Pre-orders for the iPhone XR are now open and, provided you haven’t already bought an iPhone XS, there’s a very good argument for getting an XR instead. And if you're considering which new phone to buy right now, take the time to read our guide to the best phones and our dedicated guide to the best Android phones.
The iPhone XR has the best battery life
According to Apple, the iPhone XR has the best battery life of any current iPhone. Apple quotes 25 hours of talk time for the iPhone XR; five more than the XS. Internet use is 15 hours, that’s three hours longer, and you’ll get 65 hours of audio listening – a further five hours more than the XS. Best of all, Apple quotes 16 hours of video on the iPhone XR, which is an hour more than XS Max and two hours more than the XS.
Like the other two, the XR supports wireless charging and can fast charge to 50 per cent in just 30 minutes. And, if you’re coming from the iPhone 8 Plus, Apple says the XR will last up to 1.5 hours longer.
Now, these are Apple's numbers, so require a little more scrutiny, but the company's estimates are typically reliable and clearly it knows the iPhone XR is the best of the bunch where battery life is concerned. Apple's claims are also supported by information filed with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (TENAA), reported by MacRumors, which confirm the iPhone XR has a 10 per cent larger battery than the iPhone XS.
Neil Shah, partner and research director on IoT, mobile and ecosystems at Counterpoint, offers some possible explanation for the XR's apparent battery performance bump: "First of all iPhone XR has a 12 per cent larger battery than XS, which justifies better battery life than XS. But when compared to XS Max, the major difference here is the relatively lower resolution on XR (326ppi – almost same as iPhone 8 and less than iPhone 8 Plus) compared to resolution of XS/XS Max (458ppi), which is where Apple manages to squeeze more juice out of XR."
It’s just as fast
If you care about performance, rest assured the iPhone XR is just as fast as the iPhone XS, and faster than the X. It shares the same Apple A12 Bionic power-efficient processor, which contains the same graphics chip for games and the second generation Neural Engine for the various machine learning tricks baked into iOS these days.
The only caveat here is the iPhone XR has just 3GB of memory, compared to 4GB in the iPhone XS – again, confirmed via Apple's filing to TENAA. This shouldn't be a huge worry, though. Last year's iPhone X also had 3GB of memory, so this isn't a significant downgrade.
It has a top-class camera
Is the iPhone XS the best camera phone on the market? We’ll save that argument for another time, but it’s certainly right up there, and the iPhone XR has the same 12MP, f/1.8 rear camera as the XS. It has optical image stabilisation and supports Apple’s Smart HDR photo mode, too. The front-facing camera is identical.
The only difference is the iPhone XR has just one rear camera, so it lacks the 2x optical zoom of the XS models. This means the XS should take better portrait photos with a nicely blurred background, but the XR still has a portrait mode. Apple says its employed an algorithm to create effective blurred backgrounds with a single camera and, given Google already does this to great effect on both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3, it’s clear you can still get results with a single camera.
The choice of colours is better
There’s no gold version of the iPhone XR, but that’s no great loss because when you get a choice of six colours. In addition to the usual white and black options, there’s blue, yellow, coral and the Product Red edition. They’re a lot more fun – the blue and yellow versions stand out – so you won’t be just another person who owns a monochrome iPhone.
You get Apple’s 'best ever LCD screen'
The lack of an OLED screen on the XR in favour an LCD screen is its most obvious downside. OLED screens are lovely, and the one on the iPhone XS is excellent. OLEDs deliver richer colours and infinite blacks, which lends videos and photos a sense of depth and realism that’s hard to match on an LCD. But, as LCDs go, the iPhone XS is no slouch. It’s just as bright as the OLED in the iPhone XS – Apple quotes a maximum 625 nits – and it’s no less sharp or colourful than previous iPhone displays. Apple claims it’s the "best ever" LCD in an iPhone, which it will have to be if it is to compete with the screens sported by its current generation siblings.
It’s so much cheaper
The final, most obvious, reason is how much you’ll save from buying an iPhone XR. What you lose in sacrificing a camera and the OLED screen you get back in some serious savings.
For those buying SIM-free, a standard 64GB iPhone XR is £749 – a whopping £250 less than a 64GB iPhone XS. You can double that storage for just £50, which is surprisingly reasonable by Apple standards. And, unbelievably, a 256GB iPhone XR is till £100 less than a 64GB iPhone XS – that’s four times as much storage while still saving money.
The comparisons to the iPhone XS Max are even more extreme. The 64GB iPhone XR is £350 less than a 64GB XS Max and it’s the same saving between the 256GB versions. With its 6.1in screen, the iPhone XR can still be considered a ‘big’ phone like the Max, but it’s much cheaper and even has better battery life – an hour more of video playback, according to Apple.
Neil Shah adds: "For users upgrading from 6, 6s or 7, this should be a tremendous upgrade with bigger full view display, better optimised software and, above all, battery life. XR should be a runaway hit with potential to ship a record 100 million units over next 12 months, and would be preferred by those Apple users who still would like to upgrade to a bigger screen but relatively cheaper iPhone model."
Inevitably, the savings will be even greater on contracts where expensive monthly plans add up over time, and these savings seemingly seal this argument. If you’re out to buy an iPhone, the XR offers 95 per cent of what the XS models do at a significant saving. That doesn’t make the iPhone XS and XS Max unwise choices – they are fantastic phones if you have the money. But for anyone who wants a great iPhone and can stomach a few small sacrifices, the iPhone XR makes a whole load of sense.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
