The launch of the iPhone X has been greeted by large crowds outside Apple’s Regent Street store, with Marco Pierre White Jr among the early customers.
The reality TV star and son of the famous chef was in the group at the front of the queue for the new device, having camped out overnight to reserve his place in the line.
Marco Pierre White Jr holds his new iPhone X outside the Apple Store on Regent Street, London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
The new phone contains facial recognition technology for the first time and is also the first iPhone to house an edge-to-edge screen.
With prices starting at £999, it is also the most expensive iPhone ever.
Marco Pierre White Jr, front right, joins people queuing outside the Apple Store (Martyn Landi/PA)
Industry experts had predicted large queues for the launch, after the iPhone 8 – released in September – was met with a muted response.
Smartphone expert Ernest Doku, from uSwitch.com, said many consumers had chosen to wait for the X as they saw it as the “main event” phone.
White said he was buying devices for himself and a friend.
Labelled the “future” of the iPhone by Apple boss Tim Cook, the iPhone X uses FaceID facial recognition to unlock the device, doing away with the Home button and Touch ID fingerprint sensor of previous iPhone handsets.
(PA Graphics)
The launch comes in the wake of strong quarterly financial results on Thursday night, with Apple also predicting revenue in the next quarter of more than 80 billion dollars (£61.3 billion), a suggestion that the company is confident of strong sales.
Hundreds queued overnight to ensure they were among the first to buy the device, including White, amid reports of limited early stock being available in the first days of sale.
People enter the Apple Store on Regent Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Last year, former Celebrity Big Brother contestant White admitted in court to racking up thousands of pounds on a ex-girlfriend’s bank card, which the court was told included a visit to an Apple Store and paying for an Uber.
Many other customers who pre-ordered the iPhone X had been given delivery dates up to six weeks away, after the initial stock sold out in minutes when pre-orders began on October 27.
A man uses the facial recognition feature on an iPhone X in the Apple Store on Regent Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Large queues were reported outside Apple retail stores globally, including in Australia and China.
Tweeting early on Friday morning, Apple chief executive Mr Cook thanked customers who were “turning out around the world” to buy the new phone.