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spacemnspiff

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 11, 2009
929
746
MD
I have an Xs and my wife has an XR, we both set it to the smallest text size on our phones. XR seems to have a smaller text size than the Xs at the smallest setting. I am surprised by this, this is in-spite of Xs having a higher resolution display than XR. I could go with smaller text size on the Xs if the setting allowed it.

Anyone know why this is so for Xs?
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,442
22,997
The iPhone XR has a higher density display with more subpixels per inch compared to iPhone Xs.

Also, Apple treats iPhone XR like a Max device and supports landscape mode. The smallest text size is likely intended for users who need the most display space. Most Xs users aren't likely looking for that.
 

spacemnspiff

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 11, 2009
929
746
MD
The iPhone XR has a higher density display with more subpixels per inch compared to iPhone Xs.

Also, Apple treats iPhone XR like a Max device and supports landscape mode. The smallest text size is likely intended for users who need the most display space. Most Xs users aren't likely looking for that.
Thanks for the reply. I am confused by the pixel density statement, Xs is supposed to have 458 ppi and XR is at 326 ppi. Is this to do with the Xs being a OLED and the real comparable pixel density to LCD is something lesser?
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,442
22,997
Thanks for the reply. I am confused by the pixel density statement, Xs is supposed to have 458 ppi and XR is at 326 ppi. Is this to do with the Xs being a OLED and the real comparable pixel density to LCD is something lesser?

That's correct, with an OLED iPhone, the definition of what a pixel is has changed.

OLED pixel = 2 subpixels (RG or BG)
LCD pixel = 3 subpixels (RGB)

Xs display width = 2.46"
Xs horizontal resolution = 1,125 pixels
2,250 subpixels across the display width.

XR display width = 2.54"
XR horizontal resolution = 828 pixels
2,484 subpixels across the display width.
 
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spacemnspiff

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 11, 2009
929
746
MD
That's correct, with an OLED iPhone, the definition of what a pixel is has changed.

OLED pixel = 2 subpixels (RG or BG)
LCD pixel = 3 subpixels (RGB)

Xs display width = 2.46"
Xs horizontal resolution = 1,125 pixels
2,250 subpixels across the display width.

XR display width = 2.54"
XR horizontal resolution = 828 pixels
2,484 subpixels across the display width.
Below is the pattern of LCD vs OLED in an iPhone X sub-pixel.

iphone-xs-vs-xr-lcd-vs-oled-1.jpg


But what confounds me is this, based on the sub-pixel density, iPhone Xs has slightly more sub-pixel density and also smaller screen size, so that should result in smaller text size in the Xs vs the XR.

  • iPhone Xr 6.1 "/ 4.46 million dots / 326 real ppi
  • iPhone Xs 5.8 "/ 5.48 million dots / 368 real ppi
Above info is from here
 
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