iPhone XR screen real estate iPhone XR vs iPhone 8 plus

[unagimiyagi]

Hi,

Does the 6.1" iPhone XR screen actually show more data than the old iPhone 8 plus' screen?
I'm talking about whether the 6.1" screen is wider than the old 5.5" screen.
I was disappointed to find that the iPhone X, despite being 5.8", is narrower than the 5.5" plus screen. I'll take it, but I did not realize that the proportions of the screen matter too. Too tall and narrow, and it's not the same viewing experience.
The sensation is that the plus screen feels bigger because it's wider and more useful.

 

[Dave-Z]

Someone else on the forums here posted this and I found it useful. It details the resolutions for iPhone devices in great detail:

https://www.paintcodeapp.com/news/ultimate-guide-to-iphone-resolutions

So in terms of what's actually displayed the XR has the same width (in portrait) as Plus models, but is taller so it would show more vertically (in portrait).

 

[EugW]

The XR shows 22% more information than the 8 Plus vertically (if you ignore the loss from the notch). As mentioned, in terms of data displayed width-wise, it's the same.

However, everything on screen is smaller on the XR, so text would be smaller. In addition, the 8 Plus is a 401 ppi LCD whereas the XR is a 326 ppi screen. That means for some people small text may be crisper on the 8 Plus.

Also, since the 8 Plus is physically wider and has a perfect 16:9 aspect ratio, 16:9 videos will be larger on the 8 Plus than the XR. The width of the XR screen is close to 4 mm narrower than the 8 Plus screen. OTOH, for 2.35:1 movies, they will be bigger on the XR screen than the 8 Plus.

 

[unagimiyagi]

Thank you this is just a perfect answer. Didn’t realize though that a 6.1” elongated screen is still physically narrower than even a iPhone 6+ 5.5” screen. But more importantly the XR does display the same information of a plus phone. I think with the better camera, the XR is going to be a monster seller. It even has portrait mode and if it can approach the pixel 2 level that’s all I need.