iPhone XR review: competitive price for Apple's latest processor and cameras with a great battery life, but comes in only one size and the display is not great
Big screen, small compromise — Video by Phil Esposito & Becca Farsace — Here's a question: how much do you care about the display on a phone?
Context & Ripple Effects
A month after reviewers found the XS and XS Max terrific but expensive, Apple's fall lineup now has its value leg: the XR carries the same latest-generation processor and cameras at a competitive price, giving up display quality and offering just one size.
That makes the XR the clearest test yet of whether Apple can hold buyers who balk at flagship pricing without sending them to older or non-Apple phones — a question the 3D Touch-era 6s review never had to ask, when there was effectively one new iPhone.
First-order effects
- Shoppers choosing between the XR and the XS family are now really paying for the display and speakers, since the processor and cameras are shared across the lineup.
- The single-size constraint forces buyers who want a bigger screen up to the pricier XS Max rather than within the XR tier.
Second-order effects
- Android flagships competing on price now face an iPhone that matches their cost while running Apple's newest silicon, squeezing their traditional value pitch.
- Discounted prior-generation iPhones lose their role as Apple's affordable option, since the XR occupies that slot with current-generation internals.
Third-order effects
- If the tiering works, Apple's lineup structurally splits into a shared-chip ladder where the display is the main upsell — a pattern the later iPhone SE (2022) review shows persisting as a permanent low rung.
- The same logic cuts both ways over time: the iPhone 12 review found higher prices with battery life behind the cheaper model's, suggesting the value tier keeps anchoring what buyers will accept from the flagships.
The trend: Apple is institutionalizing a two-tier iPhone strategy in which the newest processor reaches the cheap model first and display quality becomes the primary reason to pay flagship prices.