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
Camera - Quick Verification
The camera on the iPhone XR is a straightforward matter: It employs the same module as on the iPhone XS and XS Max, meaning we find a new 12MP sensor with 1.4µm pixel pitches and better DTI (Deep trench isolation), as well as an f/1.8 aperture lens along with OIS in the module. The only difference is that the iPhone XR eschews having a telephoto lens – meaning the phone won’t be able to have as high a quality of zoomed in photos as its more expensive XS siblings.
We can quickly verify the picture quality results against the iPhone XS:
[ iPhone XR ] - [ iPhone XS ]
[ iPhone XR ] - [ iPhone XS ]
In both images, the results are virtually identical. This was to be expected, but it’s always good to verify!
Overall, rather than repeating myself here I'm going to refer to the camera section of the iPhone XS review, as all of my analysis there is also valid for iPhone XR – minus the telephoto module, of course.
The iPhone XS Camera Review - Historic iPhone comparisons
Similarly, for readers interested in a broader, more contemporary camera comparison, I'm going to refer to the camera comparison in our Google Pixel 3 review. It contains the most up-to-date camera comparisons across 2018 flagship phones, including results of the iPhone XS against the newest Android competition.
The Google Pixel 3 Review - Most recent full competitive camera review
Overall – the iPhone XR camera shines in the same way the iPhone XS camera did: Apple’s absolute strength here is in terms of picture consistency and the assurance that essentially every shot will come out the same in the best possible way.
Key to making this happen was that this generation’s main camera sensor saw big improvements in terms of resolving details – thanks to the bigger sensor with bigger pixels, as well as the much improved DTI (Deep trench isolation) which is able to reduce noise and improve sharpness. Apple’s new HDR system is also a big upgrade for the new iPhones, as it manages to capture a much greater dynamic range in virtually all scenarios. Low-light performance of the new iPhones is also good – although Apple doesn’t use some of the new-fangled computational photography magic that is now standard on Huawei devices, and was most recently adopted by Google’s Pixel phones.
Another aspect of the camera that is understated for the new generation of phones is an absolute huge jump in video recording quality. Here the dynamic range in video recording has seen immense jumps – and together with Apple’s first-time introduction of stereo audio recording, actually makes the new iPhones, including the XR, what I find to be the best smartphones on the market for video recording.
The lack of a telephoto lens on the XR is something that needs to be subjectively evaluated based on your experience and needs. On one hand, I do find it quite useful and a feature I would probably miss – but on the other hand it’s also not something that I find to be a deal-breaker or represent a key deciding factor when having to choose between different smartphones. It’s a feature that augments the camera experience, but one can also live without it.
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Amosliu - Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - link
I don’t think 3dmark slingshot extreme is a good benchmark for iOS platform. First the cpu usage is too high even in the graphics test. Second the gpu vertex usage is nearly the half in the graphic test. However there is no issue in the slingshot OpenGL es 3.0 edition. It is too old and need to update. By the way, there are new GPU benchmark suits building on metal 2 in iOS and Vulkan in android named snow forest benchmark and orbital flight benchmark.darwiniandude - Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - link
Agree. 3Dmark has always been very odd on iOS, especially the physics test, and hasn't matched real world performance comparisons I've seen between Android and iOS games.tuxRoller - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link
Is the black value when at the the min brightness correct?If so, and assuming the spectrometer is the same a usual, then is this the first time we've seen an LCD that has an imperceptible off pixel while the backlight is still on?
samerakhras - Saturday, February 9, 2019 - link
The better battery life comes from the lower resolution.The less pixels you use , the less power you need.
Jackdaniel - Monday, February 11, 2019 - link
I come from an iphone 8 and now I have iphone xs max 256 gb, I find completely false the duration table with the common use that lasts twice as compared to the iPhone 8 (both have the health of the beater to 100%)hasseb64 - Monday, February 11, 2019 - link
No button* = no buy*front
zeeBomb - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link
More battery, More life.Great to see Andrei taking over for the smartphone reviews, this was a good read man!
Jhonson - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
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mark3785 - Sunday, August 4, 2019 - link
I’ve had my iPhone XR for quite a while now and still like it very much. I upgraded from a 6S and am amazed by the battery life! I've had iPhones since the first model and no other iPhone has come close to the XR in battery life!The LCD vs OLED issue doesn't bother me. The lower resolution is still a retina resolution, and with fewer pixels to push, it makes for more efficient use of the processor and is one of the reasons it gets better battery life.
I miss 3D Touch but not as much as I expected. I used it mainly for turning the keyboard into a trackpad but a long press on the space bar performs the same function, and does that more accurately.
The camera may not be nice as the dual unit found on the XS/XS Max but it is an OIS camera which, coming from a 6S, is a nice upgrade.
Its audio output is in stereo (which was a nice surprise) and is quite a bit louder. I’m not thrilled about the lack of a standard phono jack but as a long time Apple user I’m used (though still not happy with) the way they change ports.
It may cost less than the XS/XS Max, but it's a serious upgrade for me. To add to the deal, one of the colors the phone comes in is (PRODUCT)RED which is a rich shade of red and a nice break from the black, white and silver I’ve had in the past.
While it's missing a bell here and a whistle there compared to the XS/XS Max, it works great and is a nice upgrade from the 6S.
And just in case nobody noticed, Apple made a slightly thicker and heavier iPhone with a bigger battery and Hell didn’t freeze over!