- Hey guys, this is Austin.
A couple months ago I did a video talking
about why I switched to the iPhone XR.
A big part of that is because so many people are hating
on this phone, I thought surely it can't be that bad.
So when my personal XS broke,
I figured why not give the XR a shot.
After 3 months of using this as my daily,
I have a lot of thoughts.
Since I did my last video, there have been
a lot of headlines that the iPhone XR's a failure.
Take one look at the Apple website,
and they are seriously pushing the XR.
Not only does it get front page space, but on top of that
they're really pushing a promotion that is all about
getting it for a little bit cheaper with a phone trade-in.
Something that Apple very rarely advertises.
This is all for good reason.
The price of the XR was recently slashed by 20% in China,
and there have been carriers here in the US such
as Team Mobile, who have regularly doing a buy one get one
free, or even a free phone when you sign up for a new line.
That is not something that you traditionally see
with iPhones, and it's all indicative of the fact
this is just not selling as well as they had hoped.
Apple even had to revise their earnings report
for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Almost entirely on the back of iPhone demand
being weaker than they expected.
Now it's not exactly as clear cut as that.
Tim Cook has gone on record as saying that the iPhone XR
is the best selling iPhone right now, but that doesn't
really mean a lot when you're comparing it to things
like the XS and XS Max, both of which
are significantly more expensive phones.
If you were to stack the iPhone XR side by side with say,
I don't know like an iPhone 6S or 7, my assumption
is that this is not selling quite as well,
and that's a big problem.
Here's the thing though.
The iPhone XR is my favorite iPhone you can buy today,
and that's not even counting the price.
So let's just run through what you can get with the XR.
First of all, one of the most important components
is that Apple A12 processor.
This is something that's easy to overlook,
but it is a big deal.
Having a fast SOC that's also efficient makes
a big difference in pretty much
all aspects of a phone's performance.
It also has the same front and rear facing cameras.
Now you are losing the telephoto option from the XS
and the XS Max, but if I'm gonna be completely real
with you, I really don't miss it.
Now if you have really good lighting, it is a nice thing
to have, and the portrait mode can work out pretty well
sometimes, but about 95% of the time, I'm using
the wide angle camera, and here the iPhone XR is completely
identical to the much, much more expensive options,
aka XS and XS Max.
The issue with telephoto is that you have a smaller sensor
with an inferior lens.
It generally just doesn't look quite as good as when you
shoot on the main shooter, and while yes portrait mode
on the iPhone XR is not as good as something like the Pixel,
it's decent enough that I really
don't have any major complaints.
That is the next step up is to go to that Pixel.
Beyond that, the XS and the XS Max
don't make a big different to me.
And compared to the XS, you've got those same great
speakers, you have the same wireless charging, and you also
have a ton of what I think are pretty cool colors.
The biggest difference really is the display.
Where as the XS and the XS Max have OLED, something
that's very common across the industry right now,
the XR has to make due with a lowly IPS panel.
But you know what, it is really not bad.
Now yes, it should be higher resolution.
It's not even quite 1080p, but the important thing is
is that to my eye, unless you're really Pixel peeping,
it does not look bad.
When we take all of this and combine it with the fact
that the iPhone XR is a full $250 less than the XS,
it starts to seem almost reasonably priced.
If the XS wasn't a $1000.
However my favorite feature by far is the battery life.
Compared to the XS Max and especially the XS,
it is a night and day difference switching to the XR.
It just lasts so much longer.
When I dailyed the iPhone XS, I was really lucky to make it
through the full day without hitting the charger.
And yet with the XR, most nights
I don't even bother to charge it.
A few minutes here and there at my desk or in the car
is all I need to make it through a day, and the next day.
This is especially important when I'm traveling.
So I recently spent a week in Vegas for CES,
and not once did I need to plug in
the iPhone XR throughout the day.
In fact my best day was I pulled the phone off the charger
at two o'clock in the morning, and 16 hours later
with 6 hours of screen on, and 2 hours of screen off,
I still had like 16% left.
This thing is an endurance champ.
In a world where Android phones are getting bigger
and bigger batteries, the iPhone XR is the only iPhone
that you can buy today that has good enough better life
as far as I'm concerned.
Now the 8 Plus last year is probably the closest
to something like that, but realistically a lot of phones
can get you through a day of medium use or light use,
but the XR's the first time that I've been able to make it
through a full day of proper use.
I think it's something that people are seriously overlooking
when they take a look at the XR.
It is by far my favorite feature of the phone.
I really feel like the iPhone XR doesn't deserve
the bad rap that it's gotten.
As far as I'm concerned this is the only iPhone in 2019
so far, that I recommend buying.
It's got the right blend of performance, camera,
and importantly it's got that battery life.
(light, relaxing music)