Apple’s iPhone X, introduced last year, was a critical and commercial success. Pundits praised the device as one of the best-designed iPhone’s ever. And users quickly embraced its new Face ID biometric authentication system–so much for people lamenting the death of Touch ID.
But one of the biggest gripes about the iPhone X was it’s price. The device was insanely expensive for many people–meaning they had no choice to opt for buying older models over the iPhone X.
The good news is this year Apple has unveiled a new iPhone–the iPhone XR–and packed many of the features found in the new iPhone XS line into the XR. So, just what is the XR like? Let’s take a look.
iPhone XR Specs
- Display: 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina display with a 2436x1125-pixel resolution at 458ppi
- Dimensions: 150.9mm x 75.7mm x 8.3mm
- Weight: 194 grams
- Storage: 64, 128, or 256GB
- Processors: A12 Bionic
- Front camera: 7 MP photos and 1080p HD video.
- Rear camera: Single lens 12MP wide-angle camera, optical image stabilisation. 4K video.
- Battery: Up to 13.5 hours battery life mixed usage.
- Other: Face ID, NFC, Wireless charging, 3D Touch; Splash, Water and Dust Resistant
- Color options: Yellow, White, Coral, Black, Blue, and Product Red
Apple’s new iPhone XR is sure to impress a lot of people. That’s mainly due to its price. It’s the cheapest edge-to-edge iPhone Apple has ever made. The new XR also comes in six colors which are infused in the aluminum body and glass enclosure.
Unlike the new iPhone XS series, however, the iPhone XR does NOT have an OLED display. Instead it features an LCD display Apple calls the “Liquid Retina” display. While its colors, blacks, and whites won’t pop as much as on the OLED display of the iPhone XS series, the XR’s display still looks amazing. That being said, the XR also does NOT have a 3D Touch display–something that is helping Apple keep the retail price low.
Besides the display differences, the XR has the same TrueDepth front camera found in the XS series and also offers Face ID. However, the rear camera is still a single lens. Specifically its a 12MP wide angle lens, but it now offers optical image stabilisation.
Inside the device, you’ll find the exact same chipset found in the XS series, however. It features a new A12 Bionic 7nm chip with 6 cores. The CPU is 15% faster and 40% more energy efficient. The GPU now has 4 cores and is 50% faster. Finally, the Neural engine now has 8 cores for machine learning and is almost almost 10 x faster. Apps launch 30% faster on the Max and Machine Learning runs nine times faster on 1/10th the energy.
Announcing the new iPhone XR, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said:
“iPhone XR helps us reach even more people with the latest iPhone innovations. It is packed with the newest technologies including a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display that goes edge to edge, the latest TrueDepth camera with faster Face ID authentication, new 7-nanometer A12 Bionic chip with second generation Neural Engine and a 12-megapixel camera that takes advanced Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting photos. The new iPhone XR has a gorgeous new aerospace-grade aluminum and glass enclosure that has IP67 protection from liquids and dust, long all-day battery life and comes in six beautiful finishes. iPhone XR makes it possible for even more people to have the great experience of the latest iPhone X technology, in beautiful new designs, at a more affordable price.”
The iPhone XR will be available in late October and cost £749 (64GB), £799 (128GB), or £899 (256GB).
