The Apple iPhone XR Review: A Different Display Leads To Brilliant Battery Life
by Andrei Frumusanu on February 5, 2019 9:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone XR
Battery Life - Excellent
For all their strengths, battery life is the one aspect where things didn’t quite pan out for the iPhone XS and XS Max. Even though Apple promised that the phones would see longer battery lifetimes in day-to-day usage, in our tests we weren’t able to replicate this. The main reason for both models not being able to match the battery life of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is because of their significantly higher base power consumption. I’ve attributed this to the OLED display – here either the OLED panel itself or the DDIC driving the panel see a big degradation in base power consumption, amounting to an extra 150mW. This is a figure that is unavoidable and a power drain that will be present any time the screen is on – no matter the actual display brightness.
The iPhone XR avoids this issue as it uses a more conventional LCD screen:
As expected, because the XR doesn’t suffer from the same high base power consumption, this significantly helps the actual battery life results for the phone. Here we see the iPhone XR reach the highest battery runtimes of any past iPhone – almost beating some of the record holders – and is only outmatched by the more recent Mate 20 with its 33% larger battery.
The results here are a lot more in line with the iPhone 8 Plus, and better represent the overall power efficiency improvements of the A12 SoC. Compared to the iPhone XS and XS Max, the XR lasts 37% and 25% longer respectively in our test.
Overall, if battery life is something you value the most, then the iPhone XR will absolutely not disappoint.
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bernstein - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Given a 4 year lifespan (which at this point is very likely as new iphones bring basically nothing to the table) the XR costs $7/month less than the XS max ($23/month). So unless you have an EXEPTIONALLY cheap monthly plan or have to get the newest cheapest iphone every year, it's just not worth saving to get the XR.I'd rather get a cheaper plan (currently $25 all unlimited)....
melgross - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
When pointing out sales, several things have to be taken into account. The first is that sales of smartphones has fallen overall. That affects Apple too. Second are the problems related to the arrest of the Huawei executive. Unlike hitting a Chinese company, this targeting a Chinese official from a major Chinese company, is considered to be a major breach, even if she, and the company are guilty of the accusations, resulting in a lack of “face”. As a result, major corporations in China have been directed to discourage employee purchasing of iPhones in favore of Huawei products, which iPhones purchasers being fined for that purchase.Then, China is in a massive economic slowdown the latter part of 2018, which is continuing into 2019.
All of this results in a slowdown in iPhone sales there. China has been 27% of Apple’s sales overall, so a slowdown there hurts. However, in almost every other area, Apple’s sales were up.
So this issue is more complex that just a matter of pricing.
ksec - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
The Table mentions XR of Cat 12, and 1Gbps. which doesn't go together. The XR max out at 600Mbps. The same as last year iPhone X, and it doesn't support LAA.jakeuten - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Cat 12 is 600 Mbps. The XS/XS Max are the Cat 16 which is 1 Gbps, which the chart accurately reflects.ksec - Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - link
The Chart has been corrected since I posted.Ryan Smith - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Thanks!yeeeeman - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
You should add to the title: "and a back to the past travel to 2010 experience". How stupid can a person be to buy a phone with 750$ and have a worse display than most 100$ Chinese phones? Heck, 70$ phones have 720p display. Damn!FreckledTrout - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Apple is getting the third best battery life behind only the Huawei Mate 9 and 20 which both have very large batteries and are only Full HD. Personally I would take the battery life over the nicer screen and I think a lot of people are in my camp. The price just needs to come down $150-200 on all the iPhones models, if Apple would like to start selling more of them.jakeuten - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
The resolution on the panel is greater than 720p, and the iPhone 8 also had the same pixel density.Maxpower2727 - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
How stupid can a person be to sincerely think that resolution is the one and only factor that determines display quality. According to the article your commenting on (if you even bothered to read it), the XR has a phenomenal display in every measure except resolution.