A Definitive Review of the iPhone XR
Apple’s most affordable X-series handset excels where it counts
Apple’s iPhone XR is an excellent smartphone that, had it been released before 2017’s iPhone X, would have been hailed as a major leap forward.
The fashionable handset has Apple’s largest-ever LCD on an iPhone, a single wide-angle camera capable of stunning portrait mode shots, ultra-hard glass covering, facial recognition, fast wireless charging, stereo audio, water-resistance, energetic color choices — and it costs just $749. But no matter how new it may seem, no product or technology exists outside the steady march of progress.
Though it doesn’t fit neatly on the continuum of the iPhone X line, the iPhone XR (pronounced “ten R”) is an important option between the $699 iPhone 8 Plus and the $999 iPhone XS. It’s the edge-to-edge screen, notched iPhone for people not willing to spend almost $1,000 for a smartphone. And yet, it would be misleading to call the third new X-series handset, which Apple unveiled in Cupertino last month along with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, a step down.
