Apple announces colorful new 6.1-inch iPhone XR with full-screen Liquid Retina Display and...

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2018
At the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino on Wednesday, Apple debuted the new iPhone XR that includes a full-screen LCD display, Face ID, and is available in six colors.

iPhone Xr


The all-new handset acts as the successor to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, falling just below the iPhone Xs and Xs Max in price and specs.

Almost as if a callback to the never-updated iPhone 5c, the iPhone XR comes in several new colors, aside from the usual grey and white. Blue, coral, yellow, and a red model join the lineup.

The new device takes the place of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in Apple's lineup, falling below the iPhone Xs and Xs Max.

Technical details

iPhone XR display


On the face, iPhone XR features an LCD panel instead of the OLED display found on Apple's upper-tiered phones. It measures in at 6.1-inches. It lacks 3D Touch, but adds "Haptic Touch" as a compromise, similar to that of the MacBook glass trackpad. The displays also support tap to wake, wide color gamut, and True Tone.

Stainless steel is traded in for aluminum for the body, which should yield a lighter weight and give the device's bezels a matte finish.

With support for Face ID, this signals the end of Touch ID and the Home button on all but the low-end iPhone 7 which is still available, as has been rumored.

The iPhone XR has a 12MP wide-angle single camera -- the same as on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. As a single-camera system, it doesn't support the exact same Portrait Mode as on the iPhone X/Xs/Xs Max, but they are still able to replicate the effect using image segmentation. The bokeh-adjusting depth adjustment feature is also available on the XR.

iPhone XR will garner an hour and a half longer battery life than the iPhone 8 Plus.

Even though the iPhone Xs and Xs Max got IP68 water resistance, the XR will stick with IP67.

iPhone XR Specs


The Apple-designed A12 Bionic, the same chip as in the iPhone Xs, features the first 7-nanometer chip ever in a smartphone. The A12 Bionic features a six-core fusion architecture with two performance cores that are up to 15 percent faster than the A11 Bionic in the iPhone X with four efficiency cores that are up to 50 percent more efficient, a four-core GPU that is up to 50 percent faster, and a powerful Apple-designed Image Signal Processor.

Pricing and availability

The iPhone XR will sell for $749 for 64GB of storage, with 128GB selling for $799, and the 256GB configuration retailing for $899, making it the most affordable of Apple's 2018 lineup, even less than the iPhone 8 Plus at launch. Color options are silver, space gray, coral, yellow, red, and blue.

Apple notes that pre-orders start on Oct. 19.

Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
«134

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    1) This is perfect for all the people that scoffed at the idea of Apple using OLED displays on devices. What's that? They don't exist anymore?

    2) What?! No doo-doo brown Zune color? I'm, like, totally shocked¡
    edited September 2018 ronnStrangeDaysdaveinpublicracerhomie3watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 68
    I’m excited truly excited. Great devices, care for the environment, future focused, yeah today I’m an unabashed Apple sheep. I’m getting the iPhone Xs Max. Nuff said.
    edited September 2018 daveinpublicracerhomie3watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 68
    iPhone - Tennis
    iPhone - TennisMax
    iPhone - Tenor 
    bigpicswonkothesaneStrangeDaysGG1jony0
  • Reply 4 of 68
    Sorry...but there is just too much talk about the cameras on the phone.  This is a terrible event....Watch series 4 was awesome but iphone is just becoming more awesome in areas that does not really help sell new phones or dare I say anyone cares about.  Of course, just my opinion.  But stock is taking a beating too.  Absolutely nothing here that would want me to upgrade to these new X ‘S’ phones.   Yup, there will always be that one guy who says this...and this time it was me.

    Thought too maybe something Mac Mini related....maybe new iPads...maybe something totally new.  Something exciting but Nope.  Apple not a good showing...sorry.

    davgregatomic101
  • Reply 5 of 68
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    The lack of 3D Touch is telling.
    digital_guyentropysracerhomie3albegarc
  • Reply 6 of 68
    OK, so when do we get our updated SE?
    chris totne4now76atomic101
  • Reply 7 of 68
    Hard to tell from the pics, but is there a chin on this phone? The second picture looks like it has a small chin, about what you’d see on the Galaxy 9. Anyone see any other photos of the XR and can comment one way or the other? 
  • Reply 8 of 68
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    bolen mac said:
    iPhone - Tennis
    iPhone - TennisMax
    iPhone - Tenor 
    Somewhere Emily Latella is smiling....  ;)
    bolen mac
  • Reply 9 of 68
    I was hoping for iPhone X tech (edge-to-edge screen and Face ID) in an iPhone 8 or smaller case. Instead, the new "low-end" phone is larger than the X. Oh well, I guess there's no turning back on the trend toward larger phones.

    I was also getting ready for a new iPad with iPhone X tech, but I don't think the word "iPad" was even spoken once in the presentation! But I imagine that's coming sooner or later, unlike smaller phones.
  • Reply 10 of 68
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    amarkap said:
    Sorry...but there is just too much talk about the cameras on the phone.  This is a terrible event....Watch series 4 was awesome but iphone is just becoming more awesome in areas that does not really help sell new phones or dare I say anyone cares about.  Of course, just my opinion.  But stock is taking a beating too.  Absolutely nothing here that would want me to upgrade to these new X ‘S’ phones.   Yup, there will always be that one guy who says this...and this time it was me.

    Thought too maybe something Mac Mini related....maybe new iPads...maybe something totally new.  Something exciting but Nope.  Apple not a good showing...sorry.

    You do realize that Apple sells a gazillion phones already right?  
    ronnStrangeDaysracerhomie3fastasleepSpamSandwichjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 68
    OK, so when do we get our updated SE?
    I was just typing basically this same thing in a different thread!!!  Bring back a reasonably-sized phone!!
    chris totoseamene4now76atomic101watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 68
    Ok.... magic morning? All I can say is truly evolutionary. I will happily stick to my SE and X. Maybe upgrade form my AW 3 cell.
    Honestly, I was expecting more. Maybe Pencil support for the Xs. Or let’s say a charging mat. iPads? MacBooks? TV subscription? Buller?

    OK, I guess I was expecting too much and I will stick with fall detection.
    arlomediachris tot
  • Reply 13 of 68
    This looks like a really great phone. I was torn between the XR and Max, especially when I heard there was a blue color option. It’s lighter than I would have wanted. Was hoping for a more midnight blue color. Guess i’ll ne going Max. Why wife will like upgrade from her 7 Plus to a coral XR. 
    ronnclaire1watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 68
    mac_128 said:
    The lack of 3D Touch is telling.
    Telling of what? As a developer, I think it's a cool option, but I was waiting to use it for something until it was available on iPads. But if that's not available in the next iPad models, then I guess it never will be.
    edited September 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 68
    No 3D Touch but Phil mentioned something called Haptic Touch. So I wonder if the uses with the keyboard and shortcuts from app icons will still work? Apple didn’t get rid of it on the XS. Seems weird that they’d want to fragment like that.
  • Reply 16 of 68
    mac_128 said:
    The lack of 3D Touch is telling.
    But they didn’t remove it from the XS so what is it telling exactly?
    StrangeDaysrandominternetperson
  • Reply 17 of 68
    6BQ56BQ5 Posts: 4unconfirmed, member
    I'm not able to watch the presentation live. Does anyone know the dimensions of the lower priced Xr? Is it the same size as the "non-Plus" sized iPhone6? Or, would I be better served by the Xs? Thanks!
  • Reply 18 of 68
    Last device should have been the updated SE for sure.
    ne4now76
  • Reply 19 of 68
    6BQ5 said:
    I'm not able to watch the presentation live. Does anyone know the dimensions of the lower priced Xr? Is it the same size as the "non-Plus" sized iPhone6? Or, would I be better served by the Xs? Thanks!
    From the few brief side-by-side photos, it looked slightly larger than the Xs, which is considerably larger than the 6.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 68
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    6BQ5 said:
    I'm not able to watch the presentation live. Does anyone know the dimensions of the lower priced Xr? Is it the same size as the "non-Plus" sized iPhone6? Or, would I be better served by the Xs? Thanks!
    Remember these are measured on the diagonal so the extra display height can be tricky. Based on the size it's a little wider than the 4.7" and 5.8" iPhones, but not as wide as the 5.5" and 6.5" iPhones.
Sign In or Register to comment.