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For the second year in a row, Apple\u2019s most exciting new iPhone is its cheapest. The confusingly named iPhone 11 replaces the iPhone XR and, pound for pound, it blows the socks of the iPhone 11 Pro, the confusingly named successor to the iPhone XS. This is why.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n iPhone 11 (left) Vs iPhone 11 Pro (right) – there’s one clear winner<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Displays – HD and XDR but not HRR<\/b><\/p>\n Apple made a song and dance about the iPhone 11 Pro display, but in truth not a lot has changed from the iPhone XS while the iPhone 11 appears identical to the iPhone XR. Can you spot the differences?<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a helping hand: the iPhone 11 Pro has doubled its contrast ratio (hence \u2018Xtreme Dynamic Range\u2019 – the same marketing used on Apple\u2019s premium monitors) while making it 15% more efficient. Against that, the Pro actually has a slightly lower screen-to-body ratio than the iPhone XS (82.9%) and it has lost 3D Touch, Apple\u2019s class-leading, pressure-sensitive input technology which has been replaced with plain old haptic feedback. This is the same tech seen on the iPhone 11 and last year\u2019s iPhone XR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro range displays<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n As for the iPhone 11, it is like for like with the iPhone XR so it still only has an HD, not Full HD, capable panel. That said, the XR display <\/span>surprised a lot of people<\/span> last year and it’s more than \u2018good enough\u2019 so the fact that the iPhone 11 Pro now shares the same haptic feedback means the gap will have actually closed in the eyes of some buyers. Both phones also receive a new generation of Face ID, which Apple states is 30% faster than last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Omissions? The big one is the iPhone 11 Pro skipping a 90\/120Hz High Refresh Rate panel like <\/span>many of its rivals<\/span>. HRR is, arguably, the <\/span>breakout tech<\/span> of the year so that a real shame.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n iPhone 11 finishes are more interesting than the iPhone 11 Pro<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Design – Heavier and Uglier\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Now in its third year, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro carry the same polarising notched display as the 2017 iPhone X. But this year, Apple has made the Pro heavier and the back of both models uglier. The good news is these downgrades are for good reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Having jumped 11 grams, the 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro is now almost the same weight as the 6.1-inch iPhone 11 but justifying this is superior build quality (stainless steel Vs aluminium chassis) and a big battery upgrade (more later). A further iPhone 11 Pro improvement is enhanced IP68 water resistance (it survives 30 minutes at 4 metres Vs 30 mins at 2 metres), but this is not going to be a game-changer for most people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apple iPhone 11 Pro stainless steel chassis<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile, both phones still support dual sim (physical nano-sim and internal <\/span>eSIM<\/span>) and now add enhanced external speakers with \u2018spatial audio playback\u2019 (virtual surround sound) and Dolby Atmos certification. They also retain their glass backs (the Pro has moved to a matte finish) and Apple claims they have the \u201ctoughest glass in a smartphone\u201d but it didn\u2019t elaborate on this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In terms of finishes. The iPhone 11 is more interesting with Product(Red), black, white, yellow, green and purple options while the iPhone 11 Pro is limited to more sober space grey, silver, gold and a new dark (\u201cmidnight\u201d) green.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So what makes them uglier? By far their biggest talking point\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n iPhone 11 dual camera Vs iPhone 11 Pro triple camera<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Cameras – Double Vs Triple\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Stepping up its camera game this year, Apple has fitted bulky rectangular camera humps to both iPhones which polarise opinion but the company has also done a lot to justify it:<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, Apple has added an ultrawide camera to both the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 but the latter does not get the telephoto lens which has been a staple of premium iPhones since the iPhone 7 Plus in 2016. It also means the iPhone 11 Pro is likely to retain an advantage with Portrait Mode shots as the telephoto lens is central to this. Both phones do, however, share a brighter True Tone flash than last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Night Mode on the iPhone 11 range<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n From a feature perspective, both phones also get a new Night mode as Apple plays catch up with rivals but the real headliner is video. Here Apple has enabled all cameras to record simultaneously, allowing you to smoothly zoom in or out from a subject and adjust video in real-time. iPhones already set the benchmark for video and this is a big step up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Video looks set to be the standout feature of Apple’s new iPhones<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s additional potential too because Apple has also teased \u2018Deep Fusion\u2019, the company\u2019s “computational photography mad science\u201d. This is Apple\u2019s attempt to catch up with Google\u2019s Pixel range, a class leader in computational photography since it launched in 2016. Deep Fusion won\u2019t be ready for launch, but it could tip the scales in Apple\u2019s favour when it does arrive before the end of the year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So all this might – just about – make those ugly square humps worth it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Performance – Powerfully Efficient\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n In terms of raw performance, Apple has been streets ahead of the competition for some time but the company\u2019s new A13 Bionic chipset looks set to take things to another level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the A13 (remember \u2018Bionic\u2019 is <\/span>marketing nonsense<\/span>) retains the same basic structure as the A12, Apple claims it has the fastest CPU and GPU ever seen in a smartphone but the company left out its usual percentage improvements to quantify that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What really caught the imagination, however, was Apple\u2019s promise that the A13 is 40% more efficient than the A12 and – combined with the aforementioned 15% display savings – this delivers a huge boost to battery life (see next section).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apple’s A13 Bionic is the fastest smartphone chipset in the world<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n In terms of differentiators, Apple briefly teased its new U1 <\/span>Ultra-Wideband<\/span> chip which is exclusive to the iPhone 11 Pro models. Apple claims U1 is \u201clike adding another sense\u201d to the phone and it enables incredibly precise location data to be shared between U1-equipped devices. The only example of this functionality given so far is the ability to point your iPhone 11 Pro at another iPhone 11 Pro for file transfers with AirDrop, but Apple is <\/span>being intriguingly vague<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n On the flipside, whether extreme data tagging inspires or scares owners remains to be seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As for networking, the iPhone 11 actually gets network performance parity with the iPhone 11 Pro. Last year the iPhone XR has an inferior chip to the iPhone XS but the new models will both support 1Gbit (theoretical) LTE performance. The risk, however, is Apple has skipped 5G. This may be a dealbreaker for customers in 2019 but it may lead to some regret later on with the average length of smartphone ownership <\/span>approaching three years<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Battery Life – Long Lasting, Limited Charging<\/b><\/p>\n Last year, Apple made the welcome but strategically questionable decision to give the iPhone XR longer battery life than the iPhone XS and XS Max. This year, Apple has fixed that mistake but I doubt iPhone 11 buyers will be complaining:<\/span><\/p>\n While the iPhone XR has had a minor boost over the long-lasting iPhone XR (Apple claims it will last an hour longer), the iPhone 11 Pro has received a 20% capacity increase so it will last \u201cup to 4 hours\u201d longer than the iPhone XS and \u201cup to one hour longer\u201d than the iPhone 11.<\/span><\/p>\n iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro battery life deliver a major upgrade<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Apple has also finally given the iPhone 11 Pro an 18W faster charger in the box. This is still dwarfed by the <\/span>45W charging of some rivals<\/span>, but it\u2019s substantially better than the woeful 5W charger you still get with the iPhone 11.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s also bad news when it comes to wireless charging. Apple failed to mention any improvements to the sluggish 7.5W wireless charging speeds of the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, while the long-expected <\/span>\u2018reverse\u2019 wireless charging<\/span> failed to materialise. Reverse wireless charging (which allows a smartphone to wirelessly power devices placed upon it) has been a hit for Huawei and Samsung, so its omission is disappointing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Storage And Price – iPhone 11 Streaks Ahead<\/b><\/p>\n So yes, in most areas the iPhone 11 Pro is slightly better than the iPhone 11 but it is not this much better:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, while the iPhone 11 Pro is identically priced to the iPhone XS, the iPhone 11 is $50 cheaper than the iPhone XR at every price point. Storage capacities also remain unchanged from last year, but the fact a 64GB iPhone 11 is $300 cheaper than a 64GB iPhone 11 Pro is mind-bending.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are incremental upgrades, but the former is much better value<\/p>\n Apple<\/small>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Bottom Line<\/b><\/p>\n The iPhone 11 Pro is undoubtedly a superior phone to the iPhone 11, but the big questions are 1. By how much? and 2. Will the average user care?<\/span><\/p>\n Personally I can\u2019t see how a stainless steel chassis, an OLED display, a telephoto lens, a fast charger and one extra hour of battery life is worth $300 more. Especially now the iPhone 11 Pro has lost 3D Touch, gained some weight and missed out on reverse wireless charging, a high refresh rate display and 5G. Moreover, for those who like to live on the bleeding edge, we know Apple has something <\/span>far more radical coming next year<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But if you must upgrade your iPhone in 2019, the smart money is headed straight for the iPhone 11.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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