iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR announced

Today was "the big day", the "Gather Round" event that unveiled the new 2018 iPhone lineup. The iPhone XS has been priced to start at $999, the XS Max at $1099, and the "budget" iPhone XR at $749, all with starting capacities of 64GB.



My personal opinion: A mostly incremental update, a boring rehash of the iPhone X (which is now discontinued), which does not justify the price hikes across the board. Most disappointingly, Apple has now axed the iPhone SE, without a replacement in sight in terms of size and price. In addition to the iPhone 6S has also been removed from the lineup. The ugly notch is still present on all three models. If anything, the iPhone 8 is the best phone Apple currently offers, as the 7 is a ticking defect bomb, and the new lineup is priced out of this world for such a mediocre upgrade. Shame on you Tim Cook, and the rest of Apple. It seems you've completely run out of ideas and steam, when the most exciting part of your iPhone event is the Apple Watch Series 4. Furthermore, if I went and bought a brand new macbook and brand new xs, I still couldn't hook the two of them together without a dongle. Apple has become more tone deaf and out of touch than ever before.

 

Besides the price, which is disappointing, I'm running a 7 Plus and will be updating to the Xs Max. The dual sim make the upgrade more then worth it for me, as I am about to start my own startup and having the ability for a second number and not have to carry another phone one less thing I have to worry about losing. Going from the 7 Plus, which I have had for two years, to the Xs Max is not a bad jump considering all the features added since the release of the 7 series, so it's easier to justify the cost.

 

I only like iPhone for their FaceTime feature.

I still can’t believe they still got that ridiculous notch. I see that they are trying to innovate , but don’t change the format of the screen. They might as well notch all their products.

 

Xs Max, baby. 512 GB storage for all my NBR-related You tube videos. Totally unnecessary. Already leasing my X via the upgrade program. All locked and loaded for Friday night, 3am EDT.

This phone should tide me over until 2020 when I get my desktop. The X, even though it has a 5.8 inch screen, is just too small. Hate typing on that thing with my fat fingers.

Wonder how well the Xs Max will look next to a P870TM...

 

I question the sanity of people who drop 1100$ on a phone....

 

Phone fetish all the way. Really stupid reason. But, unlike a computer or a car, the phones I buy never seem to scratch the itch. There is always something I want in the device, but the OEM consistently does not provide it.

We carry phones everywhere we go. They are always on and almost always in use. Facebook, Twitter, social media, etc. I really had high hopes for windows phone when continuum was announced. That platform would have allowed us road warriors flexibility to have a laptop computer in the carry-size of a phone. I had high hopes for the iPad Pro. Give me an iPad with a desktop OS and track/mouse support, and I would be sold. Give me an iPad where I can download Steam and play AAA games, and I'm sold.

The way I see it, Apple has me where they want me as a phone customer. I always return to the iPhone. Where they lost me completely as a customer is in the computer world. Apple's problem they'd rather focus on the mobile market vice computer market. Last time I checked, I could buy my P870 of my dreams with what a specced out Macbook Pro would cost.

 

Apple has been pushing me away from their phones since they dumped the headphone jack, except there is nowhere left to go to. So I will run my 8 for as long as possible, might even sell that and just stick to my SE

 

Lack of headphone jacks have been an annoyance. Especially, since I can't always use my BT airpods. I have an Apple Music subscription I listen via my Bose QC35 headphones when I mow the grass. Otherwise, I stream audio via my car BT.

I've also gotten in the habit of not using the lightning connector. I primarily charge the phone via the wireless charger. It pales in comparison to the fast wireless charging I had seen with the Note 7. I figure less wear and tear.

 

Be prepared @Papusan

 

"Super Retina HD display with HDR and True Tone."

Marketing coming out extra hard this year.

 

What about blowing $1200 on a video card??

Oh, wait, not that overpriced $1200 video card...

This overpriced $1200 video card...

 

Hmm, I can't seem to google any reference to the new 5G cellular support on the new Apple XS, XS Max, or XR... anyone have a link?

Awwww....

This is why we’re not getting a 5G iPhone this year
Chris Mills @chrisfmills, September 10th, 2018 at 4:06 PM
https://bgr.com/2018/09/10/iphone-xs-max-specs-leaks-5g-nope-lol/

 

I have already the X version from last year. And the big one is too big and too expencive. See... Norwegian price for the new 512GB huge Iphablet I don't need or want a 6,5 tommer BGA laptop.

 

I'm NOT Buying the New iPhone XS nor XS Max!
Snazzy Labs


iPhone XS, XS Max, XR - Did Apple Do Enough?
Unbox Therapy

 

Since no one mentioned it in the thread, the best news about this is that all of them are 120Hz... So other makers will probably start copying that.

 

In that video I posted "I'm NOT Buying the New iPhone XS nor XS Max!", he mentions this 120hz marketing speak as confusing, starting @ 08:00

 

You mean apple started copying the 120HZ screen. That’s what’s wrong with apple heads , they only know what apple release and assume that apple are the first, but in a far far away galaxy , someone already done it.

Apple is the 2nd to Use the 120HZ screen. Probably two years late ..

Go read up on the razor gaming phone.

I remember when razor gaming phone came out , all the isheep said bad stuff about 120hz screen , “ it’s too small “ .. why would you want that ? What will you noticed on that tiny screen. People only want 120hz on a tv ...Blah blah blah ....

Now , since iPhone came out with a 120hz screen , they are going head over heels and probable boasting to their friends about it, and don’t have the slightest clue what it can do.

Isheep I tell yah.

 

The iPhone XS Max Is Too Expensive
Austin Evans
Published on Sep 12, 2018
The 2018 Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR are seriously pricey.

Tech Rant on iPhone XS & iPhone XR - Disappointments Misleading & BS - YouTube Tech Guy
The YouTube Tech Guy
Published on Sep 12, 2018
It's Here The Tech Rant on the new iPhones & the Apple Event The Disappointments, Misleading & Straight Up BS

i guess new iphones
TechLinked
Published on Sep 12, 2018

 

Your next smartphone will likely be from the same manufacturer again according to study
An analytics group recently polled 2200 adults early last month to study brand loyalty and how factors like income, age, or region may impact user decisions. Apparently, more than two-thirds of adults say they would stick to the s.....

 

Oh wow it's not even actually 120Hz... lmao. Just the digitizer? It's funny I saw that in an original post but then other articles said 120Hz so I just believed them for... some reason.

Of course I know about the Razer phone. Like you said it's been out for a while (around a year), and almost no one has copied it.

Just like the notch or removing the headphone jack once Apple does something the rest of the competition tends to copy. This also wouldn't have been the first 120Hz Apple has done though, the iPad Pros also were 120Hz.

What would 120Hz on a tv even do? Television is broadcast at 24Hz anyway... I also don't know how the tone of my first comment made you think I'm an Apple fanboy lol. I was implying 120Hz was pretty much the *only* positive from that event.

Turns out it's not 120Hz anyway so even that isn't a positive.

 

Turn everything into a soap opera. I hate it.

 

No fingerprint reader, with stupid Face ID instead? What a joke!

 

They are not 120Hz. The touch digitizer layer is 120hz to improve inputs, the actual display is only 60hz. Razer Phone is still the only one to use a 120hz display.

Yep, 60Hz is perfectly fine for me.

Which is why I bought a week old unlocked iphone 8 plus for 450$. Apple only wants to give 400$ for it, I told the guy I'd beat any trade in offer by 50$, so I got a pretty much brand new iphone 8 plus for an iphone SE like price.

I truly shed tears over the deprecation of the iphone SE. It was a perfect phone, all it needed was a slight spec bump in the processor, camera, screen, and battery department, and it would have been perfect.

 

Perfectly agree with you. No Touch Id on XR and its expensive than S9 if you max it out. Sadly I don't like Glass based rear panels.
I guess I'll look into some Android phones for now.
Now I think they'll pull another trick to streamline iPhone X like UI design on non notch display. iPhone X like UI on iphone 8 and older versions. Yuck.

 

When you say that no one mentioned the 120hz assuming that apple came out with it first and also said that the rest of the world will follow , that is a line from a would be fanboy would say.

And we are talking about phone and not any other product that is related to 120hz , I can go off topic that other vendor had 120hz in laptop before apple product , but that’s not revelant to the topic.

Apple also mocked big screen smartphones , so were iPhone users , look at them now ... the iPhone became a phablet too .. apple is just slow to follow suite.

I usually buy my wife a new iPhone when new models come out , but this (s) is just another S lol ... nothing special ...

 

@Galm 's point is the new iphone's don't have a 120hz refresh rate screen, they have a 120hz refresh rate digitizer pad, very different.

And, the Razer phone with 120hz refresh rate screen isn't a laptop, it's a real honest to goodness gaming phone, the first one actually. Razer are coming out with a 2nd one too:

https://www.xda-developers.com/razer-phone-2-leaked-render/

"The Razer phone kicked off the trend of gaming smartphones that we’ve seen over the last year. The ASUS ROG phone and Xiaomi Black Shark followed.

Rumblings about the Razer Phone 2 have picked up in the last week. Razer already confirmed the device and a rumor says it could have cool Chrome LED effects. But now we’re getting a close look at the device via a leaked render.

There are some very subtle differences if you look close. The front camera and sensors are a little farther apart and the side bezels are a bit thicker. We don’t know much about the internals yet, but it’s possible they could see as little change as the design.

Current rumors peg the device as having 8GB of RAM, the Snapdragon 845 SoC, 512GB of storage, and Android 8.1 Oreo. It will undoubtedly have the same great display, which had a QHD resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.

No official release date has been announced yet, but the October 10th / November 1st dates on the screens could be a clue. "

 

Assuming that Apple came out with it first from what I said was your assumption not what I said... They also don't have 120Hz in any laptop.

If this was the Galaxy Note 9 reveal and they said 120Hz I would have also said: Since no one mentioned it in the thread, the best news about this is that all of them are 120Hz... So other makers will probably start copying that.

Overall this phone looks like the RTX series. Overpriced with sketchy specs.

 

The entire phone release was MEH x 2. The watch on the other hand was COOL. ECG on board. that is pretty slick stuff. That and the fall reporting is cool stuff.

 

It's cool to see the robin live on!

 

All really good observations. When Steve Jobs used to run these events from the Moscone Center, the events were full of piss and vinegar. The “One More Thing” slogan meant something.

My question is what does this say about future innovation? Apple is making loads of cash, but they really haven’t introduced the next important thing we need in our lives. I stil get excited about getting up at 3am to pre-order. But, I’ve really found myself not caring to watch these event shows anymore. Seems more fluff than actual substance.

 

I wonder how it works here when winter comes. Maybe there is a cooldown: if the wearer doesn't move for 30 seconds after the fall, alarm is sent? Perhaps this was mentioned in the show, I didn't watch that carefully. Anyways, the thing I waited most was price reductions in the current lineup...

 

Shameful: iPhone Xr only with HD display, iPhone Xs without Fast Charger Notebookcheck.com | 13.09.2018
No, not everything that Apple introduced yesterday makes sense - especially not at these prices. Anyone who sells the "most advanced LCD display in a smartphone" for 850 euros, but only slightly more than HD resolution, or with his 1.250 Euro iPhone Xs still attaches a 5 watt power supply, must not be surprised at critical opinions.

Resolution worse than with 130 Euro phones
In terms of resolution, Apple's iPhone Xr actually plays in the league of the lowest Android phones - we're talking about entry-level gaming under 100 euros - even 130 euros Mobile phones like the 2017 Moto G5 already offer full HD resolution on her 5 inch displays. Of course, resolution is not everything - a certain minimum standard, and that is Full HD in mid-2018 probably undoubtedly, should not be undercut in a 850 euro expensive premium iPhone.

For advertised fast charging optional accessories necessary
Already in the previous year, the group received much criticism for the decision to promote the fast loading on the website - in the footnotes but to purchase optional USB-C power supplies plus also optional commercially available Lightning to USB-C cable to refer , Exactly the same game repeats itself again this year, although the price of the new iPhones with the Max model and 512 GB memory reaches up to 1.650 euro.

 

Nextbit Robin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nextbit_Robin

 

The iphone pricing, well to be fair a lot of the new product pricing recently, has jumped the shark in embarrassing and ridiculous ways.

These shameless hucksters keep asking the same question every year, "how much money is too much to ask for essentially the same thing every year?"

Maybe this year it will happen?, people will wake up - snap out of it - and stop buying the same thing for more and more money?

This year over year price gouging, clearly shown in this slide, and the bastard's are gloating over it all right in front of everyone.

Have they no shame?

Maybe these higher prices will allow Apple to turn around their slowly dropping gross margin, and head back up toward 45% Gross margin, maybe even hit 50% margin?

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/profit-margins

Dig deep everybody, send Apple more money ya'll, they needs it!!

 

Yeah, if i wanted iOS device I'd totally follow your course, rather that purchasing more expensive device with reduced functionality leading to less comfortable use!

 

The first razer phone was the robin case! awesome. If I could load even Nougat on a robin I would probably grab one.

 

Its funny that the last of the steve Jobs Era apple devices were the peak of business....downward slide ever since.

 

There is a new accelerometer in the watch that detects the fall, and if you do not move for 30 sec-1 min it automatically sends your location to emergency services. Heat has nothing to do with it.

 

iPhone XS - YouTube FORCED me to cover it...
Linus Tech Tips
Premiered 6 hours ago

 

Winter here means ice. Many different kinds of ways to slip and fall, most of them hurt butt and pride only but look spectacular.
I did follow the stream but I actually watched Netflix at the same time so I had no audio on, I just saw the images but missed the details.

Edit: yea, I meant _false alarms_ because if the day is bad enough, falling once isn't enough. If I won't get up in 30 seconds or so, call 911 or equivalent...

 

Exactly, you have to be motionless for so long before it calls automatically.

 

Kind of interesting. Pre-ordering each generation of iPhone has been an experience in and of itself. From AT&T's servers being hung up, to Apple opening the door minutes before the opening bell, to even insufficient server capacity. Activating the new phone has also had its trials and tribulations. My iPhone 3Gs couldn't be activated for 3 days because of the demand on Apple's activation servers.

Last night, at 3:01 am EDT, I had no problem pre-ordering. Was as though nobody else was in line waiting. This afternoon, I checked that shipping dates had slipped from 9/21 to 1 - 2 weeks. Far better than the 8 - 10 weeks we had seen last year.

Be interesting to see if this is a trend of a saturated smartphone market. Did Apple lose potential customers because of the lack of revolutionary new features?

 

You hit the nail on the head. Consumers are becoming wise to Apple. Lack of features and charge for the image. A mid range android phone will beat the brand new iPhones in features, keep up performance wise and be several hundreds less. The time has come for Apple. They are seeing the mainstream consumer go **** this, you are ripping me off. I got an awesome deal on our iPhone 8s and watch 3s through my wife’s employer. If it weren’t for that I would be using a lg q stylo plus.

 

The 7 most egregious fibs Apple told about the iPhone XS camera
Devin Coldewey @techcrunch / 2 days ago
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/12/t...-apple-told-about-the-iphone-xs-camera-today/

" Apple always drops a few whoppers at its events, and the iPhone XS announcement today was no exception. And nowhere were they more blatant than in the introduction of the devices’ “new” camera features. No one doubts that iPhones take great pictures, so why bother lying about it? My guess is they can’t help themselves.

To be clear, I have no doubt they made some great updates to make a good camera better. But whatever those improvements are, they were overshadowed today by the breathless hype that was frequently questionable and occasionally just plain wrong. Now, to fill this article out I had to get a bit pedantic, but honestly, some of these are pretty egregious..."

New iPhones courageously ditches the free headphone dongle
Lucas Matney @lucasmtny / 2 days ago
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/12/new-iphones-courageously-ditch-including-a-free-headphone-dongle/

How expensive is the most expensive iPhone XS around the world?
The trend of gouging wallets continues
By Cameron Faulkner @camfaulkner Sep 13, 2018, 1:06pm EDT
https://www.theverge.com/tech/2018/...mparison-apple-uk-us-india-japan-china-russia

 

Some women are complaining that the iphones are getting too big for their smaller hands especially with the new 6.4" version.

 

Maybe the new iphones can be used for something else. For example, whacking someone's head off instead of reaching for your shoes.

 

Nah, they would bend to easy.

 

The new steel cases are supposed to be anti-bend materials... the Xs / XsMax at least, the Xr is made out of the bendy aluminum.

 

I like how the mispronunciation of the iPhone Xs, which a lot of people undoubtedly will use, is the iPhone Excess. Rather fitting name, though Apple's not exactly alone in pricing their phones higher than previous generations. Interesting SoC and Apple Watch though. The OLED displays and cameras will surely be nice too.