4 earnings report ever today. The outrageous numbers dispelled doubts about the iPhone-maker’s strategy — and pushed Apple closer to becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company.

With the launch of the iPhone X just hours away, Apple CEO Tim Cook had a lot to be happy about during the earnings call with investors. Analysts quizzed Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri on everything from iPhone 8 sales to how Apple plans to monetize its augmented reality efforts.

Here’s what we found out:

This time around, we found the first deal on the fifth-generation Apple TV 4K. You’ll also find great prices on older iPhones (and even a stainless steel Apple Watch Series 2) in our roundup of the week’s best Apple Deals.

The iPhone X has no home button. We already know that, but what does it mean when you’re actually using the phone? The home button is the most important button on the iPhone. It wakes it up, gets you to the home screen, activates Apple Pay, invokes Siri, takes a screenshot, and helps you force the phone to reset if everything goes wrong. And that’s just the beginning. The iPhone X replaces the home button with a combination of gestures, and by using other buttons. Some of them you may already use. Others take existing gestures and move them. Let’s take a look at all the new gestures on the iPhone X.

The last Apple earnings report of 2017 is finally here and the results are even better than Wall Street anticipated.

Aided by strong iPhone sales thanks to the launch of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple was able to bring in slightly higher than expected revenues and the company is expecting big things next quarter too.

Apple is set to unveil its last earnings report of 2017, and it’s expected to be one of the company’s biggest Q4 results ever.

Wall Street analysts are eager to see how many iPhones Apple sold during the quarter, which included a few days of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus sales at the end. Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri will be hopping on the call with investors at 2 p.m. Pacific today. Naturally, we’ll be here live-blogging all the action.

Come join the fun:

Fans have begun lining up outside Apple Stores around the world to get their hands on iPhone X. The device makes its official debut tomorrow, and Apple has promised that units will be available for walk-in customers. However, they’re expected to disappear quickly (just like preorders did).

Some lines have already turned chaotic, while latecomers are offering money for precious spots near the front.

Some Apple fans who weren’t expecting to receive their iPhone X until late November are in for a treat. Many customers report that their iPhone X shipping delays are being greatly reduced, with some already on their way.

Meanwhile, one lucky customer got their hands on their preorder iPhone X today.