A Day With the iPhone XR: Unboxing and First Impressions

[iZac]

I think a few people are going to be surprised by the size. It may be shorter to make it look like it’s a size inbetween the XS and XS Max, but it’s only 1.7mm narrower than the Max. For all intents and purposes, it’s a plus size phone.

 

[Zaft]

Actually with thicker bezels XR looks more classy and interesting than XS or XS Max.

In what way? To me it looks like a Chinese knock off.

 

[Candlelight]

Wish the screen was smaller. I still consider my iPhone 8 to be a 'large' screen.

 

[QCassidy352]

Simply too big. Hard pass. I’ll keep my 7 another year.

 

[Guscat]

Most of the market wants large screens, so you’re in the minority. If the market wanted smaller screens, Apple would build them.

They still might but it’s clear people want larger screens.

If the market wanted smaller screens like the 4S or even the 5, other companies, not just Apple, would be building them, but so far as I can tell, no one or at least no one significant is making those phones.

 

[docfish]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but none of the new phones will be 5G compatible - right? Most companies are already launching in the next few weeks (albeit in select markets) but would it make more sense to hold off until 2019? My old but reliable 6S still does the trick and even with the "lower" XR price, seems like I'd be better off waiting until next year's 5G phones. Or not? Thoughts?

 

[ghostface147]

Not sure which way to go Yellow, Coral, Blue, Red,White..... I went to an Apple store today and they didn't have any Xr's to pick up yet sadly 2 days before launch..... Worst was saw a guy buying a fully loaded MBA ahead of the rumored refresh!

At this point, he can return it within 14 days.

 

[roland.g]

Me and my wife bought iPhone X last year. If we were both in the market for a new phone this year, it would be hard to ignore the $500 we would save on two of these phones over 2 XS.

I bought an X last year after having 3 generations of Plus phones. While I loved the Plus screen size, the physical size always seemed a bit much. With the X the thing I miss most about my Plus phones is the width, especially on the keyboard and for reading emails and webpages. This is where I feel the XR hits it. The in between size seems perfect. While I would still want 3D touch, the OLED, the smaller bezels, and the other premium features that differentiate it, had I waited another year I may very well have bought the XR for its size sweet spot.

 

[seinman]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but none of the new phones will be 5G compatible - right? Most companies are already launching in the next few weeks (albeit in select markets) but would it make more sense to hold off until 2019? My old but reliable 6S still does the trick and even with the "lower" XR price, seems like I'd be better off waiting until next year's 5G phones. Or not? Thoughts?

There won’t be 5G in phones for another 3 to 5 years. There’s no solid, agreed upon standard yet (like LTE was for 4G) and each carrier is currently not only testing different technologies, but limiting them to home broadband for now.

 

[serialiphoneuser]

Face-ID should be listed under "cons".

 

[seinman]

Not sure which way to go Yellow, Coral, Blue, Red,White..... I went to an Apple store today and they didn't have any Xr's to pick up yet sadly 2 days before launch..... Worst was saw a guy buying a fully loaded MBA ahead of the rumored refresh!

There are never demo units until the day or launch. That’s how Apple does it.

 

[Internet Enzyme]

Is it just me or have phones, tablets, and computers are just plain boring nowadays. I just don't care to get the latest stuff anymore. Seems like every year there is less of a reason to upgrade. Same goes for my friends. I take it the market is fully saturated and this whole tech bubble is ready to pop.

Isnt there going to be an event in like less than a week where a brand new iPad with a bold, radical new redesign is debuted—being the first time the tablet has seen major innovation since back in 2013 with iPad Air? What about last year where they literally released an innovative new take on iPhone design that rivals the much lauded, tentpole models such as the 4 and the 6?

 

[zeesix]

Now they just need to make a sub-XS-sized version of this phone for even cheaper, to serve as the new SE.

Agree, except for the cheaper part. I don't want a budget phone.

 

[Baymowe335]

You are correct. I admit that I’m in the minority and that Apple is just responding to the overwhelming demand for big phones, especially in markets like Asia where the phone is the primary computer. I’m atypical in that I use my iPad and Mac at home and only use my phone when I’m out and about. I don't need an all-in-one phablet, just a portable device that's easy to slip in my pocket and use one handed. Still, I’m not the only one who feels this way...

You might not be, but Apple has to make decisions on a massive scale and this was the best one based on their data.

 

[racerhomie]

Is it just me or have phones, tablets, and computers are just plain boring nowadays. I just don't care to get the latest stuff anymore. Seems like every year there is less of a reason to upgrade. Same goes for my friends. I take it the market is fully saturated and this whole tech bubble is ready to pop.

Most iPhones including the 5S ,are good enough for most people. My mom can’t tell the difference between 5S photos & SE photos.

 

[1rottenapple]

This phone seems like a great value. I always prefer the top of the line model, but I can see this being the smart choice for a lot of people. Apple did well here.

I got the 256 max and I regret not waiting. Oh well.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Apple hasn't come out with a phone yet that I like better than my iPhone 7. It's still plenty fast, nice size, and lightweight compared to the new phones. If I had to replace it I'd probably get a used iPhone X that still has AppleCare. I read the new Intel modems in the XS and XR don't work as well on Verizon.

 

[cliffster82]

The only thing that really bothers me about this phone is that Apple didn’t make a leather case for it. Besides that, I chose a black XR. I would have rather gotten a XS but, as every online review has explained, this is cheaper and almost as good. I kind of regret not getting red, but I wanted a seamless look. Now if only they had make a royal blue and not a baby blue, I would have bought that in 2 seconds.

 

[cliffster82]

Apple hasn't come out with a phone yet that I like better than my iPhone 7. It's still plenty fast, nice size, and lightweight compared to the new phones. If I had to replace it I'd probably get a used iPhone X that still has AppleCare. I read the new Intel modems in the XS and XR don't work as well on Verizon.

I hope this is not a big deal. My Verizon XR should arrive Friday. Eeek

 

[zeesix]

Most of the market wants large screens, so you’re in the minority. If the market wanted smaller screens, Apple would build them.

They still might but it’s clear people want larger screens.

I'd love to see evidence of that. This gets blurted out everywhere, but I haven't actually seen any evidence.

People will buy what's available, it's just that no smaller form factor is available. The closest comparison we have is the 6/7/8 plus and non-plus, and the X/Xs and Xs Max in terms of phones that are very similar but differ in size. For all of those I would bet that the smaller of the two sold more.

As to why Apple is going big? I think it must be because 1) it's way easier to design/build a larger phone... there is just more space to fit things in., 2) people are still buying the phones, 3) there is no competition that makes smaller phones

 

[Millah]

Me and my wife bought iPhone X last year. If we were both in the market for a new phone this year, it would be hard to ignore the $500 we would save on two of these phones over 2 XS.

Smartphones haven’t reached that point of simple yearly spec bumps like PCs and Macs. With Macs for many years since the 00s, the biggest area of innovation was software with OSX. Exciting hardware less cyclical. The iPhone is still gaining new hardware and software features on a yearly basis. XS has been the tamest upgrade so far, but that’s largely due to the leapfrog they made just 11 months prior with the X. You can’t get iPhone 4 and X levels of leapfrogs every year. But I don’t think for a minute that the playground is closed and the excitement is close to fading. Whether it comes from Apple or someone else (but my money is on Apple). The iPad still hasn’t come close to its goal and vision, there is a lot of disruption left to be done there too.

Maybe we’re all just taking technology in general for granted now. Largely thanks to the iPhone, helping make powerful sophisticated software ubiquitous in everyone’s pockets. I still marvel at the fact that I’m carrying in my pocket a sophisticated OSX/UNIX based multitouch tablet, connected to the internet everywhere I go. That wow factor never went away for me, even a decade later.

 

[Pipper99]

“the XR's display is perfectly adequate”... perfectly adequate 😀

Seems like damning with faint praise

 

[Ebok]

3) there is no competition that makes smaller phones

CAUSE NO ONE BUYS THEM... THEY DON'T SELL.

i'm sick of hearing people complain about this.

 

[jeremiah256]

For frequent 3D Touch users, there's good news -- Apple plans to make Haptic Touch work with more gestures in the future.

And it may be worth waiting for an extra month or so to see what they do. I'm coming from an iPhone 6S Plus and I'd love to be able to pick the iPhone XR as my next phone. I'd be gaining so much, but losing 3D Touch may be the deal breaker for me.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Not having 3D Touch on a flagship iPhone seems sloppy to me in terms of how Apple could potentially evolve that feature. Either they kill it off and replace it with whatever haptic system evolves on the XR model across all new models, or they have to decide whether to separately develop new 3D Touch features in iOS knowing those features will never reach what will eventually be a large install base of XR users.

The fact that they haven't done a lot with 3D Touch recently anyway (except maybe with Control Center in iOS 11) makes me feel like they don't care too much about the feature and are more likely to retire it than eventually re-add it to all their phones. If it were that important to them, they wouldn't have shipped a flagship phone without it (and they already shipped a non-flagship phone, the SE, without it along with all iPads). And look at the developer resources for 3D Touch; they're featuring the iPhone 6s and iOS 9: https://developer.apple.com/ios/3d-touch/

The thing is that I really like the feel of using it. I just don't think the developed enough software around it. I hope they don't deprecate it, but at the moment it seems that is the more likely option.