The Apple iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max Review: Performance, Battery, & Camera Elevated
by Andrei Frumusanu on October 16, 2019 8:30 AM ESTDisplay Measurement
When it comes to displays, last year's iPhone XS didn’t showcase any major display changes compared to the original iPhone X, as the two phones seemingly shared the same display panel. In contrast to that situation, for the new iPhone 11 Pros, Apple is advertising using a newer generation panel which brings notable improvements with it.
In terms of dimensions or resolution, there’s no visible changes on the new panels, and you’d have to look under the hood to see what has actually changed. The most notable improvement this year is a switch in the OLED emitter material that’s been used by Samsung in producing the new screen. The new generation emitter was first introduced in the display panel of the Galaxy S10, and to my knowledge it has subsequently only been used in the Note10 series as well as the new OnePlus 7T (regular version only). The iPhone 11 Pro phones now join this limited group of devices, and the biggest improvements to the user experience will be higher maximum brightness levels as well as improved power efficiency.
The regular iPhone 11, on the other hand does not seem to have changed much from the iPhone XR. It remains a relatively lower resolution LCD screen, although its display characteristics remain excellent.
We move on to the display calibration and fundamental display measurements of the iPhone 11 screens. As always, we thank X-Rite and SpecraCal, as our measurements are performed with an X-Rite i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer, with the exception of black levels which are measured with an i1Display Pro colorimeter. Data is collected and examined using SpectraCal's CalMAN software.
In terms of maximum brightness, Apple has advertised that the new iPhone 11 Pro’s can reach up to 800nits of brightness displaying regular content. We’re able to verify this, as our 11 Pro Max sample reached 807 nits while the 11 pro reached 790 nits. Consequently, it’s quite odd to see that the LCD-based iPhone 11 is now the lowest brightness device in the line-up. As always, Apple doesn’t make use of any brightness boost mechanism and thus allows its peak brightness to be achieved in any scenario.
Apple also advertises that the screen does go up to 1200 peak brightness in HDR content, however I haven’t been able to go ahead to verify this in our current test suite.
SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11:
iPhone 11 Pro:
iPhone 11 Pro Max:
In the greyscale tests, all the iPhones perform extremely well, as expected. The Pro models do showcase a tendency to have slightly too strong red levels, so their color temperature is ever so slightly too warm. This characteristic diminishes the higher in brightness we go on the Pro models. The iPhone 11 has a weakness in the greens, so its color temperature is a above the 6500K white point target.
Gamma levels are excellent and target levels of 2.2. The Pro models are veering off towards higher gamma at higher picture levels, something that isnt as prominently exhibited by the iPhone 11. I’m not sure if this is due to a non-linear APL compensation of the phone screen during our measurement patterns, or if there’s an actual issue of the calibration.
iPhone 11 / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Pro / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Pro Max / SpectraCal CalMAN
The dE2000 deviation scores for the Pro models this year are slightly worse than what we saw in last year’s XS devices, however it’s still firmly among the best in class devices out there in the market, and you’d be hard pressed to perceive the small deviations. The iPhone 11 oddly enough does fare a bit worse off than the iPhone XR due to the larger deviations in color balance.
iPhone 11 / SpectraCal CalMAN
In the sRGB color space (default device content), the iPhone 11 performs extremely well with only minor shifts in hue in the greens.
iPhone 11 Pro / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Pro Max / SpectraCal CalMAN
In the same test, both the Pro models are showcasing exemplary accuracy.
The Pro models are just a bit worse off than the XS models of last year, but again these are among the most accurate displays you’ll find out there – mobile devices or not. The iPhone 11 is still excellent, although showing a bit larger deviation compared to the XR.
iPhone 11 / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Pro / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Pro Max / SpectraCal CalMAN
For Display P3 content, the iPhone 11 Pro models showcase the best saturation accuracies we’ve ever measured on any display. This time around, the iPhone 11 is in line with the XR.
iPhone 11 / SpectraCal CalMAN
In the Gretag-MacBeth test of common tones, the only real issue of the iPhone 11 is the whites which had showcased a weakness of greens. Notice how the luminosity of the tones are essentially absolutely perfect.
iPhone 11 Pro / SpectraCal CalMAN
iPhone 11 Max Pro / SpectraCal CalMAN
Overall in terms of the color calibration and screen quality, the iPhones are the very best in the industry. There’s really nothing I can say about them as they’re class-leading in every regard.
The iPhone 11’s LCD screen isn’t for my taste due to the lower resolution, which frankly does bother me, and it certainly doesn’t have the same contrast characteristics as the Pro models. So while colors are still extremely good, it remains a compromise in 2019 when essentially every manufacturer has moved on to adopt OLED screens.
Display Power Measurements - Generational Improvements
Naturally, we didn’t want to finish the display evaluation section without verifying Apple’s claims about the new improved power efficiency of the iPhone 11 Pro panels.
Comparing the three generations of identical format iPhones, we again see that the display power consumption between the original iPhone X and the XS didn’t differ much at all. Plotting the new iPhone 11 Pro in the chart however we immediately see the difference in the new generation.
At equal brightness levels, Apple has indeed been able to improve the power efficiency of the panel by 15% - just as Apple’s marketing described it. We also see how the new panel expands past the brightness limits of the X and XS, reaching 800nits. This does come at a cost however, as the improved power efficiency isn’t able to completely make up for the larger brightness increase, so the maximum power consumption of the screen displaying full white does rise from 2.6W to 3.1W.
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Zerrohero - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
Just get the battery replaced at authorized repair after three years or whenever it starts to go bad.And as you very well know, the throttling (if it kicks in) can be toggled on/off in the settings.
I have a two year old iPhone X and the battery capacity is at 91%.
michael2k - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
You're asking that the phone under report it's battery reserve and shut the phone down at 40% battery to preserve battery longevity?Because that would be the effect. So instead of a battery that lasts 14 hours for the first year and then 10 hours the second, it would 'shut down' after 11 hours the first year, and 'shut down' after 11 hours the second year, and 'shut down' after 11 hours the third year, before the degradation actually causes the battery life to actually be 10 hours in year four.
melgross - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
Wow! That makes no sense. All phones slow down over time, and all batteries hold less charge. Apple’s are t worse, if anything, they’re better. My Max, from last year still reads 100% on battery health after more than 11 months of fairly heavy daily use. I’d like to see other phones that do better.shompa - Thursday, October 17, 2019 - link
Look at intel /AMD / Qualcomm. They list a "turbo speed" that is not guaranteed. But customers believe it is. That's why they don't need to downclock stuff because they never need to hit their speeds. Apple is the last vendor having a real CPU speed and holds it. I have had a multitude of Intel CPUs that under-deliver in speed and as a customer you can't do anything. The service centers simply don't understand the problem since they only do a CPID check and says "it works". Take any intel laptop and fire up an H265 encode and watch the CPU speed go down. A CPU labeled 2.9ghz /3.9ghz turbo suddenly is a 2ghz part and you can't do anything about it. At least with Apple: get a good battery and it works.Total Meltdowner - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
All for the low low price of $1300. Pass.Zerrohero - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
$999 actually.This is a device that you can use for five years, or more, always with the latest software. Just get the battery replaced once.
Amazing value, as iPhones always are.
Total Meltdowner - Thursday, October 17, 2019 - link
Nice troll brother. But a full loaded iPhone 11 Pro is $1299.iPhones are trash.
Total Meltdowner - Thursday, October 17, 2019 - link
Sorry, it's $1450! LOL!Almost $1800 with applecare! https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-11-pr...
ahahahahahahha
Irish910 - Friday, October 18, 2019 - link
You can get an iPhone 11 with 128 gigs for $749, which pretty much mops the competition with battery life, CPU, GPU, longevity and value.I know your troll self will say something like “BR0 it’s only GoT a 720P scr33n, my 2015 GaLaXy HaS h1gher Res0lution!
Fact is, most people don’t care about that. That’s why the XR was the most popular phone last year and that trend will continue.
The pro starts at $999. Stop trolling. This site is for adults only. If you only post your lame hate comments, please go to YouTube. There’s plenty of room for your kind there.
Shoo shoo now.
Quantumz0d - Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - link
This analysis is great but the Whiteknighting is insane.The design the primary aspect of a device, the display itself is notched no matter what calibration it has it's destroying the proper nature of how we perceive through our eyes and mind. Dead pixel zone for $999
No expandable storage, No Filesystem access - Must use iTunes. This means for every basic work you must rely on your computer and the iCloud, mega ecosystem lockdown.
No 3.5mm jack. Its really a shame how this company made billions by buying up Beats (Sub par garbage audio) and AirPods ($179 of Sub 320kbps audio with limited life due to Li Ion) and making a dongle business out of an Analog standard and whole industry reeks of this greed by dongles snd their own BT products which are massively inferior in sound snd usage and also wear down the only port it has.
Sealed battery, Strong adhesive with new 4m depth rating. $600 for back glass repair if no Apple care and they are forcing you to buy because its $300 only and 70USD per repair. More profit for Apple for $100 battery services. Unfortunate that Apple has brick and mortar rest do not but they want to siphon off. Also did author note how iPhone XS got the new battery throttling with latest iOS update ? Yeah bonus package to wreck all that performance, inherent overdrawing of Voltage and planned obsolescence.
Too much of this price hike and offering measly 64GB base. Next year another $50-100 due to new design or whatever they want to call.
Desktop performance. I want to see, can this A series chip run an Adobe CS6 or Blender or do a H264 Conversion faster or on par with a desktop chip ? Or play high refresh rate gaming or can it execute x86 instructions with ease and replace my PC with this BGA pile of junk ? (It cannot, I think it's too much of blowing into this hot balloon of Apple for mega limelight) same for 9900K or 3950X they can't be fit in a pocket.
Finally the corporation of American back, has no backbone when it comes to China. The $$$$ speaks. Censorship and aiding the Orwellian draconian principles for cash is more than the American culture that spawned the company and its people. A big shame.