Good
Improved camera
New range of colors
Good battery life remains
Bad
Design is almost identical to XR
No headphone dongle in the box
Camera bump a little sharp
The iPhone 11 Pro is a really nice phone. The matte glass back is elegant. The OLED display is slightly brighter than I expected. The trypophobia-inducing camera bump is sleeker than it looks in photos, and the ability to zoom in and out. The iPhone 11 Pro is a little faster.
These are all gentle little upgrades from the iPhone XS, and they’re nice. They are, unfortunately for some, all you get. Still, I want this phone because it’s just a little bit nicer than the phone I’ve got! From the front the phone looks the same but it is the back of the phone that we will see the difference. At 5.94 x 2.98 x 0.33 inches and 6.84 ounces, the iPhone 11 is identical to the iPhone XR in size and weight. This puts the phone in between the 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro and the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max, which I find to be a happy medium in terms of immersive viewing and being able to use the phone with one hand.
The iPhone 11 is now on sale (Sept.20) and starts at $699 for 64GB of storage, or $29.12 per month. That’s $50 less than what Apple charged last year for the iPhone XR.
If you trade in your existing iPhone in good condition you can buy the iPhone 11 for as low as $399. I would have liked to see 128GB of storage to start but you can get that amount for $749, or 256GB of storage for $849. You can already preorder the iPhone 11.
For the UK, you can pre-order/buy the iPhone 11 from Apple’s website, where it costs £729, £779, £879 for the 64GB, 128GB and 256GB storage versions respectively. In comparison, this is about £20 less than the entry level iPhone XR’s launch price, which is unarguably a discount, but a paltry one. With trade-ins, you can lower that basic price down to £529.
iPhone 11 specs
Performance Hexa Core
Display 6.1″ (15.49 cm)
Storage 64 GB
Display 6.1 inches
Front Camera 12 MP
Battery 3110 mAh
Processor Apple A13 Bionic
Ram 4 GB
Rear Camera 12 MP + 12 MP
This device also has IP68-rated water resistance, which means that it can withstand 2 meters of water for 30 minutes. The iPhone XR could do only 1 meter. The iPhone 11 Pro ups that to 4 meters, but that’s hardly a reason to spend extra money.
Apple is skipping 5G networking altogether for the iPhone 11, which is a bummer because you’ll miss out on the blazing speeds offered by phones like the Galaxy S10 5G, which can go as high as a gigabit per second. 5G networks are still being built out, and the modems that support multiple 5G bands are just now hitting the market. Still, if you want a true future-proof iPhone, you may want to wait for the 2020 iPhone with 5G.
The iPhone 11 supports 4G LTE, which offers decent performance but not the same speeds as the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. While the iPhone 11 has 2x 2 MIMO antennas, the iPhone 11 Pro models offer 4×4 MIMO for better performance.
If you’re on the fence about which new iPhone to buy, these are some notable differences between Apple’s different models. The biggest? The $999 iPhone 11 Pro and the $1,099 iPhone 11 Pro cost $300 and $400 more than the iPhone 11, respectively. And for that premium, you get a third rear camera for telephoto zoom, higher quality OLED displays, a fast charger in the box, slightly better water resistance and zippier LTE.
If you prefer Android, you can pick up a Galaxy S10e and get very good cameras and a vibrant 5.8-inch display. However, the iPhone 11’s cameras are even better and Apple’s phone offers longer battery life and better performance. Some may want to wait to see what Google has up its sleeve for the Pixel 4 as well.
Overall, the iPhone 11 is an outstanding value and undoubtedly one of the best phones you can buy.
