Apple got a lot of criticism last year for making the finish on the Xr much worse and cheaper looking than Xs. This year, instead of improving the finish on the 11 so there's less disparity they, instead, worsened the 11 Pro finish.
2018 typical complaint: Xr finish looks terrible relative to Xs for a $749 starting phone.
2019 typical complement: 11 finish isn't bad compared to 11 Pro and it's $50 less than last year.
So, Apple managed to fix a common complaint without incurring additional cost and may have even profited more from cost reduction.