Apple iPhone XR review: better than good enough

Apple’s new iPhone XR is the company’s new mainstream phone, starting at $750. It has the same processor and main cameras as the flagship iPhone XS, but it has a lower-resolution LCD screen. How does it measure up? Nilay Patel reviews it to find out.

Host: Nilay Patel
Director: Becca Farsace
Camera: Alix Diaconis
Audio: Andrew Marino
Producer: Phil Esposito
Director of Audience Development: Ruben Salvadori
Social Media Manager: Dilpreet Kainth

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[afnandoesyeah]

who is addicted to these videos knowing u are going to get one?

[tychodeen]

If you want a indication on battery, ive been watching youtube for 2 hours and it lost 8 percent

[PodGame]

Damn me and 90% of the comments upgrading from 6s

edit this is the most likes i ever had thanks🙂

[seanmeyer]

Me: Turning on my 6s

Phone: 100%

Me: Watching youtube for 10 minutes




Phone: 60%

[ridakhan]

the real question is how do you convince your parents to get you one

[marman]

how many apps does this dude have to have that many pages

[juan_w_fer]

Dude! Why is this so damn good? It's hard to explain, but this is the most balanced and enjoyable review of any phone I have ever seen. Doesn't feel long, doesn't feel rushed, and you made your points extremely clear in a weirdly pleasant video.
Even though reviews are supposed to be about the author's personal impressions, this unbiased, "I like this but you might like something else", "This is objectively better/worse" and "This is subjective so you do you" seems like the most perfect format for a YouTube product review.

[ACC]

"The XR will still feel fast a few years later". Obviously, it's an iPhone

My iPhone 6S still feels very fast 3 and a half years later


Edit: Thanks for 750 likes, that's the most I've gotten.

[thepostgradlife]

I've been pronouncing it as "XR" this entire time without realizing it was literally "10R" 💀💀💀

[lityoutuber]

I dont care if it has lcd...I JUST WANT THE IPHONE XR EXPERIENCE!!!

[dre]

“We can do that later. We’ll have a great time down there...” lol

[mrspicey]

I think a lot of people are missing the point of the Xr and got hung up on the screen. Yes, it is an inferior screen when directly compared to the Xs's OLED, but it is by no means a bad screen. It's still one of the best the LCD technology has to offer. It's missing a telephoto lens, but the one that is there is the same as the one in the Xs. For all those compromise, in the Xr you still get the latest A12 chip (which, performance wise, is a still at least a generation ahead even when compared to the fastest of the newest Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 series), Face ID, and a longer battery life even compared to the Xs Max.

Is the OLED worth 250$ more? For some, like Nilay said in his review, yes it is worth it. If you care that much about the screen, by all means get the Xs. But I suspect for most users, it doesn't. I don't. I'm on iPhone 7 right now and have been waiting to upgrade. Last year the iPhone 8 doesn't bring enough change for me, and for me personally, $999 for a phone (the iPhone X) is too expensive. The Xs starting $999 is still too much for a phone, and at $1149 for the 256gb version, it's way too much (my personal experience, those storage fills up fast with apps, music, high-res photos and 4k vids) At $749 though (or $799, the Xr 128gb that I plan on getting) it represents good value.

You'd argue that for the same amount or cheaper, many other phone manufacturer offers OLED, at least 1080p screen, and bigger RAM/Storage. You're right. But how long will those manufacturer support/update their phone? Take Samsung. Does it still offer updates for the Samsung Galaxy S5, which came out in 2014 after the iPhone 5s? Nope. The S5 is long forgotten. The best you can expect from non google Android manufacturers is 2 years of updates. With Apple I can be confident that Apple will still support the phone for at least 4-5 years ahead if for whatever reason I choose to stick with the phone or hand it over to another family member. Longevity matters.

[givenchyhomme]

I loved my XR. It's probably my favorite iPhone ever. The performance and battery life was exceptional. The camera took amazing photos. I had it in white and it was gorgeous. Such a great phone.

[thektmriderofficial]

We call it LCD screen, Apple calls it liquid retina display
We call it long press with vibration feedback, Apple calls is haptic touch
Apple surely knows how to use fancy terms and sell products

[iaincain]

The iPhone XR is one of the best phones! Idk what the hate is all about.

[kimo]

when i got my XR, i got so used to it that i didn't realize about how thick the bezels were so i don't mind. Plus 750 dollars is a great deal remembering that apple could've removed a lot of things but NO they decided to be nice and added a few more features. I don't think anyone should be complaining to much bcz they removed more then 200 dollars for the XR.
I think we should appreciate the fact apple did that.

anyways thats just my opinion :)
i love my xr a lot.

(pls dont hate, just stating my opinion)

anyways have a great day!
and awesome video!\







WHERE IS MY XR GANG?

[kyletaylor]

Switched from the 6s to the XR. Huge jump on performance and and display. I will tell you this video greatly influenced my decision. Thanks for the reviews. Keep up the great work!!!!

[bultaoreune]

Does anyone else watch a bunch of youtube videos on items that you are going to get?

[markbishop]

I’ve had the XR for a little while and my life has never been better. This is the phone to end all phones. I’ll never get another one. I haven’t slept a wink in two months because I stay awake all night just looking at my phone. I’m seriously considering quitting my job so I can stay home all day and gaze at this engineering wonder even more. Words just cannot describe how GREAT GREAT GREAT this phone is.

[brandon_caleb]

Everything that the iPhone XR doesn’t have that the XS and XS Max do:

• High-res OLED display
• Stainless steel frame
• Stronger rear glass
• Telephoto lens
• Two more portrait mode options on the back
• Premium colors
• Gigabit LTE
• 3D Touch
• Fast wireless charging
• IP68 water and dust resistance
• 512GB option
• 4GB RAM
• Thinner bezels

So are all of the thirteen features above worth it to jump to the XR? Not really.

Features that the iPhone XR has that the XS models don’t have:

• Many, many colors (including Red!)
• That lower price
• A 128GB option
• Longer battery life
• Wider and brighter portrait shots

So are all of the five features that the XR has that the XS doesn’t worth the jump from the S to the R? Oh yes baby!