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iPhone XR How much sharper is the XS display compared to the XR?

Y

Yogosans14

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2017
140
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North Carolina
The display on my 8+ was way sharper than my current XR.

The display is good but not good enough for my needs and I want to return it ASAP for the XS. How much of a difference will i notice especially with like black text and stuff?
 
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Should be better than your 8+.

BTW, 8+ being way sharper is quite a stretch.
 
doboy said:
BTW, 8+ being way sharper is quite a stretch.
Click to expand...

Sadly, it's not a stretch. 8+ is way sharper than XR. I compared it myself with various text sizes and images. I laughed at people who got furious over the announcement of 326ppi on XR. Now I'm thinking of returning it, because of the blurry fonts. It's truly disappointing. XR is beautifully compacted phone with barely passable display.
Apple really thought they could fool the majority of people. Maybe they did.
 
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The XR is an @2x retina, the same as all previous retina iPhones excluding the plus iPhones and X/S/Max. This means it renders each non-retina pixel (point) as 4 real pixels. The plus iPhones and X/S/Max render @3x (9 pixels per point) so there's more detail in the images they display. It should be noticeable, but only really if you have them side by side or know what you're looking at, the XR should be about the same as an 8.
 
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Adoeete said:
Sadly, it's not a stretch. 8+ is way sharper than XR. I compared it myself with various text sizes and images. I laughed at people who got furious over the announcement of 326ppi on XR. Now I'm thinking of returning it, because of the blurry fonts. It's truly disappointing. XR is beautifully compacted phone with barely passable display.
Apple really thought they could fool the majority of people. Maybe they did.
Click to expand...
It’s because the 8+ is 1080p and the Xr is only 828p. The numbers don’t lie.
 
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Shanghaichica said:
[doublepost=1541409180][/doublepost]
It’s because the 8+ is 1080p and the Xr is only 828p. The numbers don’t lie.
Click to expand...
That’s only half the story. What makes the iPhone 8 Plus sharper is that it’s actually rendering an image with higher detail than the XR, the resolution only gives it the capability of displaying [more of] the detail. If the 8 plus was rendering an 828x1792 display image it wouldn’t look any better than the XR - indeed it would most likely look worse because of the interpolation penalty.
 
Adoeete said:
Yes, 8+ is 1080p 401PPI. If only XR was 1080p 401PPI(with that big full screen). It would've been the best phone of the year for me
Click to expand...
It is a shame. Apple do seem to be gauging their loyal consumers.

I know comments like this aren't apt, but I don't think Jobs would've gone down this road.
 
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I don’t see what you all are seeing. I spent a good while comparing fonts on a XR and a Max and was hard pressed to see a difference, and I had a new prescription in my eyeglasses.

If you’re into watching movies and such on your iPhone, I could see making a case for OLED. However, a comparable Max would be $450 US over a 128GB XR, too large a difference for my needs and budget. But if OLED and perceived resolution make a difference to you (and folks’ perceptions do vary), get the XS/Max. It’s a great phone.
 
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Pelea said:
tbh the xr display kind of looks like watching a 144p video on youtube.. it's very dissapointing.
Click to expand...

Shanghaichica said:
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It’s because the 8+ is 1080p and the Xr is only 828p. The numbers don’t lie.
Click to expand...
At the same time millions and millions of people have been using their iPhone 8, 7, 6, etc. just fine for years and years.
 
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goobot said:
It's not actually, The Xr has the same ppi as the 8 (326ppi) where all the + sized phones have a ppi of 401.
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I know that. I have a 7+ I compare my XR to and I find it fine. I think ppl are just being hysterical based on specs.
 
Broadus said:
I don’t see what you all are seeing. I spent a good while comparing fonts on a XR and a Max and was hard pressed to see a difference, and I had a new prescription in my eyeglasses.

If you’re into watching movies and such on your iPhone, I could see making a case for OLED. However, a comparable Max would be $450 US over a 128GB XR, too large a difference for my needs and budget. But if OLED and perceived resolution make a difference to you (and folks’ perceptions do vary), get the XS/Max. It’s a great phone.
Click to expand...
Same. I didn’t pixel peep my 8+ versus the XR but in using the XR I felt the text density/clarity was VERY close to the 8+. My issue was text size on the XR, in apps like Safari, is noticeable smaller.
 
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For me, the test is plenty sharp. I can read it just fine, and thats all the sharpness you really need.

The big benefit of the XR is how easy it is on the eyes. I can stare at it all day and my eyes feel fine. With OLED and even the 8+, my eyes would get very tired and strained. The XR is easy on the eyes, battery lasts forever, and screen overall looks great.
 
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Shanghaichica said:
The resolution on the iPad is much higher than on the Xr. Also you view an iPad from much further away than a phone.
Click to expand...

PPI not resolution. the XR has a higher PPI than the iPad.

Do you really view an iPad that much further away than a big phone?
 
C DM said:
Much farther away? I don't think that's the case in many instances.
Click to expand...

Well I use my iPad on a table or on my lap. My phone is held up in my line of sight and is much closer to my eyes and face. I don't need to hold my iPad close because it has a a much larger display.

However the resolution on the ipad is much higher than the resolution of the Xr.
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zx128k said:
PPI not resolution. the XR has a higher PPI than the iPad.

Do you really view an iPad that much further away than a big phone?
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I said the resolution was was higher not the ppi and yes I do view an iPad for a lot further away as the screen is significantly bigger than the Xr or even the max.
 
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