Apple’s iPhone XR is one of the most fascinating products I’ve seen from the company in quite a while. Being behind the iPhone XS and XS Max, you would think the XR would be a modest device, designed for people that want a less expensive iPhone and are willing to accept massive compromises. In my experience, it’s a full-featured phone packed with quality and few compromises.
My biggest question to Apple about the iPhone XR was “why?” The company had the opportunity to release an inexpensive iPhone and then hamstring its users by not putting in any, or few, high-end components. With the lower price, I’m pretty sure the XR still would have still sold well, but Apple went the exact opposite way.
If you look at the three iPhones released earlier this year, it’s clear that there is a model for everyone. I personally love the size and features of the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max. For someone that likes a little smaller iPhone, the XS has all of the same features but comes with a 5.8-inch screen.
Instead of falling behind the XS in size, the iPhone XR actually slides between those two devices with a 6.1-inch screen. So, you get a larger screen at a lower price. This is where Apple did some fancy work.
Apple calls the XR screen a Liquid Retina HD display. It’s the largest LCD display the company has ever put in an iPhone, and it took years for them to perfect. That display is a step down from the Super Retina HD display found in the other two iPhone models, but I don’t believe it’s something the average user is going to notice.
The XR also comes with a 12MP camera and a 7MP TrueDepth camera. Both of these cameras take stunning pictures in every situation that I tried them in. These are the same cameras in the two higher-end models, except they don’t have the wide-angle and telephoto cameras on the 12MP.
Again, looking at the prices, I don’t know how many regular iPhone users are going to notice a huge difference when taking a regular picture.
All three iPhone models feature the A12 Bionic chip, Face ID, and other features like wireless charging. They also come with True Tone display and wide color display.
One of the features I expect to be really popular among iPhone XR buyers is the color options. It comes in Blue, White, Black, Yellow, Coral, and Product Red. Let’s face it, people like to make a statement with the iPhones, and the XR lets them do that right off the shelf.
To be clear, I’m not saying that professional users out there won’t notice some differences in the display and the rear-facing camera—you probably will. However, the pros have probably already made up their mind to buy one of the higher-end devices anyway.
The iPhone XR is made for people who want to enter the Apple ecosystem and buy a less expensive device, but not feel like they are making a massive compromise in technology by doing it.
As I said in the beginning, Apple had a chance to make an entry-level iPhone with less advanced technology than they did with the iPhone XR. They decided to put out a device with some trade-offs that is packed with features that most users are going to enjoy thoroughly.
For the price, I don’t see how you can go wrong with the iPhone XR.
As someone who bought the XS Max… I think Apple needs to narrow the price gap, widen the feature gap or some combination. Because frankly, I feel a little ripped off. Now, yes, it was my decision, I’m an adult etc. And I do like the XS. But it’s a BIG price jump for comparatively little. The 8/8+ to X jump provided the X buyer some pretty significant new things the 8 series simply didn’t have, e.g. Face ID, etc. The Xr to XS jump… doesn’t, really.
Yeah, at this point I don’t know if I’d buy an XS (/Max) or an XR. The XR is good enough for me. I don’t need the best screen on my phone, and the required premium for the super-expensive screen on the XS is worth it.
I have an X now, and bought it with 64GB, because I couldn’t bear to spend more than $1,000 on a phone. Turns out iCloud means that 64GB is perfectly fine.
I hear you on this. I’m in the market for an upgrade, and I had been set on the Xs Max because of the dual cameras, OLED, and Force Touch support (I actually have started using Force Touch more regularly of late with my current phone). The tele camera in particular was REALLY important to me since at the time I had no dedicated camera, and add-on lenses are less than optimal.
Then I got a dedicated camera as a surprise gift, and the whole calculus has changed. I still *want* the larger screen for maximum viewing space (and my aging eyes to have bigger text to read), the OLED screen for visibility in bright sunlight, and Force Touch for those places I use it that aren’t supported by Haptic Touch. And the difference in monthly payment isn’t outrageous. But as a total cost, I really wonder if I should just save the money and sacrifice those few features.
I disagree about there being an iPhone model for everyone in the lineup. Some of us prefer a smaller form factor.
I would gladly pay $1500 for an iPhone SE sized version of the XR, but I’m not buying one of these supersized monstrosities.
I came from a 6S Plus, so the extra $$ isn’t a huge deal spread over 24 payments. It’s just that as I read about the XR it feels like there’s not $350 worth of difference.
Honestly, i wouldn’t expect any compromises or a modest model for €849. That’s just lowering expectations to sweet-talk an already high price. Sure, it won‘t use the same premium materials as the €1150 uber-luxury model (not surprising coming from a company that sometimes charges more just for different colors – remember $100 premium black macbook) but apart from that I should get a damn highest-end phone for that kind of money. Like with the watch – I‘m perfectly happy with alluminium as long as i get the same features. (even then, I won‘t get the nice camera, as much RAM and force touch – although pressing down on a hard surface still feels uncomfortable to me – in the xr. seems like a marketing decision to differentiate the xs. OLED counts as „premium material“ for me, an i probably even prefer the color accuracy of an IPS-LCD)
Personally, I bit the bullet and bought a new iphone 8 instead. Not very exciting, and still designed a little too big for normal sized hands and even still quite expensive for that boring, overly complex but still hampered thing that ios has become. But what can you do when you prefer the nicieties of the apple eco-system?
I’m getting my XR this week. Coming from a 6 (that I bought new when it came out 4 years ago) I should be in for quite a spectacular upgrade. I honestly thought I would never be buying the latest iPhone again since I simply can’t justify the price for me personally, but the XR was a nice surprise.
I hope you are. I went from a 5s to an 8 and it‘s almost the same. The home-button does not click as nice as on the 5s, there‘s no headphone-jack (i hardly miss it), it‘s a little awkward to reach for the top of the screen with your thumb and the camera is supposed to be better (it is, but not that drastically). Apart from apps launching faster, the battery lasting a little longer, and the device taking up more space in my trousers pocket, it hasn‘t really been a change. 4 to 5s was more noticeable.
I wouldn’t call the XS a “smaller iPhone”. I haven’t upgraded from my 6S because I already find it too large in my hand and jeans pocket. I miss the 5 / 5S / SE form factor, and would upgrade in a heartbeat if they updated it with a modern cpu and cameras, and I know I’m not alone.