CUPERTINO – US tech giant Apple unveiled its 2018 iPhone lineup – iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR – at Steve Jobs Theatre in California on Wednesday.
iPhone XS
The iPhone XS (pronounced as Ten-S) is the successor to iPhone X.
The smartphone features a 5.8-inch Super Retina OLED display with a resolution of 1125 x 2436 pixels and 458 ppi density. The bezels have dissolved, giving the screen a tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio and leaving behind a notch.
For smoother operation, the screen’s touch sensing layer runs at 120Hz. The display still supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, but the dynamic range has been increased by 60%.
The SoC on iPhone XS is the A12 bionic chip is the industry’s first 7 nm chip. The smartphones come with a 6-core CPU, accompanied with a 4-core GPU and a neural engine.
The smartphone comes with a 4GB RAM and three storage options – 64/256/512GB.
The iPhone XS comes with a new Gold finish, a surgical-grade stainless steel and a more durable.
For imaging, there’s a dual camera setup of the 12MP f/1.8 wide-angle camera and a f/2.4 12MP telephoto camera with optical zoom. The front section of the camera also has two cameras. There is a f/2.2 7MP front camera with a faster sensor RGB camera along with an IR camera.
The dual 12MP camera gives new and improved form. The main wide-angle shooter has an all-new sensor with larger pixels – 1.4µm, up from 1.22µm. The aperture remains at f/1.8. The telephoto camera uses a 12MP sensor, f/2.4 lens with 2x optical zoom with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization).
The company didn’t give any concrete numbers for the battery capacities on the three iPhones during the event.
The iPhone XS would be priced starting $999. The smartphones would be rolled in select markets starting September 21.
iPhone XS – Key Features
- 8″ (2436 x 1125) OLED display
- 6mm x 70.9mm x 7.7mm
- 177 grams
- Dual 12 megapixel back cameras
- 7-megapixel true depth camera module
- FaceID
- A12 Bionic chip
- IP68 water resistance
- Wireless charging
- 3D Touch
- Starts at $999
iPhone XS Max
The iPhone Xs Max is the company’s largest-ever and most expensive smartphone with a screen size of 6.5-inch.
The iPhone XS Max shares all other specifications to its sibling (iPhone XS) except screen size.
The iPhone XS models have a stainless steel frame and a scratch-resistant glass. Apple claims its the most durable phone with a water-resistance level of IP68.
iPhone XS Max Key Features
- 6.5″ (2688 x 1242) OLED display
- 157.5mm x 77.4mm x 7.7mm
- 208 grams
- Starts at $1099
iPhone XR
The iPhone XR is the Apple’s cheapest smartphone for this year, which uses LCD display instead of OLED display. Apple has a new name for this display – Liquid Retina.
The smartphone features a 6.1-inch IPS LCD with the resolution of 828 x 1792 pixels and 326 ppi density.
This LCD panel did gain the 120Hz touch sensing and the wider color gamut of its Super Retina powered siblings.
Rest of the specifications are almost the same, except rear camera which comes with a single lens of 12MP with wide-angle.
There is no Telephoto lens but the single camera system is able to produce an artificial background blur, due to the software-powered background segmentation with a 4 core GPU.
iPhone XR Key Features
- 6.1″ (1792 x 828) LCD display
- 150.9mm x 75.7mm x 8.3mm
- 194 grams
- Single 12 megapixel back camera
- 7-megapixel true depth camera module
- FaceID
- A12 Bionic chip
- IP67 water resistance
- Wireless charging
- Starts at $749
Face ID for all smartphones
Apple has refused to move the fingerprint reader to the back, leaving the 3D face scanner as the only biometric authentication method. A faster security enclave has sped up facial recognition compared to the first generation.
Price and Availablity
- $749 for the 64 GB iPhone XR
- $1000 for the 64 GB iPhone XS
- $1100 for the 64 GB iPhone XS Max
The company also reduced the prices for iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 to $450 and $599 respectively. iPhone XS and XS Max will be up for pre-orders from 14 September, with shipments starting from 21 September.
The XR pre-orders will begin from October 16th with the phone being available on October 26th.
