Apple iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro review: Advancing the state of the iPhone (Updated!)

Welcome to the 2019 iPhones

Note: This article was first published on 17 September 2019 and updated on 19 September 2019 at 4:30pm with battery life results and ratings.

Ever since 2012 and the iPhone 5, Apple has always announced its new phones in September and this year was no different. This year sees Apple announcing two new flagship models and one more affordable one ― just like last year. The two flagship models are the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Significantly, these are the first iPhones to be called “Pro.” On the other hand, the more affordable model is called the iPhone 11 and it’s the spiritual successor to the iPhone XR ― the XR hasn’t been discontinued and remains on sale. Even though these new models look remarkably similar to last year’s iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, Apple has bestowed them with a host of improvements and enhancements that deserve a closer look.

But before we do, for the sake of readability and because the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone Pro 11 Max are identical save for the display sizes, we are going to refer to the iPhone 11 Pro Max unit that we have here as the iPhone 11 Pro.

Got that? Good, let's begin the review starting with design.

Design

The new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are instantly recognisable as they follow much of the design cues and aesthetic that was laid forth by their predecessors. Following the iPhone XR, the iPhone 11 features an aluminium body and a glass back. The glass back is milled from a single piece of glass and Apple says its the strongest glass you will find on any phone. This same glass is used for the front too to protect the display. The iPhone 11 has a glossy glass back but the area around the camera is textured. As you will see later, this is reversed in the iPhone 11 Pro. The ports and positions of the mute switch, volume and power buttons are all the same ― no headphone jack and no expandable storage card slot, sorry. It has IP68 water and dust resistance rating and can stay submerged up to 2 meters for up to 30 minutes. The biggest difference insofar as looks are concerned is when compared to the iPhone XR is that the iPhone 11 has two cameras instead of one.

It’s pretty much the same story with the iPhone 11 Pro. Like last year's iPhone XS and XS Max, the iPhone 11 Pro comes in two sizes — 5.8-inch for the iPhone 11 Pro and 6.5-inch for the iPhone 11 Pro. Instead of aluminium, the iPhone 11 Pro has a stainless steel chassis, but the glass back, like the iPhone 11’s, is milled from a single piece and is claimed to be the hardest glass you find in any phone. The glass that protects the display is this very same super-strong glass. And as I said earlier, the glass back of the iPhone 11 Pro has a textured matte finish save for the camera bump which has a smooth glossy finish. The iPhone 11 Pro also has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating but Apple says it can stay submerged in up to 4 meters of water for up to 30 minutes ― that’s twice the depth of the iPhone 11. And again, the biggest difference insofar as looks are concerned when compared to its predecessor is that the iPhone 11 Pro has three cameras.

In the hands, the iPhone 11 feels quite similar to the iPhone XR and this is confirmed by the technical specifications. They measure and weigh the same. It’s not a huge phone by any stretch but at 8.3mm and 194g heavy, it is quite a chunky phone.

The iPhone 11 Pro, on the other hand, is thicker and heavier than its predecessor. While the general footprint is the same, thickness is up by 0.4mm from 7.7mm to 8.1mm. Weight is up 11g from 177g to 188g for the smaller iPhone 11 Pro, and up 18g for the iPhone 11 Pro Max from 208g to 226g. As an iPhone XS Max user, I can immediately feel the difference. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means but it’s something worth taking note of since the iPhone 11 Pro Max is noticeably heftier in the hands.

I must also talk about the camera bump. Not a year goes by that we do not discuss the camera bumps on iPhones. This year’s camera bumps are more contentious than ever and also very conspicuous. It hasn’t even been a week but we already have tons of memes surrounding the camera bump. Personally, I’m indifferent towards the bump. If you are bothered by it, ask yourself how often do you turn your phone around to look at its back. Furthermore, from a practical standpoint, it makes more sense to have three cameras bunched together as it reduces the shift in point of view as you change cameras. And if rumours are true, the upcoming Pixel 4 will also have a conspicuous square camera bump so the new iPhones aren’t alone in that regard.

Finally, let’s talk about colours. The iPhone 11 comes in six colours ― just like the iPhone XR. Black, white, yellow, and PRODUCT(RED) returns, but gone are coral and blue. This is a pity since I though coral and blue were the more interesting colours. Taking their place is the new purple and green. The new purple finish is more like lilac or lavender. Green, on the other hand, takes on different hues depending on the light but for the most part, I would describe it as a light shade of pandan cake green. If you are wondering what my picks would be, my first choice would be green, then purple, and then PRODUCT(RED) because the red is so striking.

The iPhone 11 Pro comes in four colours. Space grey, silver, and gold returns, and joining them this year is a new midnight green colour. It was certainly unexpected but it makes sense given this particular shade of green feature prominently in the current street-wear/street-style trend. I see it more as olive or military green. At any rate, colours are subjective and there’s no right or wrong, just what you like. If you asked me, I’ll go for gold. The gold is still this very soft hue of pink gold that I like.

Display

The iPhone 11 gets the same Liquid Retina display as last year’s iPhone XR. It measures 6.1 inches across and has a resolution of 1,792 x 828 pixels which means a pixel density count of 326 PPI. It also supports TrueTone technology and the DCI-P3 colour space. Of course, the difference is obvious if you place it next to the iPhone 11 or even an older iPhone XS but it’s still a very, very good display. It’s crisp, sharp, and has very nice vibrant colours. If I were to nitpick, it’d be nice if the display’s bezels were thinner; and if its resolution was a Full HD equivalent; and finally, it would also be nice if Apple added Dolby Vision and HDR10 support. But as it is, it’s one of the best LCD displays I have seen on a phone.

The iPhone 11 Pro, on the other hand, has some nice screen updates. As a result, they are now called Super Retina XDR displays, in reference to the Pro Display XDR that was unveiled at WWDC 2019 earlier this year.

Size, resolution, and therefore pixel density counts are unchanged, so you get the following:

• iPhone 11 Pro: 5.8-inch, 2,436 x 1,125 pixels, 458 PPI
• iPhone 11 Pro Max: 6.5-inch, 2,688 x 1,242 pixels, 458 PPI

The new displays, however, are brighter than before. The Super Retina XDR display can now go up to 800 nits in brightness when outdoors for better readability in direct sunlight, and it can go up to a whopping 1,200 nits when viewing HDR content such as HDR10 or Dolby Vision movies or HDR photos (interestingly, these specs are similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note10. Yup, only the iPhone 11 Pro’s display is HDR10 and Dolby Vision compliant ― the iPhone 11’s display isn’t. It’s also worth noting that the peak brightness of the iPhone XS and XS Max’s Super Retina display was “just” 700 nits. Under the right situations, the new iPhone 11 Pro’s displays are noticeably brighter. But insofar as clarity, sharpness, and colour accuracy are concerned, the two are about the same, which is to say that the iPhone 11 Pro has an excellent display.

One thing missing from the iPhone 11 Pro is 3D Touch. So now the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro all have Haptic Touch. The difference is that 3D Touch allowed you to bring up contextual menus by hard pressing on a screen. Haptic Touch, on the other hand, can be invoked just by holding on to the screen. Now, not everyone is going to miss this since I suspect most people don’t even know the existence of 3D Touch in the first place, but for those who do use 3D Touch often, Haptic Touch will take some getting used to as it doesn’t quite have the tactile feel of 3D Touch, though, in practice, it actually works just as well.

The last thing I need to mention is the notch. Yes, it’s still present and it’s where you will find the TrueDepth camera (more on this later) and the Face ID system. To be sure, it’s a compromise. Apple could have easily put a simpler front-facing camera system and dispense with the pesky notch but that means missing out the Face ID, which is one of, if not the most secure and convenient biometric authentication system in a phone. In the end, it’s a reasonable trade-off but one cannot help but look at the current crop Android devices, like the Galaxy Note10 and Vivo V15 Pro and be envious of their all- or nearly all-display designs.

Audio

On the audio side of things, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro both come with stereo speakers. But new to the two models is spatial audio, which is Apple ways of saying surround sound. The aim is to create a more immersive experience by projecting a wider sound field. Compared to the iPhone XS Max, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro sound just about as loud, but distortion is less pronounced and the sound is more controlled at extreme volumes. Also, the stereo separation and effects are more distinct and there's even the slightest palpable sense of bass. It’s impressive how loud these two phones can get.

Since there’s no headphone jack, Apple has thoughtfully provided the phones with EarPods with Lightning Connector. As far as bundled headphones go, the EarPods are very decent and certainly good enough for most users. If you wish to use your wired headphones, you need to get a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter from Apple for S$15. And if you want to go wireless, Apple offers two very good options in the form of the AirPods and PowerBeats Pro.

Software

The two phones will ship with iOS 13, the latest version of iOS. It was first unveiled at WWDC 2019 earlier this year in June. It’s not a radical update so anyone who has ever used a recent iOS device will be able to get hang of it quickly. As is the case with every new iteration of iOS, there’s a whole lot of changes — too much to get into here — but some that are worth highlighting are Dark Mode, a revamped Photos app, more memoji customisation options, greater privacy features like Sign In with Apple, up to 30% faster Face ID with support for greater range and more angles, a new Maps app, and faster all around performance.

To find out more about iOS 13, read our initial coverage here and then head over to Apple’s own iOS 13 preview.

Other features

There a host of other new features and improvements to the new iPhones that I will highlight here.

Support for Wi-Fi 6 — This is pretty significant as Wi-Fi 6 is the next big thing in wireless technology. If you are not sure what Wi-Fi 6 is, read our guide here. But in a nutshell, it aims to improve wireless network performance by offering more robust support for multiple devices. But before you get too excited, it'll require Wi-Fi 6 routers to work, which are still rather pricey right now.

U1 chip — The new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro phones will come with a U1 chip. Apple didn't talk about this during the keynote but I have been told that the U1 chip uses ultra wideband technology to give the phones enhanced spatial awareness and it will enable some interesting use cases. For example, you can simply point your U1-equipped iPhone at another and begin an AirDrop transfer.

Also, reports say that the U1 chip might be used to enable tracking and to help users find their devices or other U1-equipped items. Unlike Bluetooth, ultra wideband technology uses time-of-flight calculations to pinpoint its position. As a result of this, it can be used to find other U1-equipped devices with an accuracy of up to 10cm. This makes it much more useful and helpful than Bluetooth trackers. It might also be used in conjunction with Apple's rumoured AR headset to enable new AR experiences.

Camera systems

Both cameras received significant updates to their camera systems. The iPhone 11 has a dual-camera system while the iPhone 11 Pro has a triple-camera system. The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro has the same wide, ultra-wide, and front-facing cameras but the iPhone 11 Pro gains a telephoto camera for 2x optical zoom. All of the rear-facing cameras shoot at 12MP.

The front-facing TrueDepth camera has also been upgraded. It now shoots at 12MP, like the rear-facing cameras, and has a wider field of view which can be invoked simply by shooting in landscape mode, making it easier to take group selfies. Here’s a table summarising the phone’s camera systems.

It must be said that Apple is playing catch-up here as Android phone sporting triple-cameras systems are common these days and you can even find such camera systems on mid-range phones like Vivo V15 Pro. That said, Apple has implemented some UI updates to make the whole triple-camera experience a lot smoother.

To start, on the iPhone 11 Pro, you can easily select the camera of choice using a menu just above the on-screen shutter. You can even hold onto it and manually adjust the zoom/focal length using a virtual scroll wheel, which kind of feels like adjusting the zoom ring on a camera. Finally, you can now quickly take videos even if you are in photo mode with QuickTake by holding the shutter and flicking to the right. QuickTake allows you to the same and take photos in video mode. These little things make the camera app more pleasant and fun to use.

There's also a Deep Fusion mode that Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller calls "computational photography mad science." In this mode, the phone takes up to nine images and uses machine learning and pixel-by-pixel processing of the photos to create the best possible image. It's not available right now and will only enabled via a software update later this year. It'll only work on the new 2019 iPhones because it requires the processing power of the A13 Bionic chip. I can't wait to see how that will work.

Note: We have been plagued with hazy conditions for the past couple of the days which has not presented us with ideal conditions for photography. As always, click on the images to see the original full resolution image.

Sample images

Looking at the studio shots with the three cameras, you can see that the wide-angle camera easily offers the best images with good sharpness across the entire image and an image amount of detail. The telephoto camera isn’t half bad either but there’s a lot of detail lost in the wide-angle camera. Colours are noticeably off point in the telephoto and ultra-wide cameras too, likely from auto white balance correction. Also, the wide and ultra-wide phots taken by the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are practically identical.

Now, Apple says it goes to great lengths to calibrate the cameras at the factory to ensure that colours are consistent regardless of the camera you use. As the following sample images show, colour consistency is good once you go outdoors. However, the ultra-wide camera showed significant detail lost across the entire image, especially at the edges of the photo, when compared to the other two cameras. It also exhibited some barrel distortion. That said, detail loss is something that plagues all ultra-wide cameras so this isn’t necessarily a fault with the new iPhones. Also, this loss of detail can be minimised as long as there’s sufficient light.

Note: In the interest of time and since the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro's images turn out to be so comparable, we will only be showing images taken with the iPhone 11 Pro from here on.

I tried taking photos with the three cameras again later in the afternoon when it was less hazy and the ultra-wide photo of the forest showed considerably more detail than the one above. Lighting plays an important role in photography and it's no different here.

One annoying thing that persists is the inability to manually select the telephoto lens. You see, you might actually select the telephoto lens in the camera app but if the lighting isn’t optimal, the phone would activate the wide lens instead and use a digital 2x zoom without actually indicating to the user that it is doing so. Some form of manual override would be welcomed as using the wide lens and a digital 2x zoom always results in a noisier and less sharp image.

Night Mode

Night Mode is something that has been a long time coming and is possibly the most eagerly awaited photography feature for iPhone fans. Many Android phones have had equivalent night photography modes for a while now. Night Mode on the new iPhones turns on automatically whenever the lighting is poor, making it easier to use. An indicator pops up in the corner to let users know when Night Mode is activated and users simply have to keep as still as possible while the phone takes multiple images and blends them.

Advanced users also have the option to manually adjust the Night Mode effects by either turning it off completely or adjusting the exposure time to suit their shooting circumstances. For example, if you have a tripod or if you can prop the phone somewhere, you can increase the exposure time to get the best possible image quality. The maximum default is three seconds because that’s roughly how long most people can keep their hands still for a photo.

On a fundamental level, the way Night Mode works on the new iPhones is no different than the implementation seen on rival phones. It fuses multiple images to create a single image that is brighter and with more details. The implementation, however, is a little different. Unlike, some of its competitors, Apple’s goal isn’t to turn day into night. Rather, it’s more concerned with perserving the intent of the image and keeping it looking as natural as possible and trying to retrieve as much detail and dynamic range as possible. But as impressive as it may be, it ain't magic, Night Mode has its limitations — just look at the final set of images of the bench.

In this next set of images, you can see that these significantly more dynamic range when the Night Mode was used. But it's worth noting that even without Night Mode, the iPhone 11 Pro served up a very usable image that's remarkably clear.

Night Mode seems to work best in the evening when there's still slivers of daylight remaining. The image below with Night Mode activated as impressive details and dynamic range and is remarkably sharp and usable.

Night Mode isn't God Mode. If lighting is really scarce, like in the final set of images below — which was taken in almost complete darkness with only the faintest of moonlight and light from surrounding homes — the resultant image will still be fairly noisy. Still, the effects are quite astounding since the bench is barely visible without Night Mode enabled.

Looking at the images here, we can see that Apple’s implementation is quite impressive. The Night Mode images are not only brighter and clearer, when done correctly, they also have a ton more detail and dynamic range. More crucially, they look natural. They look as if they have been shot in the dark (which they are) but with more flattering lighting.

Video

It’s worth noting that all of the iPhone’s rear-facing cameras are capable of recording at 4K 60fps with extended dynamic range ― this applies to both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. The front-facing TrueDepth camera can record at 4K 60fps as well, but if you want extended dynamic range, then it’s limited to 4K 30fps. These impressive video-recording feats are things that some Android flagships still struggle to do.

Play

As for image stabilisation, the iPhone 11 Pro can record videos with OIS on its wide and telephotos cameras, whereas the iPhone 11 has to make do with just its wide camera. In other words, the ultra-wide camera doesn’t have OIS, which isn’t surprising or something to be alarmed about because almost all ultra-wide cameras on Android phones are the same and do not have OIS either.

More importantly, the new iPhones take amazing videos with sharp visuals and good colours. Colour management is exemplary and you don’t notice shifts even if you go in and out of shaded areas. And for the first time, the front-facing camera will be able to record slow-motion videos at 120fps or “slofies” as Apple calls it, but only at 1080p.

Perhaps more importantly, Apple’s implementation of OIS is commendable. It isn’t overly smooth such that it looks odd and artificial but it isn’t so mild that the resulting footage is jarring to watch. Like their implementation of Night Mode, it’s balanced and well-judged. It’s hard to say if the new iPhones, as per Apple’s claims, take the “highest-quality videos in a smartphone” without extensively reviewing the footage of its rivals, but at this point, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t turn out to be one of, if not the best.

However, one thing that still missing is the ability to change video quality on the fly. The video setting is shown in the corner but you still can’t change it without going into the Settings app and then digging around the camera settings. If Apple is serious about the iPhone 11 Pro being a professional’s video tool then this should be something that they implement in future iOS updates.

Benchmark performance

iPhones have typically been amongst the fastest performing smartphones and ― spoiler alert ― the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are no different.

Powering these two phones is Apple’s new A13 Bionic chip. Apple claims it has the fastest CPU and GPU ever put into a smartphone. It’s built by TSMC using a second-generation 7nm process and consists of 8.5 billion transistors ― over 23% more than the A12. Like the A12, the A13 also has six cores: two high-performance cores and four efficiency cores.

Apple typically doesn't reveal the amount of memory in their phones, but reports say that the iPhone 11, Phone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max all 4GB of RAM. Compared to the iPhone XR, the iPhone 11 has just 1GB more RAM, while the Pro models have the same amount of memory as their predecessors. That's remarkable because most Android flagships these days have 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

Performance and efficiency have been improved significantly across the board. Apple says the high-performance cores are up to 20% faster but use up to 30% less power while the efficiency cores are also up to 20% faster but use up to 40% less power.

The quad-core GPU is faster and more efficient too. Apple claims this new GPU is, again, up to 20% faster and consumes up to 40% less power.

The Neural Engine has been improved too. Apple’s claims the Neural Engine is up to 20% faster and consumes up to 15% less power. The Neural Engine also gets two new Machine Learning Accelerators and Machine Learning Controller, allowing it to run matrix math up to six times faster.

So generally speaking, the new A13 chip is about 20% faster across the board and around 30% more power-efficient. And as you will see in the charts below, the benchmarks numbers certainly back up this claim. Insofar as performance is concerned, the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are the fastest phones on the market today by a very long shot. The gap between Apple’s A-series chip and competing chipsets just gets wider every year. And let’s not forget that there is very likely an even more powerful A13X Bionic chip that’s waiting in the wings. Anyone who says Apple is not innovating should take a hard look at these graphs. The peerless performance of these new phones is a form of innovation as much as multiple cameras and folding displays are.

JetStream 2.0

JetStream 2 is a combination of a variety of JavaScript and Web Assembly benchmarks, including benchmarks that came before like SunSpider and Octane. It primarily tests for a system’s and browser’s ability in delivering a good web experience. It runs a total of 64 subtests, each weighted equally, with multiple iterations, and takes the geometric mean to compute the overall score.

The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro’s score of around 156 points was the highest we have ever seen on any smartphone. Unsurprisingly, the biggest challengers were, in fact, Apple’s older devices.

Against the current crop of Android flagship devices, the new iPhones’ score was over a whopping 300% higher. That’s not a typo. Even the best-performing Android phone in this benchmark — the OnePlus 7 Pro — could only muster a score of just 66.44, which is just over 43% and not even half of what the new iPhones could achieve.

AnTuTu

AnTuTu is an all-in-one benchmark that tests CPU, GPU, memory, and storage. The CPU benchmark evaluates both integer and floating-point performance, the GPU tests assess 2D and 3D performance, the memory test measures available memory bandwidth and latency, and the storage tests gauge the read and write speeds of a device's flash memory.

And on AnTuTu, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro both recorded the highest numbers we have ever seen from a smartphone. Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro recorded about 24% increases in performance over their respective predecessors.

None of the current crop of Android flagship phones came close to challenging the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. The closest was, again, the OnePlus 7 Pro, but its score of 371,087 was still about 20% less. Even newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ and its Exynos 9825 octa-core processor scored about 24% less than the new iPhones.

Geekbench 5

Geekbench CPU is a cross-platform processor benchmark that tests both single-core and multi-core performance with workloads that simulate real-world usage. Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100. As a result, Geekbench 5 scores are not comparable against those of Geekbench 4, whose baseline score is derived from an Intel Core i7-6600 processor.

Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro were the runaway leaders in this benchmark. Single-core performance was up about 20% against last year’s iPhone XS Max and XR, and even against the iPad Pro and its formidable A12X Bionic chip. Multi-core performance saw even bigger increases. The iPhone 11 Pro was about 27% faster than the iPhone XS Max while the iPhone 11 was about 36% faster than the iPhone XR. The iPad Pro, however, still has the lead in multi-core performance because it has eight cores as opposed to the six cores found on the iPhones.

Against flagship Android devices, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro’s single-core performance was over 70% greater. The discrepancy is smaller in multi-core workloads but still no less significant. Against the OnePlus 7 Pro (the fastest performing Android phone), the new iPhones were about 33% faster. Against the rest, the new iPhones were about 66% faster.

3DMark Sling Shot

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. We're running this benchmark in Unlimited mode, which ignores screen resolutions.

What else were you expecting? Once more, the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro recorded the highest numbers we have seen yet from a smartphone on 3DMark. Graphics performance was up about 29% against last year’s iPhone XS Max and XR, which exceeds Apple’s claims of the GPU being about 20% faster.

Android devices were left in the dust. Despite significant graphics performance increases gained by the new Snapdragon 855 chip, they were still miles behind. The top Android performer was, once more, the OnePlus 7 Pro with a score of 6,039 points, but even that was just 55% or just over half of what the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro recorded. Lesser performing Android devices like the Google Pixel 3XL and Samsung Galaxy Note10 could only manage about 50% of the new iPhones’ scores.

Battery Life & Charging

Note: Updated with battery life results!

There are significant increases in battery life for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. And this is due to a combination of more efficient hardware and larger batteries. Apple says most users will find that their batteries will last up to an hour more on the iPhone 11 than the iPhone XR. On the iPhone 11 Pro, the battery life gains are more significant. Apple’s claims are up to 4 hours more on the iPhone 11 Pro than iPhone XS and up to 5 hours more on the iPhone 11 Pro Max than the iPhone XS Max. Such increases in battery life are almost unheard of and it is certainly impressive.

Apple did not disclose the actual battery capacity of these new phones but numerous reports suggest the following:

In other words, the new iPhones all have larger batteries. The biggest increase comes with the iPhone 11 Pro Max, whose battery capacity has been upgraded by around 25%. The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max, on the other hand, saw increases of about 5% and 14% respectively.

The iPhone 11 lasted about 94 minutes longer than the iPhone XR, which comfortably beats Apple's claim of up to one hour of battery life. The iPhone 11 Pro Max, on the other hand, lasted a little over 7 hours or a little over two hours more than the iPhone XS Max. That's quite a bit less than Apple's claims of up to four hours more. Still, the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max lasted significantly longer than last year's models.

iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro?

Right, at this point you are probably wondering which phone you should get. But first, let's look at how much the new phones cost.

Much like last year’s iPhone XR, the iPhone 11 does much of what the iPhone 11 Pro is capable of but at a substantially lower price, especially with the price cut that the iPhone 11 has this year. With prices starting at S$1,149, the iPhone 11 is S$500 cheaper than the most affordable iPhone 11 Pro ― that’s substantial. Look at it another way, even if you opt for the most expensive iPhone 11 with 256GB of capacity, it’s still S$260 less than the most affordable iPhone 11 Pro.

And let’s not forget the iPhone 11 shares many of the same critical components and features as the iPhone 11 Pro. Let’s list them:

• Same A13 Bionic processor
• Same iOS 13 experience
• Same wide and ultra-wide cameras, which are the cameras you are most likely to use anyway
• Same Night Mode capability
• Same front-facing camera, TrueDepth camera, and Face ID system
• Same great stereo speakers
• Same dual-SIM support (nano-SIM and eSIM)
• Let’s not forget, in terms of actual screen size, the iPhone 11 has a bigger display than the iPhone 11 Pro. And, I would argue that the colours on the iPhone 11 are trendier and more fun.

And what are you missing out on? Let’s list them:

• Telephoto lens
• Poorer water resistance
• Slower 4G LTE
• Thicker and heavier body
• 18W USB-C charger

In the end, the iPhone 11 offers close to 90% of the iPhone 11 Pro experience but at 70% of the cost. It’s easily and irrefutably, the value buy of this year’s iPhone line-up.

That said, it’s not as if you are not getting your money’s worth with the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Granted, they cost a whole lot, but they are excellent flagship-class phones with peerless build, fantastic displays, superlative performance, and top-notch camera systems. They are also backed by iOS 13 and the extensive suite of apps that come along with it. Besides, you also get one-year free Apple TV+ subscription to go along with it.

In closing, if you are wary of emptying the contents of your wallet, the iPhone 11 is the wiser and more sensible choice. The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are only for those who want the absolute best of the best and are willing to pay for it.

Final Thoughts

The new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are excellent phones. They might be pricey, but as I said, they offer peerless build, gorgeous displays, superlative performance, and top-notch camera systems.

The question to consider is if they are a step up from last year’s trio of iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, and the answer is a resounding yes. Performance has improved significantly, and anyone who says Apple isn’t innovating must take a good hard look at the benchmark graphs and ask themselves how is it that Apple’s A-series processors can be so dominant in the mobile chipset space. The A13 Bionic isn’t just faster than the competition, it wipes the floor with them.

Apple has also made meaningful strides in the photography department especially with the introduction of Night Mode. However, the competition still has a couple of tricks up their sleeves especially with their superior telephoto and zoom imaging. Still, the main wide camera takes very solid photos and is nothing to be scoffed at. Furthermore, insofar as videos are concerned, iPhones still lead the way with their superior implementation of OIS and extensive support for 4K recording.

If you have an iPhone XR, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max are both worthy upgrades. The situation is a little less clear with the iPhone XS and XS Max because these two phones are still very powerful phones with excellent displays, cameras, and video recording capabilities. My recommendation would be to upgrade from iPhone XS and XS Max only if Night Mode is important to you. The extra performance, support for Wi-Fi 6, higher durability are all nice, but Night Mode is the single biggest and most enticing new feature for me. The only other reasons why you might want a Pro iPhone is if you prefer the sizes (the iPhone 11 is the smallest in the lineup and the iPhone 11 Pro Max is the largest) or if you need the 512GB of internal storage.

In closing, even though new iPhones may not be groundbreaking or innovative in ways that you might expect, they are still immensely solid and capable phones that improve on their respective predecessors in many meaningful ways. I just wish they weren’t so darn expensive.

	Click to see the score breakdown
	Click to see the score breakdown