Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone XR XR and XS screens look like this or is it exaggerated?
- Thread starter gaanee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yes, I was in the EE shop yesterday and compared the XR straight out of the box to the XS. The difference between OLED and LCD was night and day when placed next to each other. By itself, the XR screen looked lovely however when you see the XS, the XS whites were whiter than white whereas the XR was more beige yellow. I showed the girl and said to her, 'Can you see the difference between OLED and old fashioned LCD?'.
Here in the UK, the XR is only £10 to £15 per month cheaper than the XS on a contract. Personally, I'd rather pay the extra and go for the XS and for me, it's a nicer size. The XR was way too big for my taste and i'm not a fan of aluminium.
Here in the UK, the XR is only £10 to £15 per month cheaper than the XS on a contract. Personally, I'd rather pay the extra and go for the XS and for me, it's a nicer size. The XR was way too big for my taste and i'm not a fan of aluminium.
Yep. Direct comparisons really highlight the differences in screen vibrancy. Then again, in normal usage such comparisons are academic unless your memory is as vibrant as the XS screen
Unless you're looking at two devices side by side, you'd never notice.
I won't argue that there's a difference between OLED & LCD. But I don't think you'd see that difference in whites. At least, you shouldn't. The XR should absolutely have white whites. If you saw a unit displaying yellowish whites, then either TrueTone is on, or that particular phone is calibrated incorrectly. Which does certainly happen on iPhone displays - to both LCD & OLED screens (there's a huge thread in this forum on the subject).
The most obvious difference between OLED & LCD should be the blacks. Black on an OLED is truly black...not so on an LCD, because the backlight is still working.
Last edited:
I have been doing a lot of comparison between the XS and XR. I have examined with TT on and off.
The screen of my XS is noticeably warmer than the XR. I like a warm screen but I have to say that I prefer the ‘temp’ of the XR. TT on the XR seems to work better and is less aggressive.
My thoughts on the two.. I have shared in other threads.
- The screen on the XR is VERY nice.. and the text looks as good as my old 8+. Video also looks very good. I have compared the XS and XR side by side for at least an hour in multiple apps, with TT on and off, and the XR screen is very impressive.
- The color-shift of the OLED screen is not slight and as someone who edits photos on my phone it is a concern. I trust the colors/WB MUCH less on the OLED as the color is different based on angle, with TT on and off.
The screen of my XS is noticeably warmer than the XR. I like a warm screen but I have to say that I prefer the ‘temp’ of the XR. TT on the XR seems to work better and is less aggressive.
My thoughts on the two.. I have shared in other threads.
- The screen on the XR is VERY nice.. and the text looks as good as my old 8+. Video also looks very good. I have compared the XS and XR side by side for at least an hour in multiple apps, with TT on and off, and the XR screen is very impressive.
- The color-shift of the OLED screen is not slight and as someone who edits photos on my phone it is a concern. I trust the colors/WB MUCH less on the OLED as the color is different based on angle, with TT on and off.
This is my observation as well. One thing I instantly noticed on my wifes Xr is that the TT is far far less aggressive in trying to produce a warm tone. To be honest I would actually leave TT on with the Xr, I absolutely hate TT on the XS.
The best way I can think about it is if you've ever been in a vehicle that has been heavily smoked in and you are looking out through the windows. it all has a very yellow/smokey look. That's how I would explain true tone.
I have had an X, which was great. I moved on to the XS Max and it was equally fantastic. But to be honest I was intriqued by the XR, the colors are beautiful and the value is incredible for what you get. I just couldn't get used to LCD after all that time with OLED, and the LCD on the XR is outstanding. I think it's partially true the difference is most striking when the XR is right next to an OLED model, but if you get used to watching videos on the OLED you will notice the blacks are nowhere near as good on the LCD. Just my opinion and obviously if you suffer from PWM it's a moot point but I think once you are used to OLED it's really hard to to back.
That photo looks like mine (left). There is variation among panels. I decided to return my XR because it was much warmer than -every single- display model XR I compared it to. At least 6 in two different stores. Even the Apple employees saw it instantly and encouraged me to exchange it. I took a refund instead.
I had to turn tru tone off on my X Max - it was way too yellow and not far off what night shift is like.
Yes, LCD looks a bit washed out compared to OLED.
In this video the XR looks like the 7, meanwhile the 8 plus looks a bit better (although the brightness was higher on this)
In this video the XR looks like the 7, meanwhile the 8 plus looks a bit better (although the brightness was higher on this)
On my Samsung S9+ blacks are actually ruined by black crush. It makes darkened scenes that should have had smooth gradients look like gifs. It was so bad I couldn’t watch movies on my S9+ until an update improved the situation, though it did not totally fix it. The OLED on my Pixel 2 was atrocious with black crushing
The iPhone XS/XS Max OLED on the other hand, does do a beautiful job with blacks. I did a side by side comparison between my Xr and my husband’s Max and his display definitely made mine looked washed out in dark scenes. Apple did a fantastic job working with Samsung to get a beautiful OLED display.
However, at times the incredible contrast on his OLED display did darken details in shadows to the point they weren’t visible on his display but were on mine. In bright daylight scenes my Xr display had an advantage in scenes which had lots of motion or panning. There is a very slight jerky stutter that shows up on OLED in that case. I think there’s a thread about it here. I’m sure eventually that will be fixed, though.
Another reason why I went for the XS Max is because I wanted the most screen real estate I could possibly get
Oh you’ll definitely get that!
Someday when Apple is able to get rid of the notch it’s going to be incredible. The new iPads look fantastic.Uniformity is not good on couple xs max units that I tried. You can see that OP's max has green/yellow shift on the bottom of the screen which is what I see as well. Its hard to take a picture of, but it possible to see when lowering brightness and looking at 90% black. It can be reproduced with ScreenTest app from app store (free). In real life it manifests as annoying pink to yellow shift in mail, calendar etc.
Omg, no problem going from oled to lcd phone. I do have oled tv and have no problem with lcd macbook or iphone...
XR and XS screens look like this or is it exaggerated? Here the XR screen looks like it has some filter applied over it. Haven't seen both side by side in person, so asking for opinion.
Totally fake! If you turn on True Tone on the XR and the XS Max, the XS Max looks horrible and yellow whilst the XR looks fantastic, with it turned off they look the same.
I do wish people would stop believing all this endless utter BS about the XR screen on the web..
GO AND LOOK AT THE IPHONE XR SCREEN YOURSELF!!!
Last edited:
XR and XS screens look like this or is it exaggerated? Here the XR screen looks like it has some filter applied over it. Haven't seen both side by side in person, so asking for opinion.
Why don’t you show both screens with True Tone off then post a picture.
Agree. TT on the XS is aggressive. It looks much more balanced on XR.