iPhone XR I got the XR. But now I have second thoughts.

[Derek87]

Alright, for anyone interested to find out how this turned out: I tested the XR and the XS side-by-side for three days. Almost from the first minute, I knew XS was the way to go for me. As I said in the beginning, really my only concern about the XR was the size. The XS is not that smaller or lighter if you just compare the specs, but in person, as it were, it is a huge difference. The XS is a large smart phone, the XR is a phablet. It really felt like a brick in comparison, especially if you add a case. Most importantly, I can use the XS almost entirely one-handed.

While testing, I have also come to like a couple of other things about the XS which the XR lacks. First, the display is indeed sharper and the blacks are blacker, which is nice. But really, I very much liked the LCD on the XR so this would never have been a dealbreaker. Also, the whites on the XS are indeed somewhat yellowish, which is manageable, but certainly not a plus.

Second, I am quite happy to have the dual lens camera system. Portrait mode with the XS is a whole other story than with the XR. It is not only that you can take "portraits" of everything, not only persons (which is especially nice to have if you want to take a picture of a person who happens to look in the other direction). It is also the simple fact that you use a portrait lens for a portrait and not a wide-angle-lens, which is something a photographer would never dream of. Portrait shots thus turn out really nice and undistorted. It is true the XR lens works better in low light, but this advantage pales in comparison to the disadvantages.

Third, and most unexpected, I found the XS to sound much better than the XR. The speakers on both devices are great and (almost equally) loud, but the XS produces a much more balanced and nuanced sound. The XR is somewhat heavy on the trebles, while the XS sounds natural and you can actually hear much more detail in the music. I am bit of an audiophile, so not everyone might hear this or share this impression, but I am actually quite surprised that this has not been much of a point of discussion before. Of course, there are much better ways to listen to music than through your iPhone, but sometimes it's your only option and it is nice to have a great sounding device for such occasions.

In sum, I am very happy XS user now, enjoying even more about it than the size alone. However, none of the additional benefits would have made me get the XS over the XR. The XR, to me, remains a wonderful option for anyone who is happy with the size, which is a very individual thing indeed.

congrats on figuring out what worked for you. i came late to this thread but was curious to see what you ended up with. it sounds like arrived a happy place, also the same place i convinced myself to be after the keynote address in September.

i have owned the 6 and 7, and handled several friend's X phones in the past year. i knew the X was the max size for me even though i have large hands. i can just barely access everything one handed on the X (and Xs) so i went with that even though my subconscious kept balking at the extra $250 i paid to get the slightly smaller form factor. but i knew by specs alone that the XR would force me to start doing things two handed which i didn't want.

one thing i have noticed since owning the XS (even though i had handled the X many times before) is that it is indeed much denser than the 6 and 7 i've owned. the footprint of the XS is just slightly more than the 6/7, but it weighs considerably more. it took me a few weeks to get used to it, but i eventually did. (it is noticeably heavier in my pocket which to me was a pretty big adjustment)

like you, the OLED and second lens are nice bonuses. i like them, but if it weren't for the size factor, i would have certainly been willing to buy a small XR and save myself $250. for my wife's sake, i hope Apple will at some point release a smaller XR to replace the SE. she inherited my 7 and it was definitely a fair bit of adjustment due to the weight and size differences between the two. i had originally thought i'd gether with an XR for Christmas. however, i won't -- even though she uses the 7 two handed for a lot of things (she has small hands), she says she can't imagine wanting to handle a larger/heavier phone.

(when i pick up the 7 now, it feels like a feather!)

 

[ATC]

Alright, for anyone interested to find out how this turned out: I tested the XR and the XS side-by-side for three days. Almost from the first minute, I knew XS was the way to go for me. As I said in the beginning, really my only concern about the XR was the size. The XS is not that smaller or lighter if you just compare the specs, but in person, as it were, it is a huge difference. The XS is a large smart phone, the XR is a phablet. It really felt like a brick in comparison, especially if you add a case. Most importantly, I can use the XS almost entirely one-handed.

While testing, I have also come to like a couple of other things about the XS which the XR lacks. First, the display is indeed sharper and the blacks are blacker, which is nice. But really, I very much liked the LCD on the XR so this would never have been a dealbreaker. Also, the whites on the XS are indeed somewhat yellowish, which is manageable, but certainly not a plus.

Second, I am quite happy to have the dual lens camera system. Portrait mode with the XS is a whole other story than with the XR. It is not only that you can take "portraits" of everything, not only persons (which is especially nice to have if you want to take a picture of a person who happens to look in the other direction). It is also the simple fact that you use a portrait lens for a portrait and not a wide-angle-lens, which is something a photographer would never dream of. Portrait shots thus turn out really nice and undistorted. It is true the XR lens works better in low light, but this advantage pales in comparison to the disadvantages.

Third, and most unexpected, I found the XS to sound much better than the XR. The speakers on both devices are great and (almost equally) loud, but the XS produces a much more balanced and nuanced sound. The XR is somewhat heavy on the trebles, while the XS sounds natural and you can actually hear much more detail in the music. I am bit of an audiophile, so not everyone might hear this or share this impression, but I am actually quite surprised that this has not been much of a point of discussion before. Of course, there are much better ways to listen to music than through your iPhone, but sometimes it's your only option and it is nice to have a great sounding device for such occasions.

In sum, I am very happy XS user now, enjoying even more about it than the size alone. However, none of the additional benefits would have made me get the XS over the XR. The XR, to me, remains a wonderful option for anyone who is happy with the size, which is a very individual thing indeed.

Thanks for the update. I was keenly following this thread as I was fully intending to go through the same thing myself; I had the 128GB XR since Friday and thought it was too big/heavy coming from the 7. I ended up picking up my 256GB XS today at an Apple Store and was going to run the two side by side and compare over the next few days. Well, it only took a few hours to really make up my mind.

I thought the XS would really be a step up in one-handed usability compared to the XR but for some reason it didn't feel much better. To me the XS feels like a very dense device, it's quite heavy for its size and its overall dimensions didn't noticeably improve one-handed operation for me. Keep in mind I have fairly large hands so this is very subjective. The screen was also somewhat underwhelming (maybe too high an expectation on my part); not sure if it's because my XR's screen is really good but I was expecting a night/day difference but honestly I just didn't see it. True Tone appears to be very well handled on my XR, whereas on my XS it was almost unnaturally yellow. Turning off TT, both screens appeared very cool, almost blueish. I think I prefer TT On and it's definitely better on the XR, at least to my eyes.

I didn't test the audio/music between the two but I did make a few calls using speakerphone and for me I couldn't hear any difference.

Two days ago I honestly would have wagered that I'd be returning the XR. I'm not sure whether the last 4 days really got me used to the size/weight or that my expectations of the difference between the two devices were sky-high, but I've already packed up the XS and will be returning it.

It's funny how we all come to different conclusions, even using the same devices. As you said, it's all very individual indeed. I now think Apple did well to offer all three options this year.

 

[austyn23]

I went back to the iphone 7 and was like heaven...

 

[77sunsetstrip]

I went back to the iphone 7 and was like heaven...

I know that feeling. Same with me going back to 8 Plus. Pure heaven.

 

[mac4good84]

I had a chance to look at the XR yesterday in person and wow, it does feels like a brick. For starters the phone loses with me because of the larger size ( I have an iPhone 7 currently at its perfect) but I tried a 6 PLUS years before and it was just so unwieldy. Second, after looking at both the X and now the Xs, it is hard to look at the screen of the XR. While the quality of the LCD is great (always is with Apple products), once you start playing around with the X/Xs and look at the OLED quality, you simply can't go back. If and when I do upgrade my 7, my viewpoint is I believe the extra $150 (X) or $250 (Xs) is worth spending to get a better quality phone. The Xs is such a premium feel phone when I put it in my hands in every regard; I don't get that same feel with the XR. And those bezels really do stand out to me as well when compared to the other models.

In short, if I decide to upgrade anytime soon it would be an X at a discounted price or the Xs. I love my iPhone 7 and am prepared to keep going with it, but my wife's 6s has some issues so I may give her my 7 and get something else so we will see what happens. Everyone's needs and preferences are different though, this is all IMO.