I’m putting my Apple hat on today because I have seen a lot of people talking about iPhone upgrades online recently. On the 10th September 2019 Apple announced three new iPhones that have everyone re-evulating their phone choice and wondering if they should upgrade.
I thought I’d put together a little guide that may help you with your decision making. I used to work for an Apple reseller and since I left I’ve never lost my interest in the newest products and their tech specs. So here’s me trying my hand at tech blogging for a post.
On Apple’s website there are four choices of iPhones to buy, iPhone 11 Pro (comes in a max size), iPhone 11, iPhone XR and iPhone 8 (comes in a pro size). They each have their perks and reasons for purchase, but which is right for you? Let’s break it down into a few categories that seem to be the most important to people when I’ve done some research. I’ve chosen not to go into immense detail here because this is meant to be a simple guide to help you find the right iPhone for you.
iPhone Price
| iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro Max | iPhone 11 | iPhone XR | iPhone 8 | iPhone 8 Plus |
| From £1,049 | From £1,149 | From £729 | From £629 | From £479 | From £579 |
The newer phones are of course going to be more expensive, so if your main priorty is budget, the cheaper phone choice for you will be the iPhone 8 or the iPhone XR. The difference between the two being design (the XR comes in a variety of colours and has no home button) and the display quality and size, the XR being a liquid retina 6.1″ display vs the retina 4.7″ display on the iPhone 8.
I think it’s likely this is the last wave of phones that the iPhone 8 will be avaible for, as Apple recently scraped the iPhone XS from it’s range to be replaced b the iPhone 11 Pro. The 8 is most likely being kept on as a budget phone, as it is now two years old.
iPhone Camera Quality
The iPhone camera has gradually been getting better and better. A lot of users want to upgrade to have a better camera on their phone, Apple have certainly catered for this in their new models. If you want the iPhone with the best camera, this list below shows you from least to best (although all cameras on these phones are excellent).
iPhone 8 – Single 12MP Wide camera
iPhone XR – Single 12MP Wide camera
iPhone 8 Plus – Dual 12MP Wide and Telephoto cameras
iPhone 11 – Dual 12MP Ultra Wide and Wide cameras with Night mode
iPhone 11 Pro – Triple 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto cameras with Night mode
iPhone 11 Pro Max – Triple 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto cameras with Night mode
iPhone Performance
Of course as each new iPhone comes out, we expect better perfomance, a longer lasting battery, more features. So we can expect the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro should come out on top for this category. But just how much of a difference between each phone is there? Once again this list is in order of performance strength.
iPhone 8 – A11 chip, battery lasts the same as the iPhone 7
iPhone 8 Plus – A11 chip, battery lasts the same as the iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone XR – A12 chip, battery lasts 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone 11 – A13 chip, battery life is 1 hour longer than the XR
iPhone 11 Pro – A13 chip, battery life is 4 hours faster than the XS
iPhone 11 Pro Max – A13 chip, longest lasting battery life on an iPhone (5 hours longer than the XS Max)
iPhone Design
If you’re looking at design when making your decision there are three different categories. I’ll insert a 💚 emoji to represent the features each phone has.
| Design feature | iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro Max | iPhone 11 | iPhone XR | iPhone 8 | iPhone 8 Plus |
| Comes in bright colours (more than standard Apple colours) | 💚 | 💚 | ||||
| Face ID (no home button) | 💚 | 💚 | 💚 | 💚 | ||
| Has one camera | 💚 | 💚 | ||||
| Has two cameras | 💚 | 💚 | ||||
| Has three cameras | 💚 | 💚 |
Summary, is it worth the upgrade?
But which iPhone should you get? I’m always a fan of the latest tech, it lives longer, it is more capable of keeping up and it offers the most potential. But if you’re looking to get all of this and spend a lot less than the £1,000 mark, you can still get some really strong phones from Apple. The iPhone 11 is a really good middle option coming in at under £1,000 with fantastic performance, battery life and a really good camera. If you want to spend a little less though, the XR and the 8 are still options. Alternatively, if you’re happy to fork out more on the new iPhones, the iPhone Pro is unlike any iPhone before. This one will be perfect for content creators or anyone who used their phone for a lot more than just calls and browsing social media. This has the word Pro in it for a reason and I can’t wait to see how well it performs.
If you’re moving from a 6 or 7, then you will definitely notice the jump to the iPhone XR onwards, but the iPhone 8 will probably feel very similar to you. The iPhone Pro will be an all-round better phone upgrade from any current iPhone and with these new camera features, you’re sure to notice a difference from any upgrade. But a lot of these changes are also in the iPhone 11 too, so this is another excellent choice if you don’t want to fork out more money for the iPhone Pro.
All of these iPhones are brilliant, Apple has kept on the older models for a reason so whatever you choose, you’ll be getting a fantastic new phone.
