AAPL Apple Inc

By David Pierce 

An iPhone is an iPhone ...is an iPhone.

More than a decade after Apple Inc. launched the first iPhone, new models have come to adhere to a certain formula. They always get faster, with some more enticing features. More recently, they seem to get more expensive, too. This year's iPhones are slightly different yet utterly the same.

There are the $999 iPhone XS and $1,099 iPhone XS Max, which both look like the iPhone X but come with upgraded processors and cameras, more durable bodies and marginally better battery life, according to Apple. Lastly, there's the $749 iPhone XR, a (relatively) more affordable model. It's the real star of Apple's event.

The three new iPhones have nearly all the important stuff in common. They're all powered by Apple's latest A12 Bionic chip, offer wireless charging, use Face ID facial recognition to unlock, and will run iOS 12. Their notable differences are screen size -- and price.

The year 2018 appears to be one of polish and refinement. In fact, the XS is so close to the iPhone X in size and shape that you might never spot the new model. They have the same vibrant 5.8-inch display with that same characteristic notch. (For me, the scuff marks on my older phone were the only giveaway.)

You won't miss the XS Max, however. With a 6.5-inch screen, it's not only the largest iPhone ever by a wide margin, it has one of the biggest screens on the market -- atypical for Apple. Samsung's Galaxy Note 9, currently the standard-bearer for giant phones, has a 6.4-inch screen.

The XS Max feels notably heavier and larger in my hands than its smaller sibling, but also surprisingly wieldy for such a big device. The larger screen looks great; coupled with larger built-in speakers, it allowed me to enjoy a minute or two of action from the film "Ready Player One," even in a bright, crowded room.

Apple didn't imbue the XS Max with much in the way of unique functionality, despite its size. Some apps work in landscape mode, as they do on an iPad or iPhone 8 Plus. But where Samsung gives big phones stylus support, split-screen view and software that lets them act like desktop computers, Apple still treats this as an iPhone. Just bigger.

That's one reason why the XR is the most intriguing of today's iPhones.

It sits between the other phones with a 6.1-inch screen, but conforms to the same basic design as the X. The XR is, in theory, less impressive than the others: It's made of aluminum, not steel, and while the XS uses an OLED panel similar to the iPhone X, the XR has a more traditional LCD screen. (Why should you care? Since OLED allows some pixels to be on and off at a granular level, displays typically deliver deeper blacks and more vibrant colors.)

Yet in a brief demo of the device, the XR held its own. It comes in blue, red, yellow, white, black and coral. I like the colors, even if they clash with the black bezel around the screen. Holding the new models side by side, you can see the difference between screens, and I guess the XS feels a little more like a luxury good. But in everyday use, I doubt you'd think about either.

The only thing the XR really lacks is the dual-camera setup that comes with the XS models (and previous years' Plus models). The big reason for dual cameras is optical zoom, to get in closer on a subject. It also enables the portrait photo effect, where the background is blurred like in professional photography. But Apple says it was able to approximate the effect on the XR anyway, using the fast new processor.

The XR is the Goldilocks phone -- just right in size and in price -- with nearly all of the hardware and software that make the latest crop of iPhones great.

Let's talk quickly about all the things you won't find on any of these new iPhones. No headphone jacks anywhere to be found. No USB-C ports, either, as Apple sticks to its Lightning connector. Most noticeably, no home button. Instead, all three models use the gesture-based navigation system introduced on the iPhone X, and use Apple's Face ID facial recognition to unlock the device. That's not an entirely welcome advancement: Even after nearly a year using an iPhone X, I still miss unlocking my phone with my thumb.

As for those of you making buying decisions, my immediate takeaway is, go big or go home. That is to say, screen size is the biggest differentiator among the models. The XS Max is really big and promises better battery life. I'm not sure why you'd buy the standard-size XS, actually. The cheaper XR is larger and very nearly as good.

At first glance, the XR seems like the easy choice this fall, with just about everything you'd want in an iPhone for a price well below $1,000. It looked for a minute like that might never be possible again.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 12, 2018 19:08 ET (23:08 GMT)

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