How Does Apple's 'Budget' iPhone XR Compare?

 

Apple’s budget iPhone, potentially the iPhone that caused the most buzz at the summer event is now officially available for pre-order.

Cheaper is rarely better but in terms of the new iPhone’s that might just be the case.

The iPhone XR is Apple’s “budget” iPhone and while it is still rather expensive at £750, it is £249 cheaper than the iPhone XS.

When you compare the devices side by side, the iPhone XR is obviously lacking. The iPhone XR has a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina LCD screen compared to the Super Retina HD display of the iPhone XS, the bezels are thicker than most edge to edge screens, it has just one camera on the back instead of two and its frame is aluminium instead of stainless steel. It’s also thicker than last year’s iPhones.

However, despite maybe not being as good on paper, the iPhone XR is still an extremely good smartphone.

It’s just as powerful as the iPhone XS and XS Max, the camera is still very capable, you have a lot more options in terms of colours and its price tag is competitive with Google’s new Pixel 3 and the Samsung Galaxy S9.

The iPhone XR and XS are more similar than not, as they share the same A12 Bionic processors, 12MP wide-angle cameras and similar features such as Face ID, gesture controls, iOS 12 and wireless charging.

Of course, it’s not going to be as good as the OLED iPhone XS screen but in terms of the display if you’re coming from an iPhone 6, 7, or even 8, it will look very familiar.

It also may not be as pretty as the iPhone XS with a noticeably bigger bezel around the entire screen and its performance may not be as good but for the average iPhone user are those differences worth £249 more?

Most people agree that the iPhone XR is a great smartphone, it has a nice big screen (even if it’s not as good an OLED one), has a longer battery life than the XS, great performance, premium construction and a great camera, so in the grand scheme of things you aren’t really missing out on much going for the iPhone XR and it is still more capable all round than some of the other smartphones on the market such as the new Pixel 3.

The iPhone XR may not be for everyone, however if you aren’t too fussed about things like a telephoto lens or not having a Super Retina OLED display then it may be a great choice for most.