The iPhone 11, Pro and Pro Max start at $699, $999 and $1,099, respectively. These new iPhones pick up a fresh palette of colors, longer battery life and a A13 Bionic processor inside that promises faster performance. But more than any other feature, it’s the camera hardware and software that take the headlining role.
Apple’s claims that battery life improves up to five hours over last year’s models (for the iPhone 11 Pro Max).
Those three cameras on the back of the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are Apple’s biggest risks in a series that plays it safe this year. For many people, the iPhone represents the gold standard for smartphone design and cutting-edge features like Face ID unlocking, which Apple says is now faster than before.
But despite bread-and-butter features, like support for Wi-Fi 6, the iPhone 11 trio fails to push the envelope, relying instead on the big camera change and smaller refinements to keep up momentum.
There’s no 5G carrier support (we expect that to come in 2020), and none of the reverse wireless charging that was rumored to charge the Apple AirPods, Apple Watch and other phones of the back of the iPhone 11 — as you can with the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 phones.
Apple also held back on rumored features like making the new iPhone 11s compatible with the Apple Pencil, and a USB-C port that was whispered to replace the Lightning connection. We already think that the best feature in the new base model, the regular iPhone 11, might be its price.
You’ve heard that the midnight green shade is ugly, but photos don’t do it justice. Chalk us up as fans — we think it’s actually a standout color that looks alluring in person. We’re not sure the surcharge from regular iPhone 11 to 11 Pro is worth it for these new finishes alone, but having that telephoto lens does help round out the feature set for the pricier models.
What stood out most were the cameras, and the telephoto lens especially because that feels like the main difference between the iPhone 11 and the far pricier 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. All three phones share most of the other features,
The new slow-mo video mode for the front-facing camera is fun, but not a must-have feature by any means. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if other phone-makers cribbed this one.
New iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max key specs
- Two screen sizes: 5.8- and 6.5-inch OLED displays (both 458 ppi pixel density)
- “Super Retina XDR” display supports HDR 10 with Dolby Vision (and Dolby Atmos sound)
- Phone body: Textured matte finish
- 64GB, 256GB, 512GB storage capacities
- Three rear cameras with 4x optical zoom: Wide, ultrawide, telephoto lenses (OIS for wide and telephoto)
- Upcoming camera feature called Deep Fusion compiles nine images to reduce noise and amp up details
- 4 hours more battery life (Pro) and 5 hours longer battery life (Pro Max) than last year’s models
- Faster Face ID unlocking
- Wi-Fi 6 support, but no 5G
- 4K video for both front and rear cameras, with slow-motion video for the selfie camera (aka “slofies“)
- New portrait lighting effect: Monochrome
- iOS 13 on-board, with system-wide dark mode
- Fast charging adapter
- Colors: midnight green, space gray, silver, gold
- iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999 or $25 per month with trade-in (£1,049, AU$1,749)
- iPhone 11 Pro Max starts at $1,099 or $29 per month with trade-in (£1,149, AU$1,899)
What’s new in the iPhone 11
- Six colors: black, white, yellow, purple, green, Product Red
- A13 Bionic chip
- 64GB, 128GB, 512GB storage capacities
- Hour more battery life than iPhone XR
- Faster Face ID unlocking
- Wi-Fi 6 support, but no 5G
- Dual camera system with a 12-megapixel lenses: wide and ultrawide (switch by tapping on the screen)
- Camera night mode
- 2x optical zoom
- New portrait lighting in monochrome
- 12-megapixel front-facing camera (up from 7 megapixels)
- 4K video for both front and rear cameras, with slow-motion video for the selfie camera
- iOS 13
- Starts at $699 or $17 per month with trade-in (£729, AU$1,199)
