Apple introduces iPhone XR

Gary Pageau , ,

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Featuring A12 Bionic Chip, 6.1-Inch Liquid Retina Display, Aluminum and Glass Design in Six Beautiful Finishes, Face ID and Advanced Camera System

Cupertino, California — Apple today announced iPhone XR, integrating breakthrough technologies from iPhone XS in an all-screen glass and aluminum design with the most advanced LCD in a smartphone featuring a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display and six beautiful finishes. iPhone XR brings the powerful A12 Bionic chip with next-generation Neural Engine, the TrueDepth camera system, Face ID and an advanced camera system that creates dramatic portraits using a single camera lens. iPhone XR will be available to pre-order beginning Friday, October 19 and in stores beginning Friday, October 26.

“iPhone XR helps us reach even more people with the latest iPhone innovations. It is packed with the newest technologies including a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display that goes edge to edge, the latest TrueDepth camera with faster Face ID authentication, new 7-nanometer A12 Bionic chip with second-generation Neural Engine and a 12-megapixel camera that takes advanced Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new iPhone XR has a gorgeous new aerospace-grade aluminum and glass enclosure that has IP67 protection from liquids and dust, long all-day battery life and comes in six beautiful finishes. iPhone XR makes it possible for even more people to have the great experience of the latest iPhone X technology, in beautiful new designs, at a more affordable price.”

Groundbreaking Aluminum and Glass Design in Six New Finishes

A stunning all-screen design pushes the display of iPhone XR to its edges. The most durable front glass ever in a smartphone is wrapped in an elegantly matched anodized band made from durable 7000 series aerospace-grade aluminum, and the glass back design enables wireless charging.
iPhone XR comes in six new finishes: white, black, blue, yellow, coral and (PRODUCT)RED. A seven-layer color process gives the glass back beautiful nuanced hues, and the aluminum band and camera trim are color matched to give a sophisticated finish. This new design is splash and water resistant, with a rating of IP67, and protects against everyday spills including coffee, tea and soda.
A portion of proceeds for iPhone XR (PRODUCT)RED purchases will go directly to Global Fund HIV/AIDS grants that provide testing, counseling, treatment and prevention programs with a specific focus on eliminating transmission of the virus from mothers to their babies.

Most Advanced LCD in a Smartphone

The beautiful 6.1-inch all-screen Liquid Retina display2 is the most color accurate in the industry, with wide color support and True Tone for a more natural viewing experience. Precision-milled glass, advanced pixel masking and sub-pixel antialiasing allows the display to follow the curves of the device, while a new backlight design enables the display to stretch into the corners.
iPhone XR supports fast and fluid iPhone gestures like tap to wake, swipe up to the home screen, swipe down to access notifications and the Control Center, and the new haptic touch feature for pressing on the home screen to instantly launch the camera or flashlight.

A12 Bionic Chip with Next-Generation Neural Engine

The Apple-designed A12 Bionic, the smartest and most powerful chip in a smartphone, features the first 7-nanometer chip ever in a smartphone that delivers industry-leading performance in a more power-efficient design. A12 Bionic features a six-core fusion architecture with two performance cores that are up to 15 percent faster, four efficiency cores that are up to 50 percent more efficient, a four-core GPU that is up to 50 percent faster, powerful Apple-designed Image Signal Processor (ISP), video encoder and more. All of this unlocks new experiences for games, photography, video editing and graphics-intensive apps while still offering great battery life. Even with all this power, iPhone XR lasts up to an hour and a half longer than iPhone 8 Plus.
The next-generation Neural Engine is built for advanced machine learning in everything from photography to augmented reality. A new eight-core design allows it to complete up to 5 trillion operations per second compared to 600 billion in A11 Bionic. This enables new capabilities like faster plane detection for ARKit and new features that use real-time machine learning. For the first time the Neural Engine is open to Core ML, empowering developers to build apps that utilize this highly efficient machine learning engine. Core ML running on the A12 Bionic Neural Engine is up to nine times faster than on A11 Bionic, with as little as one-tenth the energy usage.

Face ID, The Most Secure Facial Authentication System Ever in a Smartphone

Face ID is faster on iPhone XR, enabled by software optimizations and a faster secure enclave. The TrueDepth camera system uses precision depth-sensing technology that goes far beyond the capabilities and security of two-dimensional facial scanners to unlock iPhone, use Apple Pay, gain access to secure apps and many more features with just a simple glance.

Advanced Single Lens Wide-Angle Camera

Featuring the same 12MP f/1.8 aperture wide-angle lens camera as iPhone XS for stunning photos and videos.

iPhone XR features a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture wide-angle lens with an all-new sensor, delivering faster auto-focus, while larger and deeper pixels improve image fidelity and low-light performance on photos and videos. Improvements to the ISP, Neural Engine and improved software algorithms enable portrait photos with a beautiful bokeh effect. Smart HDR brings better highlight and shadow detail across photos.

New Depth Control allows users to adjust the depth of field both in real-time preview3 and post-capture to create striking portraits with a beautiful bokeh effect. Selfies have never looked better with an enhanced Portrait mode on the front-facing TrueDepth camera and Portrait Lighting for dramatic studio lighting effects.

Wireless Technologies

iPhone XR uses LTE Advanced for fast download speeds4 and introduces Dual SIM5 through the use of a nano-SIM and digital eSIM.

Featuring iOS 12

iPhone XR comes with iOS 12, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iOS 12 changes the way iOS users see the world using augmented reality, helps people rediscover and share photos, and makes communications more expressive and fun with new Animoji and Memoji. Screen Time helps customers understand and take control of the time they spend interacting with their iOS devices, Siri Shortcuts give any app the ability to work with Siri and new privacy features help protect users from being tracked on the web.
Pricing and Availability
  • iPhone XR will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models in white, black, blue, yellow, coral and (PRODUCT)RED starting at $749 (US) from apple.com and Apple Stores, and is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).
  • Through Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, customers in the US can get iPhone XR with the protection of AppleCare+, choose their carrier (no multiyear service contract required) and have the opportunity to upgrade to a new iPhone every year. The iPhone Upgrade Program is available for iPhone XR at apple.com and Apple Stores in the US with monthly payments starting at $37.41.
  • Customers will be able to pre-order iPhone XR beginning Friday, October 19 with availability beginning Friday, October 26, in more than 50 countries and territories including Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, UK, US and US Virgin Islands.
  • With Apple GiveBack, customers in the US can trade in their eligible device for an Apple Store Gift Card or a refund on their purchase. If their device isn’t eligible for credit, Apple will recycle it for free.
  • Every customer who buys iPhone XR from Apple will be offered free Personal Setup in-store or online to help them customize their iPhone by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more.
  • Anyone who wants to learn more or go further with iPhone XR or iOS 12 can sign up for free Today at Apple sessions at apple.com/today.

Written by 

Gary Pageau is principal of InfoCircle LLC, continuing his marketing communications career. InfoCircle LLC is a marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in business-to-business markets. For nearly 25 years, he was with PMA International, serving most recently as Publisher, Content Development and Strategic Initiatives. His primary responsibilities included overseeing the Association’s editorial department, marketing research unit, education and corporate relations department.