Apple has announced three new iPhone models with notched screens and small bezels, marking the end of the tech giant’s legacy design for its smartphones. The most affordable among these latest entries is the Apple iPhone XR, essentially the new iPhone for the “masses.”
The variant with 64GB of storage is priced at $749 (around P40,465) in the U.S., but Apple will also release versions with 128GB and 256GB storage for $799 (P43,166) and $899 (P48,569), respectively. The iPhone XR will go on sale starting in October, which is a couple of weeks later than when the first batch of Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max arrives in stores.
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Specifically, customers from the following countries and territories can preorder the device beginning October 19 with availability starting October 26: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, the US, and the US Virgin Islands.
The Apple iPhone XR will sell for a considerably lower price than the two other iPhones revealed today, but thankfully, the iPhone XR doesn’t seem to compromise much on the features that make the premium models compelling to those who want to stay within Apple’s walled ecosystem.
Color is another key selling point: The iPhone XR gives you plenty to choose from — white, black, coral, blue, yellow, and red, the most we’ve seen on any Apple handset since the plastic-clad iPhone 5c.
The different color variants of the Apple iPhone XR
It still has an edge-to-edge display, like the iPhone X, with an improved Face ID system and front-facing camera occupying the notch this time around. It’s still water-resistant to iP67 standard and supports wireless charging and fast wired charging.
And yes, the hardware still features a metal frame sandwiched by glass on both sides. Apple even claims the glass protecting the panel is the most durable front glass “ever in a smartphone.”
Crucially, too, the iPhone XR shares the latest A12 Bionic processor as the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max that the company says is up to 15 percent faster while using 40 percent less power compared to the A11 Bionic inside last year’s Apple iPhone X. The A12 packs six CPU cores that can run either with two high-performance cores or four power-efficient ones depending on the workload.
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Perhaps the biggest change coming in this release is the all-new Liquid Retina Display. It uses LCD, not OLED, which is more expensive to make, and thus limited to the higher-end iPhone XS phones. The iPhone XR’s LCD comes in at 6.1 inches diagonally, meaning it’s a tad bigger (but not sharper) than what the iPhone XS employs, so there’s that to consider as well.
The Apple iPhone XR also doesn’t have the pressure-sensitive 3D Touch feature found in most current iPhones. Instead, there’s Haptic Touch, which is said to work fairly similarly.
Official video: Apple iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, and iPhone XR (the cheapest, featuring a 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina Display)
On the back, the cheaper iPhone touts a single-lens system with a pretty noticeable bump. It pairs a 12-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture to produce portrait-style photos with variable depth of field when taking pictures of people. The selfie camera remains at 7 megapixels, which is disappointing considering the powerful cameras on the front of many existing flagship smartphones.
READ ALSO: Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 8 official prices in the Philippines
The device’s potential battery life is another major talking point this year. Apple cites up to 15 hours of browsing and 16 hours of video playback on the iPhone XR. And not only that, it should last up to an hour and a half longer than the iPhone 8 Plus from the previous year.
It’s not as cheap as we’d like to see, but the Apple iPhone XR could be a strong contender among iPhone hopefuls not wanting to go over budget on their next smartphone.
Apple iPhone XR specs
- 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina Display, 828 x 1,792 resolution, 19.5:9, 326ppi
- A12 Bionic processor
- 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB memory
- 12-megapixel rear camera, wide-angle lens, OIS
- 7-megapixel front camera
- Face ID
- IP67 water-resistance rating
- Dual-SIM card support (nanoSIM and eSIM)
- Aluminum body with glass back
- Battery life: 1.5 hours more per day than the Apple iPhone 8 Plus
- Wireless charging
- iOS 12
Main image via iNews
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