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Apple’s iPhone XR promises flagship features at a lower price. But is it really a smart buy? We take a closer look.
Written by Andrew Marchant, Marketing Manager | Privacy, Money-Saving and Parenting Advice
Last updated on 31 March 2026
The iPhone XR is the new "budget" phone from Apple and now it has been officially released. We can look at what the real benefits are of owning this new phone, and conversely, what you need to watch out for if this is your next phone.
Since the announcement back in September, the specifications have been discussed over and over again, and we have a full discussion of the specifications on our blog.
But we feel there are some additional positives that we need to shed light on.
The LCD screen will be cheaper to fix as LCD displays are obviously cheaper to manufacture than the OLED displays on the iPhone XS duo.
The colour options are vibrant and are of a much higher quality than the 5c range of a few years back.
Same processor and battery as the XS, this means the XR will be as "future-proof" as the XS and less effected by throttling.
Dropped resolution from 1920 x 1080p on iPhone 8 Plus to just 1792 x 828p resolution.
Hardware from 5 years ago and charging £800 for basic model.
The camera is still just as good and takes quality pictures, but the screen will not show all of these pixels accurately because of the 323.61 pixel density.
The XR has glass back so will be prone to dents and damage (whereas scuffs could be polished out)
Even though the screen is cheaper to replace, should you break the back casing, it will cost £396.44 to fix it.
The iPhone XR is a great phone and for anyone that wants one of the new iPhones, but finds the cost of the XS a little too pricey, it's an option worth considering. Besides the price differences, there isn't much the iPhone XS can offer on top apart from display quality that most of us care less about.
We would still recommend going for a refurbished iPhone X, but then the calling of the latest processor might be a too strong for some to ignore. A good workaround could be to wait for a refurbished XS and XS Max to be available on the market if you're keen on having OLED screen and dual rear cameras.
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