Michael Grothaus

Apple’s phablets face off!

Apple is a phablet phone company now. This September Apple introduced three new iPhones, all with screens 5.8in or larger. The biggest of which, the iPhone XS Max goes to 6.5in. And then there is the new iPhone XR, which has a 6.1in display.

But Apple has kept some of its previous phablets on sale too. Apple entry-level phablet is now the two-year-old iPhone 7 Plus. So just how does this low-cost phablet stack up against Apple’s newest, phablet, the iPhone XR? Let’s take a look.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 7 Plus: Specs

Here are the specs for the iPhone XR:

  • Display: 6.1in 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, IP67 waterproof

And here’s the specs for the iPhone 7 Plus:

  • Display: 5.5in Retina HD LCD display with 1920x1080 resolution at 401ppi
  • Dimensions: 158.2mm x 77.9 mm x 7.3 mm
  • Weight: 188 grams
  • Storage: 32 or 128GB
  • Processors: A10 Fusion chip
  • Front camera: 7 MP
  • Rear camera: 12 MP Dual Lens telephoto and wide-angle, optical image stabilisation
  • Battery: Up to 12.5 hours battery life mixed usage.
  • Other: Touch ID, NFC, 3D Touch, IP67 waterproof

iPhone XR vs iPhone 7 Plus: Display & Design

The iPhone XR features an edge-to-edge display that is 6.1in and has a 2436x1125-pixel resolution at 458ppi. The iPhone 7 Plus features a 5.5in display with bezels that has a 1920x1080 resolution at 401ppi. Without a doubt, the iPhone XR’s display wins the day here-well, almost.

By many aspects, the XR beats the 7 Plus: it has a larger display with a higher resolution, a higher pixel density, and is edge-to-edge. But not so fast, the iPhone 7 Plus beats the XR in one display aspect: the XR lacks 3D Touch, which the iPhone 7 Plus has. If you were never a fan of 3D Touch, that won’t matter much. But if you like the feature you’ll be disappointed it’s not in the XR.

The other obvious difference is that the iPhone XR lacks a Home button. It jettisons it in favor of a gesture-based Home control. The iPhone 7 Plus still has the Home button we all know and love. This means the iPhone 7 Plus also still has Touch ID. The iPhone XR lacks Touch ID and replaces it with Apple’s new Face ID facial recognition system.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 7 Plus: CPU, Battery, and Storage

The iPhone XR has just a slightly larger battery than the iPhone 7 Plus. Will you see any difference because of it? Not much. Matter of fact, as you can see from the battery life specs below, each device is very similar. Here’s how the battery life compares between the two in Talk Time, Standby Time, Internet Use, Video Playback, and Audio Playback:

  • Talk time: iPhone XR – 25 hours. iPhone 7 Plus – 21 hours.
  • Internet use: iPhone XR – Up to 15 hours. iPhone 7 Plus – Up to 13 hours.
  • Video playback: iPhone XR – Up to 16 hours. iPhone 7 Plus – Up to 14 hours.
  • Audio playback: iPhone XR – Up to 65 hours. iPhone 7 Plus – Up to 60 hours.

But the XR does stand out in one respect: it features wireless charging, where the 7 Plus does not.

As far s the CPU is concerned, the XR destroys the 7 Plus. It features the A12 Bionic chipset versus the iPhone 7 Plus’ A10 Fusion. The A12 is a 7nm chip with 6 cores. The CPU is almost twice as fast as the A10. You also have more storage options with the XR: 64, 128, or 256GB. That’s versus the iPhone 7 Plus’ 32 or 128GB storage options.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 7 Plus: Camera

When you get to the camera department, the two phones differ wildly. On the front camera, both phones feature the same 7MP sensor, but the front camera on the iPhone XR is a TrueDepth system that supports Face ID. It also supports advanced photo features like portrait photography.

But things are radically different when it comes to the rear camera. The iPhone 7 Plus features a dual lens 12MP system with wide-angle and telephoto cameras, optical image stabilisation, 2x optical zoom, and 4K video recording.

On the other hand, the rear camera system on the XR is only a single-lens 12MP wide angle camera. It does feature optical image stabilisation and 4K video recording, as with the iPhone 7 Plus, but lacks the 2x optical zoom.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 7 Plus: Cost & Verdict

Unlocked the 5.5in iPhone 7 Plus will cost £569 (32GB) and £669 (128GB). The 6.1in iPhone XR will cost £749 (64GB) and £799 (128GB) and £899 (256GB). That premium for the iPhone XR does get you a bigger display and a sexy new design, but you also lose out on the dual lens camera system of the iPhone 7 Plus. Which you get will ultimately depend on if the camera is more important to you, or the bigger display is.