iPhone XR: R for Rip-off?

The iPhone XR was the most exciting part of Apple’s iPhone event.

When Apple announced this year’s iPhone range, a lot of consumers were heavily swayed towards the iPhone XR. It retains the best features of the iPhone XS but has a bigger screen and a cheaper price point.

There is one small detail that you might have missed though…

The screen isn’t even Full HD!

I was in total shock when I found out that the iPhone XR’s screen won’t be able to display Full HD content. It has the same PPI (pixel per inch) as the iPhone 4 from 2010 (326 PPI)! To me, that’s madness, if you are charging over £700 for a smartphone, having a Full HD display is a must-have.

There’s no excuse really, adding a Full HD panel is not that expensive in the mobile phone industry. You can get phones for under £300 with a Full HD screen. In my opinion, Apple has done this just to differentiate the iPhone XR from the iPhone XS, giving people another reason to spend more on the iPhone XS.

There’s no doubt that the iPhone XR’s screen will look fuzzy, If you always stream Full HD (1080p) videos on your phone or love to watch Netflix in Full HD, you won’t be able to do so on this phone.

This comes at a time where consumers were up in arms when the OnePlus 5/5T could not stream Netflix in Full HD due to their encryption methods. A lot of people (including me) watch multimedia in Full HD, it’s practically an industry standard.

I find it hard to recommend the iPhone XR to anyone at the launch price, it feels as if it’s there to push people to spend even more.

It’s still a good phone

The iPhone XR is still a great phone though, it features the new Apple processor, the same main camera and has a bigger battery than the iPhone XS. It is still a good cheap alternative to the iPhone XS but the omission of Full HD capabilities is a big one.

If you want to stay in the Apple Ecosystem, you will be torn for choice between getting a phone without Full HD or spending an extra £250+ for Full HD.

Can you really justify spending £750+ for a phone that can’t even stream Netflix in Full HD?

I can’t.

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