As per the rumors, Apple was said to be launching a 6.1-inch iPhone with an LCD screen. Turns out the rumors were true as Apple has officially announced the iPhone XR (pronounced as the iPhone Ten R). According to Apple’s Phil Schiller who presented the phone, this represents Apple’s way to trying to reach more customers, presumably through its more affordable price.
The iPhone XR will sport a 6.1-inch “Liquid Retina” display which has a resolution of 1,792 x 828, 120Hz touch-sensing, and tap to wake functionality. For the most part is pretty much identical to the iPhone XS and XS Max under the hood. We’re looking at the same A12 Bionic chip, the use of a TrueDepth camera system that supports Face ID unlocking. However there are some differences, where instead of an IP68 rating, the iPhone XR will have an IP67 rating.
It will also only feature a single 12MP rear-facing camera, but through the use of software, Apple is able to achieve the same bokeh portrait mode images as the dual camera iPhone XS and XS Max. Apple isn’t the first to take advantage of software to achieve this as Google did the same for its Pixel phones to great effect.
In terms of pricing and availability, it seems that the rumors were true in that the iPhone XR will be launched later than the iPhone XS and XS Max. It will be available for pre-order on the 19th of October with a release set for the 26th of October, and will be priced starting at $749 for the 64GB model, which Apple points out is cheaper than the iPhone 8 Plus.
