iPhone XR, XS and XS Max Heading to St Andrews

Overview

Apple fan or not, chances are you’re probably aware that Apple have three new phones in the pipeline, two of which are imminent. The flagship iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have been announced and are due on the 21st of September, with the lower-end iPhone XR expected on the 26th of October.

Although we concentrate on mobile phone (cellphone) repair rather than their sale, we’ve no doubt they’ll be widely available through the usual channels (including the mobile phone shops) in St Andrews following the launch dates.

As part of the same launch event, it was also announced that the iPhone X had been discontinued- just ten months after it first went on sale.

New Flagship Models- iPhone XS and XS Max

The UK pricing for the XS and XS Max starts at £999 and £1099 respectively.^* That’s certainly not pocket change for most people, but apparently the original iPhone X was successful even at a similarly high price point.

The XS is the obvious replacement for the iPhone X, with its identically-sized 5.8″ screen. Meanwhile, the XS Max- with its 6.5″ screen and £100 higher price- is effectively the new flagship model.

Like the iPhone X, both the XS and XS Max include OLED (rather than LCD-based) displays with a fantastic 458 ppi resolution. These will be- we assume- very high quality. Unfortunately, it’s also safe to assume they’ll be as similarly expensive to replace as the OLEDs were on some Samsung Galaxys and on the iPhone X!

The X didn’t have a home button, and neither do the XS series. This means Face ID is used rather then Touch ID.

The X had a glass back… and so do the XS and XS Max. It’ll look nice, we’re sure, but it’s also another thing to get broken, and there’s no reason to believe it’ll be any cheaper to repair than it was on the X and 8.

Apple iPhone XS and XS Max (left). These feature dual rear cameras and OLED-based display. The iPhone XR (right) has a more regular LCD-based “Liquid Retina” screen and single rear camera.

Lower-End Version- iPhone XR

It’s clear that the iPhone XR is intended as a slightly less expensive alternative to the XS. “Less expensive” being the phrase rather than “cheap”. In a world where you can buy a pretty usable Android smartphone for a small fraction of the cost, £750 is still expensive. But this has always been the way with Apple.

The XR includes a 6.1″ LCD display Apple refer to by the new moniker of “Liquid Retina”. Cutesy marketing terms aside, it’s still an LCD rather than the OLED display in the original X and the XS series. The PPI is a bit lower as well (326 rather than 458 ppi).

In all honesty, it’s still likely to be pretty good, and we’re not convinced that it’s a bad thing if it helps keep the price down. OLED technology is expensive and you’ll realise how expensive it is if you’ve ever needed to have an OLED/AMOLED display replaced in a high-end Samsung Galaxy phone or an iPhone X! At least it means that affordable screen replacements are more likely to be available.

Unfortunately, it also makes it easier for manufacturers of poor-quality unofficial (“copy”) LCD screens (as used by numerous other companies for screen replacements) to sell similarly dubious replacement displays. Expect to see them flood the market soon after the iPhone XR and read our article to find out why we recommend against having them fitted.

For those in the know, copies will at least have one benefit- they’re likely to reduce demand for original displays, which will in turn drive down their price and the cost of any repairs using originals.

At any rate, due to these market-driven and technological differences, it seems that screen replacement for the iPhone XR will be more like (e.g.) the iPhone 8 than for the iPhone X and XS.

The XR also lacks 3D Touch and only has one rear camera (versus the XS’s two). However, the home button remains gone, and thus there’s no Touch ID; Face ID is required.

Like the XS series, the XR is to have a glass back. This is more of an issue on a lower-cost phone, since we doubt it will be any cheaper to replace a broken glass back than it is on other models.

Anyone for Ten-S?

Reception to the names has not been entirely positive. As you probably know, the iPhone X is supposed to be pronounced “iPhone 10”, but that Roman numeral often gets said as a letter “X” anyway. The problem when it cames to the iPhone XS (“iPhone 10S”) is that the same thing will no doubt lead to it being called the “iPhone Excess”.

Ditto the unwieldiness of “iPhone XS Max”- many are asking if Apple’s losing its touch. Personally, we also think that “XS Max” sounds like a revival of cheesy Nineties “Xtreme” marketing. (Take a look at this fine Pepsi Max advertisement for an idea of what we’re getting at). Maybe Apple are intentionally getting in on the 90s-revival fad… but we suspect not!

What about the iPhone XR? Pretty similar, maybe not quite as bad, even if there’s probably a joke about “tenners” in there.

Repairing the iPhone XR, iPhone XS & iPhone XS Max

As one of Eastern Scotland’s leading smartphone repair businesses, here at Disc Depot St Andrews we like to keep on top of the latest developments and guess on the repair issues we’re likely to see more of in the months that follow a new phone’s launch.

Obviously the XR and XS aren’t out yet, so it’s hard to predict how repairing them will pan out until we- and others- have actually been able to investigate them ourselves.

But it’s certainly the case that (as mentioned above), replacing the XR’s LCD screen is likely to be very different from replacing the OLED in the XS series. Expect the XS OLED (and hence replacement of the screen) to be expensive for quite some time after launh.

^*This looks far higher than the US prices ($999 and $1099, which works out at around £768 and £845). However, please remember that prices in the UK usually include VAT at 20%, unlike the US, where sales tax is added separately at the till. Sellers over there are also able to trim costs by (for example) offering shorter and weaker warranties, due to the US’s much weaker consumer protection. (Is this a false economy? Make up your own mind.)

^**Similarly, this appears much higher than the US price ($749, or £576), but see our note above.