9 reasons why you should buy an iPhone XR instead of the iPhone XS or XS Max

Mar 28 , 2019

The Apple XR comes in six different colour options (from left) – white, black, blue, yellow, coral, which is like orange, and red. Photo: Apple

Just because the iPhone XR is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s inferior – it’s actually the better choice, writes Dave Smith

Apple released three new iPhones in 2018: the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, and the more affordable iPhone XR.

The iPhone XS and XS Max are the spiritual successors to last year’s iPhone X, which eliminated the traditional home button from previous iPhone designs in favour of a display that takes up the entire front of the phone.

Yet just because the iPhone XR is cheaper than the iPhone XS doesn’t mean it's inferior. Quite the contrary.

Check out 9 reasons why you should buy an iPhone XR instead of the iPhone XS or XS Max:

1. The iPhone XR ... is US$250 cheaper than the iPhone XS to start

The iPhone XR (left), which has a single lens, and the iPhone XS Max which has two lenses. Photo: AP

Price is probably the biggest consideration for most people, and the iPhone XR beats the iPhone XS in terms of price.

The iPhone XR starts at US$749 for 64GB of storage. It can cost up to US$899 for 256GB of storage.
The iPhone XS starts at US$999 for 64GB of storage. It can cost up to US$1,349 for 512GB of storage.
The iPhone XS Max starts at US$1,099 for 64GB of storage. It can cost up to US$1,449 for 512GB of storage.

Not many people need 512GB of storage on their phones – I’m using only 62GB of my available 256GB on my iPhone X, and I have more than 200 apps, plus lots of old photos and texts.