iPhone XR

 

Apple's lower-cost prior-generation 2018 iPhone, starting at $499.

At a Glance

• Apple's 2018 $499 iPhone XR is a budget alternative to the new Apple range, with a 6.1-inch LCD, a rear 12-megapixel single-lens camera, and an A12 chip.

Specs

• Edge-to-edge display with Face ID
• Glass body with aluminum frame
• 12-megapixel rear camera
• A12 Bionic chip
• IP67 water and dust resistance
• Six color options
• $499 price tag

iPhone XR

The iPhone XR, launched on September 12, 2018, is a lower-cost smartphone that, alongside the newer iPhone 12 lineup, the iPhone 11, and the iPhone SE, is still sold two years later as a lower-priced option. For budget-conscious customers who do not want or need the latest technology from Apple, the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 are choices.

The aim of Apple with the iPhone XR, originally priced starting at $749 and now available starting at $499, was to meet as many clients as possible at the time with its new technology, so the iPhone XR adopted many iPhone XS and XS Max features while still compromising to keep costs down in certain places.

The iPhone XR features a precision-machined 7000 Series aerospace-grade aluminium frame that wraps around an all-glass enclosure with the same durable glass used in the more expensive iPhone XS. Apple designed the iPhone XR in six colors: white, black, blue, coral, yellow, and (PRODUCT)RED.

With the glass body, wireless charging based on Qi is enabled, and the unit features water resistance IP67 to keep it protected from splashes and spills. The iPhone XR has a larger display than the iPhone 8 Plus previous version, but it was launched next to it in a smaller body that ranges between the 5.8-inch iPhone XS and the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max.

For the iPhone XR, Apple produced a new "Liquid Retina" display, which is a 6.1-inch LCD with a resolution of 1792 x 828 that stretches from edge-to-edge and top to bottom with minimal bezels. As with the iPhone XS, the iPhone XR does not have a home button and the swipe-based navigation feature introduced in the iPhone X is used.

In a smartphone with support for 120Hz touch sensing, Tap to Wake, and large colour, Apple named the Liquid Retina display the most advanced LCD ever. It helps True Tone adjust the display's white balance to the room's ambient lighting, and Apple claims it has impressive colour accuracy.

The LCD does not support 3D Touch, but as a replacement, Apple implemented a new Haptic Touch function to provide haptic answers to certain movements on the computer.

The iPhone XR uses the same TrueDepth camera system instead of Touch ID that is in the iPhone XS with quicker, more powerful Face ID facial recognition to unlock your smartphone, make payments for Apple Pay, and more.

Inside the iPhone XR has a 7-nanometer A12 Bionic chip with two output cores that are 15 percent faster than the A11 and four efficiency cores that are up to 50 percent more efficient. In the A12, the four-core GPU is up to 50 percent quicker than the A11.

For major upgrades to all apps and features using AR and machine learning, an 8-core Neural Engine completes up to 5 trillion operations per second. Instead of adopting a single-lens rear camera, iPhone XR does not use a dual-lens camera system like iPhone XS or iPhone 11, but Apple has made software advancements to make it almost as usable as the dual-lens camera in the more costly versions of iPhone XS.

It features an f/1.8 12-megapixel wide-angle lens with a 32 percent larger sensor, which is essentially the same wide-angle camera used in the iPhone XS, for sharper, more accurate low-light images. The camera supports stabilization of optical images, enhanced True Tone Flash, and has twice as many focal pixels.

Apple allowed Portrait Mode in the iPhone XR via software, a feature that was previously restricted to dual-lens cameras. Portrait Mode enables users to take DSLR-quality photos that concentrate the image on the subject of the picture with artful background blur. Advanced bokeh has also been implemented for improved blur and depth control, enabling a photo's depth of field to be changed after it is taken.

Even in situations where lighting conditions are low, Smart HDR brings out more detail in highlights and shadows, and broad colour support results in rich, colorful images.

The TrueDepth 7-megapixel camera on the front makes all the features available in the more costly iPhone XS, including Portrait Mode, Portrait Lighting, Depth Control, and more for what Apple claims are the "best selfies you've ever taken."

When it comes to battery life at the time of its launch, the iPhone XR had the longest battery life of any Apple iPhone, but that's no longer the case with Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup with substantial battery life increases. However the battery in the iPhone XR lasts an hour and a half longer than the iPhone 8 Plus, delivering 25 hours of talk time or 15 hours of internet use.

Other iPhone XR features include one nano-SIM and one eSIM dual-SIM support, Apple Pay, LTE Advanced with 2x2 MIMO, 25+ LTE band support, and Bluetooth 5.0.0.

The iPhone XR is available in 64 and 128 GB storage capacities as of the introduction of the iPhone 12 lineup and pricing begins at $499 in the U.S.

iPhone XR Price

The iPhone XR is available for purchase from third-party sellers in Apple retail stores, the Apple online store, and from others. For the 64 GB model, prices for the iPhone XR start from $499, while a 128 GB model is available for $549. Apple also sells refurbished iPhone XR models with refurbished prices starting at $ 419 on occasion.

For two years of coverage or $7.99 a month for continuing coverage, AppleCare+ is eligible for the iPhone XR for $149. AppleCare+ expands the iPhone XR warranty which offers coverage every 12 months with a $29 - $99 deductible for two cases of unintentional injury. Enhanced AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss coverage is priced at $219 or $11.49 per month (up to two accidents every 12 months with $149 deductible per theft or loss incident).

Design

The iPhone XR looks like the iPhone XS 5.8-inch, but it has a wider 6.1-inch display, so it's a mid-sized phone that fell between the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max 6.5-inch. It is smaller than the one it replaced with the iPhone 8 Plus, but with a larger screen.

The iPhone XR has an edge-to-edge display with thin bezels and no home button like the iPhone XS, instead of implementing a notch and the Face ID TrueDepth camera system. Due to the limitations of the LCD, the iPhone XR is fitted with an LCD that has slightly thicker bezels than the XS instead of using an OLED display.

There's a notch on the front of the XR that houses the TrueDepth camera system, speaker, and ambient light sensor, but other than that, the entire display is the iPhone XR.

With a matching 7000 Series aluminium frame, the iPhone XR features a glass body in one of six colours, which is lighter and less costly than the iPhone XS's stainless steel frame. The iPhone XR is extremely vulnerable to breaking when falling, like all of Apple's glass-backed iPhones.

The iPhone XR is 150.9 mm tall, 75.7 mm wide and 8.3 mm thick, which means it's thicker than the 7.7 mm iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. It weighs 194 g. The 5.8-inch iPhone XS, for comparison, is 143.6 mm tall and 70.9 mm wide, while the XS Max is 157.5 mm tall and 77.4 mm wide.

Color Options

Apple created a six-color iPhone XR, marking the first time iPhones have been made available in colours other than silver, space grey, gold and red since the 2013 iPhone 5c.

IPhone XR comes with glass bodies and corresponding anodized aluminium frames in white, black, blue, coral, yellow, and (PRODUCT)RED.

To go along with the iPhone XR, Apple offers a transparent iPhone case that's designed to show off the bright colours of the smartphone. In December 2018, two months after the launch of the iPhone XR, the case was released.

Water and Dust Resistance

The iPhone XR is water and dust resistant to IP67, which means it is dust resistant and can withstand immersion in water up to one metre (3.3 feet) deep in laboratory conditions for 30 minutes.

Intentional water exposure should be avoided, although the iPhone XR can endure splashes, rain, and brief unintentional water exposure. Apple warns that resistance to water and dust is not a permanent condition and might decrease as a result of normal wear.

Apple's warranty also does not cover any kind of water damage to iOS devices, so it's best to use caution when exposing the iPhone XR to liquids.

Display

The iPhone XR is fitted with the smartphone's most advanced LCD, which has many technical developments to make it bigger than ever.

In order to extend the display to the edges of the screen, Apple says new engineering techniques for pixel antialiasing and pixel masking have been developed. In addition to a new backlight design, Apple has used LEDs that fit into a smaller space than ever before to make the display wider and capable of touching the corners of the iPhone.

The display of the iPhone XR is 6.1 inches and has a resolution of 1792 x 828 with 326 pixels per inch and 1.4 million total pixels, which means it is smaller than the OLED display of the iPhone XS models, but on par with previous LCD iPhones.

Although not OLED, the display of the iPhone XR supports many of the latest developments in Apple technology, including Tap to Wake to activate the display with a single tap, a swipe-based gesture system to replace the Touch ID Home button, True Tone to align the white balance of the display with the ambient lighting, and large colour for vibrant colours that are true to life.

It has a contrast ratio of 1400:1, which is one of the places where the iPhone XS falls short. The OLED display of the XS has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. Colors are not quite as rich, nor are blacks quite as black, but they have the same overall luminosity of 625 cd/m2.

Haptic Touch

In the iPhone XR, Apple removed the 3D Touch feature and instead substituted it with a new Haptic Touch option, which the company claims is identical to the MacBook Pro's haptic trackpad.

3D Touch is accessible in the operating system of iOS 12 and is mostly used via a force press gesture to show additional information. Haptic Touch does not have the same functions, but Haptic Touch gives feedback when doing stuff like pressing force on the camera icon on the iPhone XR Lock screen or long pressing alerts (as of iOS 12.1.1).

Apple discontinued 3D Touch in its flagship range with the introduction of iPhone 11 and 11 Pro in 2019, replacing it with the Haptic Touch option introduced in the iPhone XR. Apple has increased the number of locations where Haptic Touch can be used on the iPhone XR, and in iOS 13, Apple has introduced long press gestures in the 3D Touch style that function on the newest iPad, iPhone XR, and Apple phones, further signaling the 3D Touch sunset.

A12 Bionic Processor

The iPhone XR is fitted with a new A12 Bionic 7-nanometer chip that is faster and more powerful than the A11 iPhone X of the previous generation.

The A12 has two high-performance cores that are up to 15% faster than the A11 Bionic and four efficiency cores that use up to 50% less power. Combined with a larger battery, the A12 allows the iPhone XR to have a much longer battery life.

As with the A11, when a boost in power is required, the A12 can leverage all six of its cores at once and a new performance controller dynamically divides work across the cores for the best performance and battery life.

Apple's A12 Bionic features a 4-core GPU that provides graphics output up to 50 percent faster than the A11 chip.

Neural Engine

The first Neural Engine was implemented by the A11 Bionic, and the A12-chip has an 8-core version of the next generation that uses real-time machine learning to power features in the operating system, boost picture taking, gaming, virtual reality, and more.

The Neural Engine is capable of conducting five trillion operations per second, according to Apple, enabling more to be done in real time. It is what drives the features of machine learning in the iPhone XR, such as photo search, Face ID, and experiences in augmented reality.

Apple has also opened the Neural Engine to the Core ML framework for the first time which means developers can take advantage of the capabilities of real-time machine learning in their apps. Core ML runs up to nine times faster on the A12 Bionic than on the A11 Bionic.

The A12 Bionic brings faster detection of rear camera AR textures, improved front-facing camera AR experiences, realistic 3D gaming experiences, and faster Face ID.

RAM and Storage Space

The iPhone XR comes with 3 GB of RAM, 1 GB less than the iPhone XS and XS Max, and the same amount of RAM as the iPhone X. The iPhone XR is available with capacities of 64 and 128 GB.

Face ID and the TrueDepth Camera System

Face ID, launched with the iPhone X in 2017, is the biometric authentication method used in the iPhone XR, featuring a notch housing the Face ID enabled TrueDepth camera system.

With the exception of speed enhancements, Face ID plays the same function as Touch ID, except that it uses a facial scan instead of a fingerprint, and Face ID on the iPhone XR is similar to Face ID on the iPhone X. Face ID is able to identify your face and unlock your computer quicker than ever with the latest A12 Bionic chip and Neural Engine enhancements.

Face ID is used across the iOS operating system for tasks like accessing the iPhone, enabling access to third-party passcode-protected applications, checking transactions in iTunes and the App Store, and authenticating Apple Pay payments.

Face ID operates through a series of sensors and cameras, called the TrueDepth Camera system, built into the front of the iPhone XR. A Dot Projector projects more than 30,000 invisible infrared dots onto your face to create a facial scan, which is then read by an infrared camera.

This deep map of your face is then moved to the A12 Bionic processor, where it is converted into a mathematical model used by the iPhone to ensure that you are trying to access your iPhone.

Face ID uses infrared, so it operates with a built-in Flood Illuminator in low light and in the dark, ensuring that ample light is still available to take a facial scan. Face ID works for caps, beards, glasses, sunglasses, scarves, lipstick, and all other things and accessories that can partially hide a face, but in order to work, you need to see your eyes, nose and mouth.

The built-in Neural Engine A12 Bionic chip ensures that Face ID can adapt over time to subtle facial adjustments, so Face ID w adjusts and continues to unlock your iPhone if you grow your hair longer or grow a beard. In iOS 12, if your face changes dramatically during the day due to sunglasses, scarves, or other accessories, there is an option to add an alternative look.

Face ID Security and Privacy

A accurate 3D face scan that is unable to be fooled by a picture, mask, or other facial imitation is used by Face ID. The security feature "Attention Aware" allows Face ID to unlock your smartphone only when you look with your eyes open in the direction of the iPhone XR, so it does not work when your eyes are closed, when you sleep, when you are asleep, or when you look away from your phone.

Attention is optional and there is an accessibility mode for those who are unable to concentrate on the screen of the iPhone to turn it off but most people would choose to keep it on for the added layer of protection.

The iPhone XR knows when you're looking at it with the attention recognition feature. When you look at the iPhone XR, Face ID shows alerts and messages on the Lock screen, keeps the screen illuminated, and automatically lowers the volume of an alarm or ringer when it knows that your attention is on the display of the iPhone XR.

Face ID can be disabled easily and discreetly if a criminal needs your iPhone by pressing the side button and the volume button at the same time. Before handing over your phone, do this and a criminal will not be able to scan your face. After two unsuccessful facial recognition attempts, Face ID still switches off and a passcode must be entered for it to be switched back on.

Face ID data is encrypted and stored on the iPhone XR in the Secure Enclave. Your Face ID data can't be accessed by Apple, nor can anyone who has your phone. With no Face ID data ever stored in the cloud or uploaded to Apple, authentication occurs entirely on your computer. Third-party developers do not have access to the facial map that Face ID uses to unlock a computer, but the TrueDepth camera can be used to scan a user's face for the purpose of making more realistic augmented reality applications.

With Face ID, there is a 1 in 1,000,000 probability that Face ID will trick someone else's face, but with an alternative appearance registered in iOS 12, the error rate increases to 1 in 1 in 500,000. Identical twins, adolescents, and a carefully designed mask have been fooled by Face ID, but it's still safe enough that the average citizen does not need to worry about someone else unlocking their iPhone.

TrueDepth Camera Specs

Apart from powering Face ID with infrared additions, the TrueDepth Camera is also a standard front-facing 7-megapixel camera that can be used for selfies and FaceTime calls. As of iOS 14.2, WiFi connections stream FaceTime calls to 1080p.

Several new features are enabled by the front-facing camera in iPhone XR, including Smart HDR for portraits that capture more detail in shadows and highlights, and a new Depth Control feature that allows you to change the amount of blur in a picture in front-facing Portrait Mode after it is taken, or when composing an image in real-time as of iOS 12.1.

Wide colour and portrait lighting functions are available, as with the iPhone X, so you can change the lighting in your pictures. There is however, enhanced bokeh in your photographs for better DSLR-style blurring.

It is possible to use the TrueDepth camera to record 1080p HD video at 30 or 60 frames per second.

Animoji and Memoji

There are two features called "Animoji" and "Memoji," which are animated 3D emoji characters that you control with your hands, powered by the TrueDepth Camera System. Animoji are animals in the emoji style, whereas Memoji, introduced in iOS 12, are customized, customizable avatars that you can build.

The TrueDepth camera analyses more than 50 muscle movements in different areas of the face to make Animoji and Memoji, detecting movement of the eyebrows, cheeks, chin, eyes, jaw, lips, eyes and mouth.

 The Animoji/Memoji characters are translated into all of your facial gestures, allowing them to represent your expressions and emotions. In the Messages and FaceTime applications, Animoji and Memoji can be exchanged with friends and used.

Modelled after existing emoji characters, there are more than a dozen different Animoji to choose from: monkey, robot, cat, dog, alien, fox, poop, pig, panda, bunny, chicken, unicorn, lion, dragon, skull, bear, tiger, koala, t-rex, and ghost. There is an infinite amount of Memoji that can be designed to look like you and other individuals.

Rear Camera

A single-lens camera system is used by iPhone XR, but it is the most advanced single-lens camera developed by Apple, integrating the latest hardware with some amazing developments in software to allow features that were not previously possible.

The iPhone XR uses the same f/1.8 12-megapixel wide-angle camera as the iPhone XS and XS Max, and the camera features a 32 percent larger sensor with larger pixels compared to the camera in the previous generation iPhone X, enabling better, crisper pictures even in bad lighting conditions.

It also has twice as many focus pixels, includes picture and video optical image stabilization, provides large colour, and features the same enhanced slow-sync quad-LED True Tone flash. The wide-angle camera's lens is equal to 26 mm, which ensures that it has a significantly broader field of view than the iPhone X camera.

The A12 Bionic-powered machine learning techniques allow the iPhone XR to recognise individuals, map subjects and add depth, all of which allow the rear camera to have a Portrait Mode feature that does not require two lenses.

Portrait Mode is allowed to distinguish the subject of a picture from the background through a software function that generates a depth segmentation map using the focus pixels of the camera and neural net software.

Portrait Lighting is also made possible by this approach, but there are a limited number of effects available. Users can select choices for normal, studio or contour lighting, but on iPhone XR, the Stage Light and Stage Light Mono effects used on other dual-camera iPhone models are not available.

In addition to Portrait Mode, the iPhone XR features advanced bokeh for better background blurring, Depth Control to change the field of view after an image has been shot, and Smart HDR to bring out more detail, particularly in low-light conditions, in the highlights and shadows of images.

The iPhone XR camera maxes out at 5x digital zoom because there is no second telephoto lens to allow optical zoom.

Video Capabilities

The iPhone XR can capture 4K video at 24, 30 or 60 frames per second, HD video at 1080p at 30 or 60 frames per second, or HD video at 720p at 30 frames per second.

Extended dynamic range is possible for up to 30 frames per second of film, and optical zoom up to 3x is available when capturing video.

It supports Slo-mo 1080p capture at 120 or 240 frames per second, video time-lapse, and cinematic video stabilization at 1080p and 720p. As with stereo playback with modern, broader sound separation, stereo recording is included.

The iPhone XR and iPhone XS models have been updated by Apple with iOS 14 with QuickTake, a feature that allows you to capture a video when the camera app is in picture mode, so you don't need to spend time switching modes.

Battery Life

The iPhone XR has a 2,942 mAh battery, 8.3 percent larger than the iPhone X battery and 10.6 percent larger than the iPhone XS battery, but much smaller than the iPhone XS Plus' 3,174 mAh battery.

The iPhone XR has the longest battery life, lasting an hour and a half longer than the battery in the iPhone 8 Plus, even though it does not have the maximum battery of the three 2018 iPhones from Apple. Up to 25 hours of talk time, up to 15 hours of internet use, up to 16 hours of video playback and up to 65 hours of audio playback are available on the iPhone XR.

Fast Charging

The iPhone XR is fast-charge capable, which means in only 30 minutes it can be charged to 50 percent battery life. A USB-C power adapter that offers at least 18 watts, including Apple's 29/30W adapters (priced at $49), is required for fast charging. Third-party 18W+ USB-C adapters still operate, but for $19 from Apple, the Lightning to USB-C cables must be purchased.

Wireless Charging

In Apple's 2017 iPhone lineup, support for wireless charging was first added, and the iPhone XR continues to provide glass bodies and integrated wireless charging coils to support wireless charging features.

Apple uses the Qi wireless charging standard, which is also available on many Android phones, meaning that with any Qi-certified inductive charger, the new iPhones can charge wirelessly.

The iPhone XR charges much faster than the iPhone X, according to Apple, and there is a copper coil inside that makes charging slightly faster because it does not heat up quite as much.

The iPhone XR operates with wireless charging adapters between 7.5W and 5W. Wireless charging options specifically designed for Apple's iPhones have already been created by many companies.

Charging 7.5W is quicker than charging 5W, but the difference is not very noticeable. In general, wireless charging is also inferior to wired charging, which is almost always quicker. We tested different wired and wireless charging methods, and while 7.5W charging is faster than 5W wired charging, using a 12W iPad power adapter or an 18W+ option that allows quick charging capabilities is the best way to charge an iPhone.

Connectivity

LTE Advanced

iPhone XR supports LTE Advanced for data transfer speeds up to 450Mb/s. It works with more than 20 LTE bands, with Apple using a single model for all cellular networks.

Dual-SIM Support

The iPhone XR models sold around the world offer dual-SIM support, which enables two phone numbers to be used at one time.

By adding one physical nano-SIM slot and an eSIM, a feature that was first implemented on the iPad, dual-SIM functionality is allowed. With the iOS 12.1 update, eSIM support has been allowed, making dual-SIM functionality available via the existing physical SIM and the new eSIM. Carriers need to incorporate eSIM functionality support for the feature to operate, and as of December 2018, Verizon and AT&T are providing eSIM support in the United States.

In several countries around the world, the eSIM functionality is available, and on its website, Apple has a complete list of carriers that support eSIM.

In Austria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, dual-SIMs operate with select carriers.

In China, iPhone XR devices feature two physical SIM card slots when eSIMs are not enabled. Models are limited to China with two SIM slots and will not be sold anywhere.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

The Bluetooth 5.0 standard supports the iPhone XR. Bluetooth 5.0 provides longer range, higher speeds, greater capacity for transmitted messages, and increased interoperability with other wireless technologies.

Bluetooth 5 provides four times the range, two times the speed, and eight times the ability for broadcast messages compared to Bluetooth 4.2.

Support is offered for 802.11ac Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO, with link speed support that can reach a theoretical limit of 866 Mb/s.

GPS and NFC

The iPhone XR provides support for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS location services.

NFC with reader mode is included and the iPhone XR has a background tag feature for the first time that enables NFC tags to be scanned without first opening an app.

iPhone XR Timeline

DECEMBER2020

Dec 2iOS 14.2 Quietly Added FaceTime 1080p Support to iPhone 8 and Later Models

NOVEMBER2020

Nov 5Apple Reportedly Using iPad Parts in the iPhone 12 Pro to Combat Shortages

OCTOBER2020

Oct 21French iPhone Boxes Come Packed in an Outer Box With Separate EarPods

Oct 15iPhone 12, Mini, and Max Size Comparison: All iPhone Models Side by Side

SEPTEMBER2020

Sep 8iOS 14: How to Quickly Shoot Video Using QuickTake on iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max

MAY2020

May 29Apple Begins Selling Refurbished iPhone XR Models

APRIL2020

Apr 18iPhone SE vs. iPhone XR Buyer's Guide

FEBRUARY2020

Feb 25Apple's iPhone XR Was Most Popular Smartphone in 2019 Based on Shipment Estimates

JANUARY2020

Jan 7Apple Working on Fix for iPhone XR Users Experiencing Issues on UK's O2 Network

NOVEMBER2019

Nov 27iPhone: 2020 Buyer's Guide

SEPTEMBER2019

Sep 11iPhone 11 vs. iPhone XR Buyer's Guide

JULY2019

Jul 8Leaked Photos of Alleged 2019 iPhone Logic Board Surface

JUNE2019

Jun 43D Touch Likely Dropped in 2019 iPhones as Haptic Touch Expanded Across iPhones and iPads

MAY2019

May 14Here Are the Green and Lavender Colors Rumored for 2019's iPhone XR

May 13Apple Promotes iPhone XR's Battery Life in New Ad: 'You'll Lose Power Before It Will'

May 8Latest Renders of 2019 iPhone XR Show Dual-Lens Cameras in Rear Glass-Integrated Square Bump

APRIL2019

Apr 24Survey Finds iPhone XR Remained Best-Selling iPhone Model Last Quarter in United States

MARCH2019

Mar 6Chinese Online Retailers Start Second Round of iPhone Discounts

FEBRUARY2019

Feb 25Apple's Limited Time iPhone XS and iPhone XR Trade-Up Promotion Ends March 4 in Australia

Feb 15Apple Extends iPhone XR and iPhone XS Trade-Up Promotion Until March 25 in China