Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR launched; price, specs, all you need to know

After months of intense speculation, leaks and rumours, Apple has finally launched three new smartphones — iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. The devices were launched at a grand event which took place at the ‘Gather Round’ event held at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Cupertino, California.

While the flagship phone iPhone XS will come at prices starting $999 (Rs 99,900 in India), the larger iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR will come at a starting price of $1,099 (Rs 109,900 in India) and $749 respectively. The devices will go on sale starting September 21 in the United States, United Kingdom, etc and September 30 in countries like India, China, Japan, etc.

While iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max comes in three storage variants – 64GB/256GB/512GB and six colour options — iPhone XR comes in 64GB/128GB/256GB and three colours.

Rather than launching products with earth-shattering innovation like every year, Apple stuck to improving on its existing products this year and take it from there.

In addition to the latest iPhones, Apple also launched Apple Watch Series 4 along with iOS 12 and watchOS 4 and macOS Mojave. While Apple iOS 12 and watchOS 4 will arrive on September 17, macOS Mojave will be available for download starting September 24.

IPhone XS specifications

iPhone XS is the successor of the much-acclaimed iPhone X launched in 2017. The device sports a 5.8-inch OLED Super Retina HD display with a screen resolution of 2436*1125p and pixel density of 458ppi. The display features very high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and supports features such as HDR and Multi-Touch display.

The device retains the same notch display as its predecessor and measures 143.6mm x 70.9mm x 7.7mm and weighs 177 grams.

The smartphone is powered by first 7-nanometer chip ever in a smartphone, the six-core A12 Bionic chip. A12 Bionic chip is the fastest and the most power-efficient CPU ever from Apple’s stable.

“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,” Apple said.

On the optics front, iPhone XS comes equipped with dual-rear camera setup with 12MP wide-angle and 12MP telephoto cameras with an aperture rate of ƒ/1.8 and f/2.4 respectively. Apart from features such as Dual optical image stabilization, Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and depth control, 2x optical zoom, digital zoom of up to 10x, smart HDR for photos, the sensors will be capable of shooting 4K videos at a stunning 60fps.

In the front, there is a 7MP camera with an aperture rate of ƒ/2.2 with features such as Retina Flash, Auto image stabilization, Burst mode, Exposure control, Timer mode, Animoji, Memoji among others.

The device will come powered by ‘biggest battery ever in an iPhone’ which the company claims will provide upto 20 hours of talk time, upto 12 hours of browsing and is capable of fast charging with upto 50 percent charge in 30 minutes.

The smartphone will come with iOS 12 out-of-the-box. Interestingly, as the rumours were doing the rounds, Apple has finally come out with the first ever iPhone which supports dual SIM cards, which is a big hit in countries such as India.

On the connectivity front, the dual-SIM LTE phone supports Gigabit-class LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility, NFC, A-GPS, improved Siri, lightning connector to connect to a computer, among others. The device is available in gold, space gray and silver colours.

IPhone XS Max specifications

The bigger variant among the three, and in fact, the biggest iPhone ever from Apple, iPhone XS Max shares the same specs as iPhone XS apart from a larger 6.5-inch display with a screen resolution of 2688*1242p and a larger form factor of 157.5mm x 77.4mm x 7.7mm with a weight of 208 grams.

The device, just like iPhone XS, is rated IP68 for splash, water and dust resistance and can resist water upto a maximum depth of 2 meters for up to 30 minutes.

IPhone XR specifications

Cheapest among the three, iPhone XR comes with a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina HD LCD display with a screen resolution of 1792*828p and pixel density of 326ppi. The device comes with a notched True Tone display with Multi-Touch feature.

The smartphone is powered by the same A12 Bionic chip which powers the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The device will sport a 3GB RAM and comes in three storage variants 64GB/128GB/256GB.

On the optics front, iPhone XS comes equipped with 12MP rear camera with an aperture rate of ƒ/1.8. Apart from features such as optical image stabilization, Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and depth control, digital zoom of up to 5x, smart HDR for photos, the sensors will be capable of shooting 4K videos at a 60fps.

In the front, there is a 7MP camera with an aperture rate of ƒ/2.2 with features such as Retina Flash, Auto image stabilization, Burst mode, Exposure control, Timer mode, Animoji, Memoji among others.

The smartphone will come with iOS 12 out-of-the-box and supports wireless battery charging. On connectivity front, the device comes with features such as dual-SIM LTE support, Gigabit-class LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility, NFC, A-GPS, improved Siri, lightning connector to connect to a computer, among others.