iPhone XS and XS Max Reviews: Not Dramatically Better Than iPhone X, Consider Waiting for iPhone XR

[adamjackson]

Apple says it's working with sunglass makers to ship new kinds of sunglasses that support Face ID.​

I'm probably going to regret upgrading to the new iPhone. I bought the iPhone 8 last year because I didn't want to go FaceID the first year and even on year two, I have upgraded but I don't think it's going to work for me.

• My password is 15 characters which is what work requires for our smartphones.
• I spend 250 days a year commuting to work on a motorcycle where my face is fully obstructed
• I wear sunglasses all weekend
• I wear glasses as well
• all of my notifications are locked down to require authentication (touch / face) to display the message so I can't read messages without unlocking the phone.

This is going to really suck because right now, I enter my passcode once per week on my phone when it prompts me to at random it seems. I'm going to spend so much time entering my passcode I'm going to probably just use my phone less if FaceID continues to suck.

I have never even touched and iPhone X before so I have no idea how FaceID works but it sounds to me that it's not going to work for my needs.

but TouchID is dead so I just have to deal with it.

 

[WannaGoMac]

Yep--I wear glasses all day every day, and my iPhone X does not care if I have them on or off or if I put on an old pair in certain situations. It unlocks either way. Patel has always had it in for FaceID. I actually think he went pretty easy on it this time around. Last year he seemed to hate it.

Same here. I love FaceID.

The issue with Face ID is when you take off your prescription eyeglasses, nearsighted folks end up holding the phone dramatically closer. This is when Face ID fails. If you're not that nearsighted you wont be effected since the iPhone will be about the same distance from your eyes with or without eyeglasses.

[doublepost=1537284616][/doublepost]

Apple says it's working with sunglass makers to ship new kinds of sunglasses that support Face ID.​

I'm probably going to regret upgrading to the new iPhone. I bought the iPhone 8 last year because I didn't want to go FaceID the first year and even on year two, I have upgraded but I don't think it's going to work for me.

• My password is 15 characters which is what work requires for our smartphones.
• I spend 250 days a year commuting to work on a motorcycle where my face is fully obstructed
• I wear sunglasses all weekend
• I wear glasses as well
• all of my notifications are locked down to require authentication (touch / face) to display the message so I can't read messages without unlocking the phone.

This is going to really suck because right now, I enter my passcode once per week on my phone when it prompts me to at random it seems. I'm going to spend so much time entering my passcode I'm going to probably just use my phone less if FaceID continues to suck.

I have never even touched and iPhone X before so I have no idea how FaceID works but it sounds to me that it's not going to work for my needs.

but TouchID is dead so I just have to deal with it.

See what i wrote above. Face ID works great provided you hold it at about the same distance from your eyes/face. And you probably shouldnt be messing with your iPhone while driving, especially on a donorcycle. As for reading notifications, its quite nice to just look at your phone and they appear on the screen seamlessly (usually).

ps. Where do you work they require a 15 character password to unlock your phone? That's absurd.

 

[Tiltasauras]

I want that purple background from the verge review

They posted them!
https://www.theverge.com/platform/a...ne-wallpapers-verge?__twitter_impression=true

 

[doboy]

Damn, wish Apple didn't have to go wider with the camera in the back, but I guess they had to for lower f-stop. It's distorting more than X and other brands when looking at the pictures on Mashable.

 

[jessemcgoldrick]

8+ owner here. I'll get a new phone for sure with my carrier this year and I'm eligible for an upgrade in October so I could wait for the Xr and don't waste a month of contract.
The price difference is big, actually in Europe is about $350 so even if I'm really tempted by the Xs I don't know if I can justify spending so much more.
I think the display is the most important part of a smartphone and although I'm happy with my 8+ LCD I know the ppi on the Xr are lower, so it would be a step backwards to me. Still a retina display, still a good resolution, but not great.
Dual camera: I take many shots with the telephoto lens, so I'd miss it.
3D touch: don't really care as iOS 12 allows to long press on the space bar to move around text and that's my main usage of 3D touch. Peek and Pop are good, but I only seldom use them.

In the end I don't know what to do, if the Xr had the same ppi as my 8+ I'd go for it without any doubts as the dual camera and OLED wouldn't be enticing enough, but as I'm going to look at the display for a few hours every day I want the best possibile technology there.
I don't think I'll get the Max, I got tired of having a big phone in my hands and in my pockets. That's another advantage of the Xs over the Xr.
With the difference between Xs and Xr I could sell my Apple Watch series 1 and buy a series 4, so that's part of the equation. If I decide to keep my series 1 for another year I'd have more budget for the Xs, otherwise I may save some money by going for the Xr and have a new Watch

Try and spend some time with a friend’s iphone 8 as they have the same ppi of 326 as the xr. If like many people you think the pixel density and screen quality of the 8 is absolutely fine with no impact on day to day enjoyment and the prospect of better battery life appeals, then ask yourself whether it’s worth spending 350 just for optical zoom...

 

[IamScotty]

I will wait till 2019 or 2020 when the new iPhones will have triple lenses.

 

[spiderman0616]

Apple says it's working with sunglass makers to ship new kinds of sunglasses that support Face ID.​

I'm probably going to regret upgrading to the new iPhone. I bought the iPhone 8 last year because I didn't want to go FaceID the first year and even on year two, I have upgraded but I don't think it's going to work for me.

• My password is 15 characters which is what work requires for our smartphones.
• I spend 250 days a year commuting to work on a motorcycle where my face is fully obstructed
• I wear sunglasses all weekend
• I wear glasses as well
• all of my notifications are locked down to require authentication (touch / face) to display the message so I can't read messages without unlocking the phone.

This is going to really suck because right now, I enter my passcode once per week on my phone when it prompts me to at random it seems. I'm going to spend so much time entering my passcode I'm going to probably just use my phone less if FaceID continues to suck.

I have never even touched and iPhone X before so I have no idea how FaceID works but it sounds to me that it's not going to work for my needs.

but TouchID is dead so I just have to deal with it.

All you have to do to see your locked notifications is look at the phone. When it sees you’re looking at it, the unlocked versions of the notifications reveal themselves. You can either raise the phone or touch the screen to wake it up. Also, your sunglasses might be fine. At least try it before freaking out.

 

[Harthag]

4X4 MIMO LTE support is nothing to scoff at and is a huge upgrade over every other iPhone. It isn't just for speed, it helps overall cellular connection and data transfer. This, upgraded camera, 4gb RAM, A12, IP68 are all solid upgrades. I previously sold my X (glad I did) and have been rocking an 8. Excited for the XS. My favorite iPhones are always S years.

 

[WannaGoMac]

oops

 

[i hate phones]

I'm confused... is the UI on the Max just blown up? or do you actually gain screen real estate. Looks like app rows are the same and icons are just bigger? Is that how it works across the board? everything is just bigger? ugh.

 

[OllyW]

Sure, for you, but a larger OLED screen, completely new form factor, premium materials like stainless steel, A12, better cameras, FaceID, among other things are plenty of reasons to upgrade for others. There are TONS of people still on iPhone 6, 6s, and 7. The cameras alone are reason to upgrade from those.

I agree that the new range are decent upgrades for those with older phones, especially the cheaper XR which I think will be very popular. I was just disagreeing with your opinion that "The XS is a huge upgrade for anyone on iPhone 8..."

The iPhone 8 Plus started at $800.

Apple hit the tipping point as to how much I was prepared to pay for a phone with last years pricing and the 8+ was right on the limit.

 

[KisakiSama]

I went with the 8+ last year, after wishing the X had more real estate. Seeing the photos coming in of the XS Max, I was sold. I think had I gone with the X, I would be very hesitant to upgrade this year, but I'm happy with the choices I've made.

 

[ztw2002]

the big OLED screen on the Xs MAX alone already worth the upgrade for me.

 

[nviz22]

8+ owner here. I'll get a new phone for sure with my carrier this year and I'm eligible for an upgrade in October so I could wait for the Xr and don't waste a month of contract.
The price difference is big, actually in Europe is about $350 so even if I'm really tempted by the Xs I don't know if I can justify spending so much more.
I think the display is the most important part of a smartphone and although I'm happy with my 8+ LCD I know the ppi on the Xr are lower, so it would be a step backwards to me. Still a retina display, still a good resolution, but not great.
Dual camera: I take many shots with the telephoto lens, so I'd miss it.
3D touch: don't really care as iOS 12 allows to long press on the space bar to move around text and that's my main usage of 3D touch. Peek and Pop are good, but I only seldom use them.

In the end I don't know what to do, if the Xr had the same ppi as my 8+ I'd go for it without any doubts as the dual camera and OLED wouldn't be enticing enough, but as I'm going to look at the display for a few hours every day I want the best possibile technology there.
I don't think I'll get the Max, I got tired of having a big phone in my hands and in my pockets. That's another advantage of the Xs over the Xr.
With the difference between Xs and Xr I could sell my Apple Watch series 1 and buy a series 4, so that's part of the equation. If I decide to keep my series 1 for another year I'd have more budget for the Xs, otherwise I may save some money by going for the Xr and have a new Watch

What I was wondering is to see if card companies allow $1000 purchases w/ the new iPhone and give a $200 rebate for new members. I feel like they're probably exempt, but that does come in handy to get the XS down to about $800 USD.

 

[Knowimagination]

Are there people that actually still care about anything Nilay or The Verge have to say?

I've been done with them for years.

 

[Baymowe335]

I agree that the new range are decent upgrades for those with older phones, especially the cheaper XR which I think will be very popular. I was just disagreeing with your opinion that "The XS is a huge upgrade for anyone on iPhone 8..."


Apple hit the tipping point as to how much I was prepared to pay for a phone with last years pricing and the 8+ was right on the limit.

I still think the OLED, edge to edge screen, FaceID, and new form factors give the X a huge advantage. The iPhone 8 is super old looking. Internally, it has good hardware...but it's pretty old aesthetic.

 

[kingtj]

This is pretty much what the "S" revisions of the iPhones are supposed to offer, so yeah....

I have to say though? The adjustable depth-of-field after taking a photo feature is pretty huge for at least a subset of people into photography. I spent hundreds on a relatively crappy Lytro camera, back when those first hit the market, simply because it promised to be able to accomplish this. The idea I could have the Lytro capabilities in my phone, along with everything else it does to take really good pictures? That's kind of compelling.

Just as expected. Huge upgrade for users of older phones, but for iPhone X owners quite marginal, with almost the same experience unless you want bigger screen. I’ll pass on this one.

 

[bookcase]

I'm in the Apple upgrade program, so there's really no reason for me not to upgrade. I'm up for renewal on December 27. I found with the X, I'm paying too much for space I don't use, so I'm going to downgrade to the base storage but go for the XS Max. I was wanting an iPad Mini, which I can skip and just use the larger screen of the phone.

 

[recoil80]

Try and spend some time with a friend’s iphone 8 as they have the same ppi of 326 as the xr. If like many people you think the pixel density and screen quality of the 8 is absolutely fine with no impact on day to day enjoyment and the prospect of better battery life appeals, then ask yourself whether it’s worth spending 350 just for optical zoom...

My wife owns an iPhone 8 and I can see the difference while I look at it. I'm not saying I can see the pixels, usually I don't unless the phone is close to my face, but I can feel the lower resolution. As you said iPhone 8 display is fine, nothing really wrong with it, but it is not great.
If the difference between good and great is worth spending $350 I don't know, that's what I need to figure out. Dual camera is nice to have, so is the improved water resistance. I don't care about the colours or the materials as I'll put it in a case anyway, so that's out of the equation.

 

[the johnmc]

Nope. I have the same here because I'm short-sighted and move the phone closer to my face at night/morning before I put my lenses in; the X doesn't recognise me close up.

Is there any reason you can't unlock the phone while holding it at the usual distance and then bring it closer to your face?

 

[magbarn]

Cynicism (trolling?) aside, FaceID works with the vast majority of sunglasses so this is a small problem to resolve. Curious about the reviewer’s comment regarding having to hold the phone too close for FaceID to work considering how quickly it does work I am surprised it doesn’t unlock as he brings the phone towards his face in the morning. I have tried this with my iPhone X and it takes effort to prevent FaceID from working; I literally have to “sneak up” on the phone. Seems to me both the IR sunglasses and holding the phone too close to your face (in such a way that it can’t unlock before you get it to your face) are issues that will affect a small subset of users and not reflective of most users experience and certainly not worth the weight given in this review or by this comment.

Millions of nearsighted people have something to say about that. One of the reasons why I went from X to 8+ was when I had my X, it would not unlock for me unless I moved it far enough from my face in the morning where the screen become blurry. Many of my sunglasses wouldn't work while driving, I also had to lift the phone off my desk in order to recognize me. My 8+ has none of those problems and the touchid blows away the faceid in unlock speed.

The XR would be downgrade with the loss of the telephoto camera, lower screen rez (the 8+ is 1080P), and loss of 3d touch.

The 15% cpu speed bump is also pathetic, the worst S cycle CPU speed bump...

 

[jessemcgoldrick]

This is pretty much what the "S" revisions of the iPhones are supposed to offer, so yeah....

I have to say though? The adjustable depth-of-field after taking a photo feature is pretty huge for at least a subset of people into photography. I spent hundreds on a relatively crappy Lytro camera, back when those first hit the market, simply because it promised to be able to accomplish this. The idea I could have the Lytro capabilities in my phone, along with everything else it does to take really good pictures? That's kind of compelling.

Any dual camera phone can technically create a depth map for photos, apps can then use that to apply a blur selectively. The A12 should be able to process this quicker but as I think someone else said, the only benefit of the xs should be that it can preview the blur live in the camera app. Editing the focus afterwards is not a new feature, any phone with access to photo that has a depth map should be able to process a blur emulating depth of field.

 

[The Game 161]

Consider waiting for the XR? There are so many people out there with iPhone 5/6/7, so the XS isn’t a good upgrade for them either? Lol.

The XS may not have a TON of differences from the X, but it’s still a great phone. It’s a worthy upgrade for many people. These reviews really should be speaking to people who hold onto their phones for YEARS.

And the XS Max is definitely worth it regardless if you have an X or earlier.

Think they just mean price wise

I’m upgrading for the bigger screen personally. Going from x to xs though certainly isn’t a big upgrade but it’s an S year

 

[MN7119]

I think we all expect a lot from Apple so the word "revolutionary" comes into mind all the time. But, as someone else said in here we are probably reaching a point where technology has hit a point where the leap to another revolution might take longer. What are the revolutionary features people expect Apple can deliver in their next iPhone? It would be nice to hear thoughts on what people expect from Apple so they have a WOW factor and rush to buy their revolutionary new iPhone.

In my case I am coming from a iPhone 7 plus into the new XS Max. Last year I bought the X and did not like the size. I hope the XS Max gives the features on the X on the size of my 7 Plus. That will be enough to be worth an upgrade.

 

[Xenomorph]

Wait for XR?

The new Shortcuts app just added a crapload of new 3D Touch functionality, and the iPhone XR will be MISSING all of that! An iPhone 6S from 2015 will be able to get more functionality out of iOS 12 than a new 2018 iPhone XR.

And oh yeah, that 326 DPI is getting old. The iPhone XR is the biggest phone yet from Apple to have such a weak pixel density. An iPhone 6 Plus from 2014 has 400+ DPI, but not the new 2018 iPhone XR.