The Apple iPhone XR Review

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13912/the-apple-iphone-xr-review-brilliant-battery-life

by gok • 7 years ago

91 153 7 years ago

anandtech.com

RubberShoes• 7 years ago

"...is only outmatched by the more recent Mate 20 with its 33% larger battery."

As a fan of OLED, it's hard to swallow this simple fact that LCD is superior in power consumption

webkike• 7 years ago

I don’t find it hard to swallow at all. The colors of OLED are way superior to LCD

Dylan168072• 7 years ago

The hard to swallow part is that it's outputting a fraction as much light, using a simpler method, and that translates to more watts.

MBCook• 7 years ago

The OLED on the XS has more pixels and thus needs more RAM and GPU time to render, using up more energy.

iknowstuff• 7 years ago

It also needs more pixels due to its pentile pixel structure which reduces perceptible resolution.

bryanlarsen• 7 years ago

If your screen is mostly black most of the time, OLED power consumption is superior to LCD. I wish more apps had a dark mode.

hprotagonist• 7 years ago

I have one, love it, and real high on the list for why is that at the end of a busy day I regularly have 40% battery left in the bank.

Put side-by-side with a XS, i'm hard pressed to find a visual difference between screens, quality-wise.

jefft255• 7 years ago

I second this. Switching from a Galaxy S7, the battery life for my Xr has been amazing!

Intermernet2• 7 years ago

Odd, I just finished a night shift in which I used my Galaxy S9 quite a lot, after a day of using it quite a lot (including wifi hotspot, camera, video, maps & navigation) and it's showing 65% battery. This is after 23 hours of constant usage. I think this may be due to both better and larger batteries in all flagship phones, as well as better power management in both Android and iOS. Or maybe I just got lucky?

stingraycharles• 7 years ago

Honest question, because I’m a bit confused: the 40% is good or bad? It seems comparable to my old iPhone SE, is battery life so much worse on the newer generations?

11235813214• 7 years ago

Someone getting down to 40% on the XR would have a dead battery on the SE. Your usage is lighter.

maxxxxx4• 7 years ago

My SE goes down pretty quickly even with light use.

anthonybsd• 7 years ago

Good. Ugh... I have XS Max and without charging it I usually have around 20% at the end of the day. I use it heavily for commute into NYC on the bus so that might contribute.

setquk5• 7 years ago

Another XR fan here. I went from 6s to XR. It’s much faster, the camera is amazing and the battery life is exceptional. It lasts 1.5 days of heavy use no problems at all.

The only compliant is sometimes I pull it out of my pocket and try and use it upside down. And the torch comes on in my pocket about once a week.

cronix• 7 years ago

All new phones replacing a several year old model exhibit the same characteristics you say here.

Of course going from 6s->XR is faster (several generations of newer cpu), has a better camera, and that brand new battery lasts a long time. Your old phone was about 3.5 years old.

You could have gotten a new 6s and it probably would have had most of the characteristics you say, because it wouldn't be throttled due to an old battery. Or just replace the battery. It would hold a charge a lot longer. The only thing that wouldn't really be different is the camera.

abc_lisper• 7 years ago

Me too. I think media has generally been unfair about XR not selling well. It is easily the best iPhone I have used. I actually enjoy reading on it; just finished a 1000 page fiction novel on it. And yeah, hacker news loads fasssst. Faster than my MacPro :)

SlowRobotAhead5• 7 years ago

It's the lack of 3D Touch that kills me :( I need it.

akamaka• 7 years ago

Which 3D Touch features do you use the most, and consider irreplaceable?

emsy• 7 years ago

The lack of 3D Touch is such an oddity, product lineup wise. Every touch device (watches, iPhones) since the SE support 3D Touch. I understand that there might be technical issues behind this decision, but I'm not sure Apple would've released the XR in this state a couple of years ago (even post Jobs).

chrisper2• 7 years ago

How so? An OLED will always have better blacks than an LCD screen, which leads to better contrast, which leads to better picture quality (perceived at least).

tobr• 7 years ago

I did not expect OLED to be this much better than LCD before I got the X. It makes an absolutely enormous difference when you use the phone in a dark environment, say to check the time if you wake up at night.

Matthias2474• 7 years ago

Black levels are one attribute of a screen. However the Xr also has a few upsides: A higher brightness, and no display flickering due to PWM. I personally thought the Xr also exposed less yellow screen tint than the Xs and scrolled with less blur and distortion, but that might have been subjective.

The other thing that is often advertised as pro for the Xs is a higher resolution. However that is not entirely true, since the Oled displays use a pentile matrix, where there is not a full sub-pixel available for each pixel. Which means in other words the difference in actual resolution is not as high as the pure numbers might want one make to believe.

I think both displays are excellent, and won't disappoint.

shadowmore• 7 years ago

"The iPhone XR is an interesting product for Apple: It is clear that it aims to be a lower-cost alternative to the higher-end XS flagships."

In what world is $800 an affordable price point?

o10449366• 7 years ago

They never use the word "affordable" in that sentence. They just say that it's less expensive than the XS, which is true.

TwoNineA• 7 years ago

Adjusted to inflation, the iPhone 4S was 722$. XR is 749$(not 800 by the way). 27$ difference, not too bad considering the technology is superior in every way to the 4S.

https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png

JustSomeNobody2• 7 years ago

What about when you adjust for stagnant wages?

jbarberu2• 7 years ago

Twist it the other way around. What used to get you the top of the line, now only gets you the lower-cost model.

s3r3nity• 7 years ago

There are also many more additional services that someone in the Apple ecosystem has access to vs. when the 4S came out, which can account for a portion of that $27 marginal difference.

Example (that I serendipitously learned about recently): free (!!!) workshops in Apple stores that you can learn advanced techniques for things like video editing on iPad, among other things.

jbarberu2• 7 years ago

Adjusted to inflation, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was over $9000. XR is $749(not 800 by the way). $8251 difference, not too bad considering the technology is superior in every way to the DynaTAC 8000X.

As someone who used to like getting the latest and greatest by Apple their current prices baffle me. Or perhaps I'm the oddball that doesn't use my phone enough to warrant spending that much money.

ams6110• 7 years ago

It's about 4x what I'd ever consider spending on a phone. But so what? Apple has decided not to pursue buyers like me. They will sell their $800+ phones, and make money, and employ a lot of people.

TylerE2• 7 years ago

Most people don't spend $800 on a phone. They just add a $40/month lease onto their bill. Hurts a bit less that way.

lnanek2• 7 years ago

Apple has decided not to pursue buyers like me

Yes. Margins are low on low cost phones. It's a pretty common decision for OEMs. No reason to make the phones that make no profit.

saagarjha6• 7 years ago

Apple sells cheaper phones as well…

ksec2• 7 years ago

Some people are still using the old analogy of Phone. When it has replaced your Camera, Internet Communicator, Gaming, etc.

Every single bit of tech inside the phone were more expensive, partly so because of rising wages in tech industry. Which I suppose most people on HN are benefiting from.

setquk5• 7 years ago

If you add AppleCare, aggregate that cost over 24 months and sell the handset at the end it’s a good investment. I don’t sell at the end but give my wife’s and my used handsets to the kids and they get two more years out of them.

Total expenditure is less than $100/month for 4 good spec iPhones that run our personal and business lives entirely is a damn good deal.

SIM contracts are approx $90 + broadband is $70 a month as a comparison.

Pricing adjusted to USD from GBP

kingnothing2• 7 years ago

The better option is to get the Uber Visa card, which includes mobile phone insurance if you put your monthly phone bill on it.

Dylan168072• 7 years ago

What do you think is an affordable price point, in dollars per month?

TYPE_FASTER• 7 years ago

VZN had a BOGO on the XR. I've kept my phones four years. That will work out to about $8/mo spent per 128G XR device over four years. Worth it to me.

xoa• 7 years ago

Just FWIW, Anandtech didn't use "affordable" they used "lower-cost alternative" which is quite true.

But more to the point, the market is going to need some way to internalize business models here. Fundamentally, Apple's only guaranteed source of revenue right now for any given phone is the price of the phone itself. Maybe users get some apps too, maybe they get services, but at this stage in lifecycle of the devices a lot of people are happy with the apps they have and paid updates are infrequent, and it's an important point that the iPhone doesn't depend on subscriptions nor is Apple dependent on selling you. So the sticker price must to some extent encompass most of the life cycle of the phone, including 5-6+ years worth of OS updates (iOS 12 supports the iPhone 5S, released in 2014).

How much is it worth to have a cutting edge device where retail embodies 100% of the required costs, and the manufacturers financial incentives are reasonably well aligned with that of the owner? Can the market actually handle this vs devices where many of the costs are hidden/externalized? It's going to be an interesting question over the next few years. There has been a certain amount of pushback on the XS/XS Max pricing, but at the same time a lot of people at least claim to care about incentive alignment. It's hard to say exactly how that will play out if Apple finds upfront pricing is too hard for many to swallow even if per-month or similar personal info selling would be.

danbolt2• 7 years ago

I switched from a 5S I bought at launch to an XR. I’m enjoying the battery life, although the larger screen took a bit of getting used to.

2muchcoffeeman• 7 years ago

I caved and got an XR. I’m starting to like the huge screen because I can no longer idlely play with my phone.

rubicon33• 7 years ago

Props for sticking to the 5s for this long! I'm still rocking mine as well. Although, I just picked up a $200 Moto G6 (first android device ever) for development, but might just use it as my daily driver since even that budget android phone is an upgrade to the 5s at this point!

Gotta say though, I've been so impressed with how the 5s has held up over the years, that the investment in a higher priced iPhone might just be the way to go.

danbolt2• 7 years ago

Thanks! I’m hoping that the XR lasts for the next five years (at least!) too. I get some smart remarks from others, but the end goal is to minimize the amount of rare metals consumed in my lifetime. I’ve been really pleased that the 5S continuously got updates for so long.

jld• 7 years ago

I wanted to love the XR, but it was too big.

I’d prefer a 4.5” phone, but ended up with an iPhone X as a kind of cheaper, smaller, currentish iOS device.

JustSomeNobody2• 7 years ago

I ended up getting an 8. I love the size and after trading in a 6s was on $399. I don't game, and as fast as this thing is, it should last quite a while.

TylerE2• 7 years ago

I really like my XS. After getting used to the big screen on my 7+ and 8+ i find the XS a really nice tradeoff of having almost as much useful screen area while not having the formfactor of a Hershey bar.

setquk5• 7 years ago

It is large. Definitely a two handed phone even with my massive hands.

maxxxxx4• 7 years ago

I would like to see an SE that’s thicker to accommodate a bigger battery.

saagarjha6• 7 years ago

A phone as large as iPhone XR with iPhone SE's thickness would be pretty hefty…

systemtest• 7 years ago

That would be great. I'm a heavy user, about two to three hours of screen-on time per day and six to eight hours of Spotify on the background. I have bad cellphone reception so it is constantly searching for signal and trying to reconnect the VPN. I have to recharge at around 17:00 on a normal day. Device is a couple months old and at 96% battery capacity.

Rafuino2• 7 years ago

Where'd you get your iPhone X? I find the XR way too big as well, and the XS is insanely overpriced.

Shivetya• 7 years ago

fyi, apple recently had some show up on their refurbished site

gumby• 7 years ago

Refurbs are allegedly available for ~$800

untog• 7 years ago

After the XR and XS were announced I bought a used SE, and I don't regret my choice. I really hope we see an XR Mini or something like that in the future, but I don't hold out much hope.

z6• 7 years ago

I'm still using the SE because I don't want a big phone. Kudos to Apple for making a quality technical device that's around 4 years old now but still quite capable. However, shame on them for not making a flagship 'mini' phone.

dkonieczek• 7 years ago

XR user here that switched from Android after leaving the iPhone 4. The battery life is amazing. With my minimal use, it's lasting me 3 days with about 20% before I plug it in again. Great app ecosystem too. It's the little things like LastPass just being so much better on iOS. Widgets and notifications have come a long way but I still wish I could have widgets for email instead of having to manually open email. The screen often feels a bit large but gestures make it usable.

wlesieutre2• 7 years ago

There are rumors about a homescreen revamp for iPads in iOS 13, I wonder if that will finally allow widgets mixed in with app icons.

I also wonder why it would be iPad specific given that the phones are so damn big, but that's what the rumors say.

SlowRobotAhead5• 7 years ago

It's the little things like LastPass just being so much better on iOS.

Preach. They killed it. So very pleasant to use.

misterprime• 7 years ago

Oh man, I'm having a much harder time with LastPass on iOS than on Android.

What's an easy way to generate a new complex password when a dumb old site forces you to set a new password? It was very easy for me on Android, but feels quite difficult on iOS.

sexyrouter• 7 years ago

Please enlighten me.

Which one is worth buying iPhone X or iPhone XS Vs iPhone 8?

- Writing this with an android phone attached to a powerbank in park.

zdwolfe• 7 years ago

I just got an 8 and wish I had gotten an X-series (X or XS). Spending a bit extra on something you use for hours every day is OK.

NaOH• 7 years ago

I recently went from a 6S to an XS (non Max). I am not a heavy phone user and have been disappointed with battery performance in comparison to the 6S. It doesn't seem to hold up as well, nor does it charge as quickly. From what I've read, the XS Max and XR do better.

dirtylowprofile• 7 years ago

I'm an iPhone 8 user and I prefer the size and form on this one. It has better resolution than Xr and it has 3d touch.

bjoli3• 7 years ago

That is not amazing battery life, that is "low end smartphone with a decent battery" battery life. My moto g6 plus delivers that kind of battery life. So did my previous phone. Granted, it is not the iOs experience, and the performance is not that of a phone for 3x as much, but I am over all very satisfied.

Not only that, Motorola has pledged to provide official parts when the devices become older.

jvzr2• 7 years ago

So, amazing battery life?

You are saying it gets the same battery life as a low-end smartphone, with 1/10th the performance and 1/50th the experience (numbers mine). If it's better at all those things, and still has that battery life, then it's much much better than that other thing...

tirant• 7 years ago

Low end? the iPhone Xr is using the fastest Apple SoC available for Smartphones, which is probably the fastest Mobile Phone SoC available out there. Same as the iPhone Xs. That's not low-end in my book.

kofejnik• 7 years ago

I second this, after 4 years with Android, I found system-level adware and analytics components in my Xiaomi and switched to iPhone XR the same day. Couldn't be happier. Everything is just nicer

i_am_nomad• 7 years ago

Seconding some other users: the battery life on the XR is phenomenal. I upgraded from an iPhone 6, which even with the $29 battery replacement couldn't last till the afternoon with heavy use. Now, with the XR, I've stopped feeling the need to carry a backup battery with me, and I rarely even use my charger at work.

It's quite possibly the only product Apple makes today that Steve Jobs might approve of. Maybe that, and the AirPods.

djanogo• 7 years ago

XR is the cheapest smart phone people can buy, you have to consider cost of OS upgrades, free apps that Apple spends $ on (Screentime for parents is worth $5/month by itself). It amazes me how these professional reviewers ignore the fact that most android devices are lucky to get 2 OS upgrades, and have to wait several months after OS is released.

iPhone will easily last twice as long and will get all the feature updates the hardware can support.

handzbagz• 7 years ago

My Nokia 7.1 has monthly updates guaranteed for two years, is fast with a decent camera and has all the apps I need. Battery life and build quality are fantastic. All for about a quarter of the price of an iPhone XR. Not sure I agree with you there.

majewsky• 7 years ago

I'm considering a Nokia 6.1 or 7.1 as my next phone, but I'm concerned that it's allegedly killing background processes so that IMs don't get delivered. Can you comment on that?

scarface743• 7 years ago

Two years compared to the iPhone 5S that was introduced in 2013 and still getting updates?

teolandon• 7 years ago

I can buy a Moto G6 Plus at around $260, something around the same price after 2 years, and once again something at around the same price 2 years after that. That amounts up the the price of a single XR. How is $750 considered cheap, even accounting for OS upgrades and free apps?

scarface743• 7 years ago

How is the XR the cheapest phone people can buy when the iPhone 7 is still for sell for $475?

vesak• 7 years ago

At this point, the 7 won't probably get updates nearly as long as the XR will.

CloudNetworking• 7 years ago

Switched from a Google Pixel (the original one) to the XR. Supper happy about the phone's quality and specially its battery.

At night I noticed that the screen is not OLED or AMOLED or whatevs, the blacks are quite bright, but I don't watch movies or series on it so I can really live with that.

All in all I'm very happy with the phone and it'll last me for years.

yellow_postit• 7 years ago

Updated to the XR from a 6 (replaced battery) and the battery life is amazing.

My biggest complaint is how fragile the phone is. The shell already has scratches and is wildly expensive to repair. I want a premium plastic body like the Lumia phones so badly on this tier of device.

mediaman• 7 years ago

I don't know what polymer Lumia uses, but I wonder why Apple doesn't use ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) for their budget phone cases.

This material is used among other things on artificial joints such as knees and hips, as well as the bottoms of snowboards. It's very tough and scratch resistant.

andjd• 7 years ago

I got the XR. I would prefer a smaller phone, but none of the extra features on the XS justified paying 33% more for them. (In fact, I didn't feel that 64 GB was enough, so if you compare the cheapest models with more than that, you're looking at closer to a 50% premium for the XS).

I had a 5S, and I considered the SE, but I had already started to see apps and websites that don't support the smaller screen size very well, and I didn't want to get a phone that I intend to use for 4 or 5 years that was already several years closer to obsolescence.

The XR is a good phone, but it shows evidence of value engineering that you don't usually see on apple products. The larger bezels, the lightning port not being centered on the bottom of the phone, the fact that is thicker and almost heavier than the XS Max.

My biggest disappointment with getting the XR was that general day-to-day tasks that felt sluggish on my 5S since the iOS 11 update . . . are still slow and sluggish. I have watched the phone take over 15 seconds to respond in any way to a tap inside Apple's pre-installed apps. I thought that iOS 11 was just too resource-intensive for my old phone, and I guess its just that Apple has forgotten how to write solid and responsive software -- which used to be one of the key differentiators between Apple and Android phones.

xvector• 7 years ago

day-to-day tasks that felt sluggish on my 5S since the iOS 11 update . . . are still slow and sluggish.

If you restored from a backup, try setting up the phone fresh instead. If that doesn't help, just go back to the backup.

erikpukinskis2• 7 years ago

Can anyone explain the current iPhone lineup in a few sentences?

11235813214• 7 years ago

The new models are XR (LCD phone in the link), XS (OLED phone) and XS Max (larger OLED phone.)

The 8 was last year’s LCD phone and the X was last year’s OLED phone (the first year it was offered.)

They also sell the 7, which was the phone from two years ago.

chrisper2• 7 years ago

Isn't there also a difference in Camera and other small features? Don't think it's just the screen that is different.

cweiss2• 7 years ago

Is there an effective mnemonic for the model designations? I've heard the lineup several times and it's just not sticking. Because of this, I tend to forcibly _not_ think about the iPhone to save mental CPU cycles.

erikpukinskis2• 7 years ago

So helpful, bless you.

karmakaze• 7 years ago

For those comparing battery life with Android phones, I've noticed that location services is what always drains my battery the fastest (on Nexus/Pixel) branded phones. Turning it off or using Low power location services easily doubled battery life.

Shorel• 7 years ago

I disliked when the reviewer starts complaining about the thickness of the device.

It has great battery life, much better than most other phones. That battery needs to be somewhere. You can't have it both ways.

The Apple iPhone XR Review

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