1st impression - WTH? What kind of price is it? 
2nd thought - 1 day later...... screw it - just ordered both S4 + Max
2nd thought - 1 day later...... screw it - just ordered both S4 + Max
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iPhone XS vs. iPhone XR: Design, Tech Specs, and Price Comparison
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Except that the Xr is nearly the size of the 8+.
Way to spin it...
iPhone 8: 750x1334, 326 PPI (specs)
Same PPI as the iPhone 8 introduced in 2017. Which I'm not aware of many complaints about...
Well, I will say the regular 6, 6s, and 7 have 326ppi. I never have noticed pixels on my 6s screen. I'm sure the old Plus and Xs models look better but I doubt the Xr screen will suck.
Anyone with an iPhone Plus will notice the difference. Things simply look more crisp on the Plus, even despite the fact that the 6 / 6s / 7 / 8 Plus all run at a non-native resolution (1242x2208 which gets downsampled to the 1080x1920 physical resolution).
Sure someone could get used to the lower PPI, but we're talking about a $749 iPhone from 2018 being a partial downgrade from a $749 iPhone from 2014, with something as important as the display quality...
What else on FaceID do you want improved besides speed? They did improve speed, we just don’t know how much.
It will take a couple years for the notch to go most likely if that’s your problem.
It only starts looking worse when you use a higher PPI screen. Then suddenly you can notice how less sharp it is.
Just get the 8+ and forget about the marketing hogwash like Liquid Retina, etc. The 8+ has a much better screen resolution and dual cameras, 3D touch.
Even with one less gb the benchmarks have the Xr surprisingly close to the much more expensive models. Sure it’s due to less pixels to push but getting the same gpu and cpu but with over an hour better battery than the Max is darn impressive. I have an 8 Plus and the Xr has 1.5 more hours than the plus. Insane.
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I canceled my Max order to get a 128gb Product Red Xr for $799. Bam! Happy I did.
Them thicc bezels tho... I have OCD so unless I couldn't afford it I would have to get the one with the best specs and the thinnest bezels.
All iPhone non-Plus LCD displays have been 326ppi for many years. Nothing at all wrong with that pixel density.
For context, the iPad Pro have 264 ppi, much lower than the XR. Also, the OLED ppi of 458 is effectively lower due to the pentile subpixel arrangement. Not sure what the equivalent ppi would be to compare to LCD, something around 400 iirc.
If your eyes can notice the difference, you might want to pay the extra $$ and get the flagship, or buy a 7 Plus or 8 Plus if ppi is the most important thing to you.
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Marco Arment and others have discussed how the pixel pointers or placement is the same on the Xr as the Xs line but are 2x vs 3x, or some other technical gibberish as that. Basically it impressed them as it means it won’t look bad, in layman’s terms. Sounds good to me. My wife and son have an 8 and I have an 8 Plus. I’ve seen videos on their phones and never was disappointed. Apple also said this is the best lcd they’ve ever made.
Not sure if anyone has noticed this, but the Xr behaves similar to the Xs Max in terms of the software. From the preview videos you can see when they rotate it into landscape mode it will behave like the "plus" model. This is also the case in the simulator...
Maybe if you just browse Facebook and similar stuff. If you use any ram intensive games or apps, then the extra RAM can make a big difference.
Kind of reminds me of the air 2 vs the “new” iPad 9.7. Air 2 has the better screen.
That's pretty much it, make all the excuses you like, iPhone 6,7,8, a 2014 design with a smaller display. It's a $750 phone with sub FHD on a 6.1" display, in 2018, that's poor. Convince yourself Apple are doing you a favour and as usual the same old arguments of 'well we don't really need it', 'Apple know best' are rolled out. Apple are bending you over right and proper. If any Android smartphone manufacturer tried this we'd be calling them out.
As long as we all just take this crap from Apple they'll keep short changing us for top dollar prices.
Perhaps in the USA, but phones in Canada are unlocked by law. No exceptions.
I am borderline dependent on 3D Touch for text entry on my phone, so this gave me pause.
But I did some reading and learned that supports the cursor tricks without 3D Touch. I had no idea. Thanks for prompting my search.