The iPhone 11 came out in September of 2019 along with the iPhone 11 Pro. And Just like
the iPhone XR before it, the iPhone 11 boasted a 6.1” LCD display and a variety of colors.
Now we are a few months into this year and the iPhone 12 line has been out for a while
so is the 18 month old iPhone 11 worth buying in 2021?
Hey, Im jerry and the iPhone 11 is actually not a phone I have used much. I actually purchased
an iPhone 11 Pro on launch day and used that phone until the iPhone 12 line came out. I
have this iPhone 11 here because I was able to get it at half off through a carrier and
I used it as my main camera for all of my vides here on the channel for about 6 months.
My primary phone these days has been the iPhone 12 Mini but I was cleaning up and came across
this iPhone 11 again and decided I wanted to see what its like going back to a previous
iphone. I restored from backup, swapped my sim, and have been using only this phone for
the last week…..and, I have to say….Its really good!
Its so good, in fact, that after the first day I couldn’t even tell that I was using
a previous generation device. This iPhone just feels like, an iPhone. ……….Of course
there is a big size difference between the 12 Mini and the 11 which was my biggest hurdle
but the overall day to day use of using an iphone 11 is pretty much the same as using
an iphone 12 for a lot less money, But there is just 1 thing that seemed like an obvious
downgrade right away, and that was the display.
The iPhone 11 comes with a 6.1” LCD display with a resolution of 1792x828. That comes
to a pixel density of 326ppi. ………….The iPhone 12 line comes with at least a pixel
density of 460 giving it a noticeably sharper appearance with crisper text….to some people.
The contrast is not as good on an iPhone 11 LCD compared to an OLED contrast which as
you can see makes blacks actually black on an iPhone 12 vs an LED backlight on the iphone
11.
And there is just a weird aberration around the edges of the screen on the iphone 11 that
kinda rubs me wrong. Im not sure how to explain it or if the camera really picks it up but
its like a haze or a blur. …….This is not something that happens on the OLED iPhones.
And….thats the only thing that kind of bothers me about going to an iPhone 11. However, after
the first day of using the iphone 11 as my only phone I didn’t notice the lower screen
resolution, contrast or edge distortion at all in my normal use. When browsing, watching
youtube, checking bank stuff or firing up a quick game, none of that is perceptible
unless you pull an oled iPhone right next to it and peep them pixels……Other than
that the iPhone 11 has everything else an iPhone 12 has except for HDR, including True
tone, p3 wide color, and the same typical max brightness of 625 nits.
The performance of the iPhone 11 feels exactly the same as the iphone 12 for my use. The
A13 chip in the iPhone 11 is a 6 core processor with a 4 core GPU and everything From opening
apps and multi tasking to running FPS games or even editing a video , is as fast and fluid
as you would expect from a brand new phone in 2021. To see a difference with the iPhone
12 you really need to look at generic benchmarks which will show a difference but un my opinion
does not translate to real world usage.
One of the biggest, most used apps on an iPhone is the Camera app and the cameras on the iPhone
11 are still fantastic, with no qualifiers. Just like the iPhone 12, the iPhone 11 has
a wide and an ultra wide camera, they feature night mode, deep fusion and fantastic HDR
which allows you to capture lots of detail. Inside and out they capture lots of color
and dynamic range. The pictures from both phones look great and its hard to say one
is better than the other wven when you compare them side by side but I did notice that the
iPhone 12 had a bit of a warmer color compared to the 11…… and they both did a bad job
at low light portrait.
What about battery life? Im not really sure how much I can say about the battery life
beyond its good. The iPhone XR set a great example for battery life when it beat out
both the iPhone XS and XS max with 16 hours of video playback. The iPhone 11 can get up
to 17 hours of video playback in Apple’s test but that doesn’t translate to real
world either. For me, the iPhone 11 can last a full day of heavy use with browsing, email,
calendar, teams calls, twitter, youtube studio, watching a few videos and testing out a new
app or 2 and more and I can still hit the pillow with 10-20% batter life left.
As always your mileage may vary with games and other apps but in general there is nothing
to complain about with the battery life on the iphone 11.
Design wise, compared to the regular iPhone 12 the 11 is ever so slightly heavier, wider
and taller. The iPhone 11 is pretty much the same design as the iPhone X from 2017 with
the rounded sides, glass back and front, the same button and speaker placement, the same
notch. Obviously the camera bump is a little different but overall there is nothing fundamentally
wrong with this design. It still has a premium look and feel with the classic iPhone weight
balance and overall sleekness....but, if I could change anything about the design that
didn’t include the flattening out like on the iphone 12 line, it would be the colors.
I feel like the colors of the iPhone Xr were great, punchy colors with a lot of character,
especially the blue and red, where as the iPhone 11 colors are more muted and pastel…not
quite like the iPad Air 4, but still not my favorite.
But the colors shouldn’t really matter anyway because most likely you will toss a case on
it and cover it up. The case I am using on this iPhone 11 is the ORNARTO liquid silicone
case for iPhone 11. Its very much like the Apple Silicone case but because the Apple
Silicone Case falls apart so easily for the iPhone 11 I would recommend spending 14$ on
this one instead of 40$ on the apple case.
As for the screen protector, I prefer the icarez matte screen protectors. They are great
at reducing glare and finger prints, and are really easy to clean. I have added these to
almost all of my devices and I definitely recommend them.
Now there are a couple of things to consider when buying a phone in 2021 that you plan
on having for a couple of years. First you might be thinking you should buy a phone with
5G. I don’t want to mince words so I will just say it. I don’t think you should buy
a phone, or pay more for a phone just because it has 5G. 5G for most people has zero benefit
over LTE. In some cases because of the different 5G bands you may even get slower speeds than
on LTE. For the fastest millimeter wave 5G you need to be in a specific spot, in a specific
distance from a tower, with no obstructions to see it. And if you really need to download
a full season of something on Netflix in a hurry then sure, milimeter wave 5g is great.
For most people it really doesn’t matter at this point and I don’t see that changing
for a few years so I do not see the lack of 5G on the
iPhone 11 as a problem.
You may also be wondering about software support and updates for a phone that has been out
for 18 months. Well, Consider this…..iOS 14 supports all iPhones back to the iPhone
6s which came out in 2015 which means so far the iphone 6S has received 5 major iOS updates.
If you look at the iphone 11 I believe you can reasonably assume as many or more major
iOS updates for the iPhone 11 which should give you at least 4-5 more years of support
if you buy it now.
Speaking of buying it now, you can get the iPhone 11 brand new from Apple for $600 which,
if you paid attention in this video up until now, means that you can get an iPhone with
performance, cameras, features, and battery life, mostly matching the current iPhone 12
while saving $200 in the process. You just wont get an OLED screen but everything else
about the experience is pretty much the exact same. And you can even beat that $200 if you
can get an iPhone 11 refurbished from Apple like this one I saw today which is an upgraded
128GB model for $550.
I have bought and I recommend buying from Apple refurbished because you get a basically
brand new device including battery and case, and a full warranty for less. You just have
to be on top of checking the refurb inventory because it changes frequently.
So, Is the iPhone 11 worth buying in 2021? ……………………Absolutely! No matter
if your budget doesn’t allow for a more expensive phone, you just prefer not to spend
more on a phone, you don’t care about having the latest and greatest, or you just don’t
like the look of the iPhone 12’s flat design, the iPhone 11 is still a solid choice that
I can recommend. The performance you get from the A13 processor along with what I believe
to be long lived support means you can take comfort in getting a great phone at a great
price that will meet your needs for years. Given the Camera and battery performance that
nearly match todays flagship and a design that still works all for hundreds of dollars
less makes this an easy recommendation.
But what do you think? Would the iPhone 11 work for you or are you someone who must have
the latest and greatest like me. Lets talk below…..When I said earlier that I used
my iPhone 11 as my main camera for my videos here on this channel I wasn’t kidding and
you can see all about how I did that by checking out this video over here. Hit the thumbs up
button if you liked it, hit subscribe if you want and Ill see you next time.