22
votes
“The iPhone XR is depressing” — UnboxTherapy. TLDR: It has a low screen resolution only to artificially make it less premium than the iPhones XS and XS Max, to compel people to buy these two, instead.
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- Title
- The iPhone XR Is Depressing...
- Authors
- Unbox Therapy
- Duration
- 6:08
- Published
- Sep 19 2018
I don’t dissagree, but’s a bit disingenuous to leave out the fact that the iPhone 5, 6, 7, and 8 also have the same PPI.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_display
I was concerned about the resolution, but I have a 7 with the same PPI, and I think the screen on it is great even though its "only 720p".
Also, I'm willing to bet they are going to sell more XRs than XS/XS Max combined. Colors and a cheaper price tag make a big difference.
Yeah I’ve changed my mind, this guy isn’t just a bit disingenuous, he’s a clickbait troll.
The reason he didn’t mention the new phones is because he knows people currently use those phones(or at least remember using them) and that the PPI is fantastic and nobody cares.
That's pretty much how UnboxTherapy operates. This guy makes his living pretending to be impressed at gimmicks. That's why he specializes in unboxing videos; if he had to do an in-depth review, he would have to give a genuine opinion which may or may not be good. The secret is that he gets a lot of these gadgets sent to him for free so that the company selling it can get the exposure and sell more. It's essentially a popular series of advertisements.
TLDR: The iPhone XR has the same resolution of the iPhone 4 from 2010, eight years later. The Galaxy S phones have been increasing in resolution year after year. Apple could have added more resolution to the iPhone XR, since it's not very expensive (proof of it being $300 Android phones have it). But they didn't; presumably, so that it wouldn't compete with the more premium devices: the iPhone XS and XS Max; and to compel people to buy these two instead of the budget option.
Rough transcript for those unable to watch the video:
Would you look at that hot, new piece of technology on the table right there? That's the latest iPhone, that's the iPhone XR!
Okay, fine, no. It's the iPhone 4, but it does have something in common with the brand new iPhone XR. Some of you probably already know what that is. For those of you that don't, it has the same number of pixels per inch as the eventual, upcoming iPhone XR. The 2018 iPhone XR.
And as you can tell, I'm a little upset about it. Because the iPhone XR is a $750 device in 2018. And I'm sitting here, looking at some screen resolution that's identical on a device that came out many years ago. Will, when did the iPhone 4 come out? June 24th 2010, that's when Apple was capable of putting a 326 PPI display into a smartphone, all the way back then, and they're still doing it, to this day. And I can't figure out the reason.
I know some of you out there in the audience are gonna say: “But Lou, on a smartphone, can you really see the difference? Can you tell the difference? So what, about this PPI?”. Well, here's the thing. In an environment where we have plenty of choices and plenty of options, – specially at low price points – all kinds of applications have started to take screen resolution into consideration (like YouTube, Netflix and so on...), where you may want to trigger that HD functionality to be able to watch a full resolution video on your smartphone. And I know a lot of people are talking about this, but if you pick up this brand new iPhone XR at $750, you're not gonna be able to watch 1080p YouTube; you can't toggle that setting. Because the device is not capable of it.
Now, I'm gonna bring another phone into the mix here. This is the Samsung Galaxy S4. When did this come out, Will? 2013, this device came out. It's got a 5 inch, 1080p display. For a PPI of 441. That's still four years ago. And of course every single Galaxy S device since then has maintained at least that resolution. At least 1080p. Of course, there's ones now with even higher resolution and you can toggle it to your own taste.
Now there is a debate regarding what the human eye can actually see and at which distance. So, at this distance here I shouldn't be able to discern pixels. Possibly here I start to pick them up. On this display, on the iPhone 4, if I look closely, at a close range, yes, I can see individual pixels. Is it horrendous, does it completely ruin the experience? No. I'm not suggesting that the phone is completely ruined by the fact that it doesn't have at least a 1080p display. The reason I'm angry about this is because there's not much reason for it.
Except to distance the premium product from the discounted one, in my opinion. To try to convince people to step up and spend more money on the more premium XS and XS Max. But the reason it's irritating is because the material cost of stepping up to a few extra pixels when the scale is there, when so many other smartphone manufacturers are already using those 1080p displays —some even with a notch, like on the Pocophone right here. There's an example, there's a 1080p display on a device that cost $300— How are these aggressive Android price points being serviced by 1080p resolution? Because the material cost on those displays is not that much. That part is ubiquitous, it's everywhere.
So Apple probably could have given it to you. They just didn't want to. They didn't think they had to. And so they didn't. And now they're trying to compel people, much like with the charge brick that's not in the box for super charge, they're trying to compel people to spend a little more while still stating: “Hey, at least we have a budget option”.
Now, to be completely fair, I think a lot of people are gonna walk into the Apple store, look at the XR and be like “Hey, that's fine for me”. For me, that's non-negotiable. That's just kind of a jerk move. Now I know there's gonna be Apple fans out there. You're gonna disagree with me. You're gonna sit there and say “Lou, Apple knows best. Apple knows how much resolution we need.” You're gonna say 326 PPI is the perfect resolution. It's fine.
But if that was the case, then why does Apple sell premium devices with more resolution? Why is it the XS and XS Max have a higher PPI? For what reason? Well, because it's not true. If you hold those two displays next to each other, you should be able to discern the difference if you know what you're looking for.
Now, at this point, I sound like an aggravated nerd. And possibly I am. And many people out there are gonna be like “but I can get the bright colors on the XR for 750 and that's really what I'm in this for”. And, look, if you're one of those people, more power to you. These are your dollars. But in my opinion, in an era with Pocophones and 1080 screens everywhere on devices under 500, under 400, under 300, this one for me is the biggest mess-up on this particular device. Otherwise, the spec list looks pretty good.
But, see, the problem with this — as a tech fan — is that we count on the market leaders to push the better technology forward. We count on them to show us sort of what's happening, and what's important. and what's possible. And when you have a leader like Apple intentionally holding products back to create these price discrepances so they can play in these different marketplaces without cannibalizing their premium stuff, you have confusion in the consumer marketplace. Or, at least, a lack of understanding.
Yes, the PPI of this guy, this ancient-looking iPhone 4 is equivalent to the PPI of the new iPhone XR. There are way more pixel-dense displays out there for less money, and you should know about it.
Lou is a moron. The iPhone X and XS use a Samsung OLED display with Pentile pixel layout. This is a repeating diamond pattern which shares larger blue LEDs between neighboring pixel clusters. This type of display looks absolutely terrible at normal LCD densities for 2 reasons: the specified DPI is kind of a lie, and text has jagged sawtooth edges along the (most common) vertical and horizontal axis. Subpixel text rendering and anti-aliasing is much harder than usual due to unevenly-sized subpixels. In short, the raw spec doesn't tell the whole story, you need about 50% more fake OLED DPI and a lot of fancy software tricks to match the subjective experience of LCD DPI. 325 is plenty for LCD, 450+ is necessary for OLED. Both screens look great.
I thought Xr used an LCD screen?
Thanks, I edited to say XS. Both are still dumb names.
No problem, and yes, yes they are.
Apple decided to name their latest high-end device... the iPhone Excess Max.
I think the thing is that this phone is artificially limited far past its price point. $750 is a flagship price, and this is not a flagship.
Flagship price for Apple is now $999.
Doesn't really matter too terribly much what Apple says, does it? $750 is $750. That'll get you a flagship top-quality smartphone anywhere, except Apple where it gets you a phone that (at least as far as screen quality) can barely compete with $300 budget phones. Can't imagine this selling well.
Then again, I said the same thing to myself when they released the iPhone X but I keep seeing those everywhere amazingly enough.
We shall see, but I'm willing to bet it will sell like crazy. People just don't care about specs, they just want the new iPhone in Coral. I can't even count how many times in 2010 that I pointed out the difference in screen quality between the iPhone 4 and 3GS, and people just didn't care. Now they will see a phone with a bigger screen (even if it is lower PPI) than the XS for $250 less.
What about the XR besides the screen makes you consider it a non-flagship phone? It has the same SoC as the XS and XS Max as well as 3gb RAM which goes much farther on iOS than on Android. Sure, you could find a cheap android phone with a 1080p screen for $300, but it's the software support, updates, and company backing that makes iPhones flagship tier compared to some other manufacturer. I'd be willing to bet that the XR will sell very, very well once it's released -- it's a much more compelling option for customers who don't want to drop $1k+ for the iPhone experience with very few compromises to the average consumer.
Well that's just it, it's only the screen. As far as I'm aware everything else is fully in line with other flagships. It's an odd little phone.
Ha, I wouldn’t call them little. I really hope they don’t kill off the SE any time soon...
There's a difference between limiting the quality of components because the lower quality ones are cheaper (using an LCD screen instead of OLED) and doing it to push the more expensive product. They could easily have a better LCD screen and still charge $750.
That’s a bit disingenuous, considering he doesn’t even have the phone yet and probably hasn’t even seen it in person. Ignoring the fact that Apple’s LCD screens have historically been pretty damn good, people don’t buy iPhones solely for the screen.
The iPad Pro, for example, has a 264 ppi screen and I’ve heard nothing but good things about its display. Even then, OLED vs LCD isn’t enough of a comparison at face value — a lot of OLED android phones have had pretty glaring issues with their screens (Pixel 2 XL, anyone?).
Let me know when that $300 1080p Android gets more than two years software support, same-day updates, a seamless ecosystem, and better customer service and I might be inclined to listen.
Seriously. High-end Android phones are lucky if they get two major OS updates. Budget phones? Forget it. Meanwhile, Apple just released the fifth major iOS update for the iPhone 5S—and the most recent one made the 5S run better.
People always point at Apple when referring to “planned obsolescence”, but I see an awful lot of old iPhones still in use that get regular OS updates.
I'm not a big Apple mark but man I know lots of people rocking iPhones that are a few generations old and working just fine.
True, you could also make the argument that those OS updates (I say intentionally but it could just be idiocy) push older phones beyond their capabilities causing them to slow down, deplete the battery quickly, and just in general quit working as well.
You could, but if you did, it would be extremely clear that you never installed iOS 8 or iOS 12, which improved the performance of older devices.
Every few releases Apple does a "maintenance" release that doesn't add much but improves performance and stability. That should stop the "planned obsolescence" argument dead in its tracks, but here we are...
I'm using an iPhone 5 (not S, just 5) under iOS 10 (latest OS for this device) and everything runs smoothly. Everything but one app which is sometimes buggy: freaking YouTube.
Google is making a damn good job confirming my choice to leave their ecosystem behind.
I think that's kind of the argument though. They claim the updates are designed to push older devices beyond they're capabilities
Christ this is dumb. You know, when most people buy a phone they don't buy it so they can get into an epeen waving contest about screen PPI with morons on YouTube.
You wanna know why the iPhone XR has the same PPI as the iPhone 4 from 2010? Because that PPI, 326, was the point at which your average person isn't going to notice the screen getting any sharper. Jobs said exactly this when he introduced the iPhone 4. That's why they called it a "Retina display."
The entire point of the iPhone XR is that it's the iPhone X full screen form factor without the bells and whistles that only phone enthusiasts are going to appreciate. Obviously the screen isn't cutting edge. It's not supposed to be.
In fact, I can pinpoint the flaw in his reasoning with ease:
If all you care about is an iPhone with a 1080p screen, then go buy an iPhone 7 Plus for $550. But guess what: there's not a person on the planet that walks into Best Buy and says "I'm looking for a phone with a 1080p screen! It's my single most important buying criteria!"
I'd argue the other way too, I'm buying a laptop soon, and I'm dropping the recommended 4k screen for the "poorer" 1080p screen, because who the fuck cares?? It's a tiny screen and 1080p looks fine to me on my wide screen telly. That extra cash is going on ram and storage instead.
The same with my kids phone, he doesn't care as long as it can play pokemon.
I also think phone tech has peaked now, there's nothing special with these newer models. I won't be getting excited until they're offering week long battery life or fucking holographic displays. This rumored folding phone tech from Samsung could be interesting too.
Battery life on that 1080p model is gonna be a lot better, too.
And I mean, some people care. The people that care are gonna get the 4K TV, or the 4K screen on their laptop, or the iPhone XS. But most people don't.
Battery life is the first of my considerations when buying a phone. I went for the Nokia 7 Plus because of its 3800mAh battery and and, comparatively speaking, low price. So far I haven't had to stress even once about running out of power. And it's been more than capable of doing everything I need it to do.
This was a major reason I went with my last phone (Huawei Mate 9) and one of the dings on it at the time was they went with the 1080p screen and not a higher resolution like other flagships at the time. Meanwhile I'm running that same resolution on a 50" panel and it looks great, and after 18 months of looking at this phone I have no complaints (and the battery life is nuts)
The dpi wars fought by Android device makers over the last few years have been incredibly dumb. I've got a phone with a 520ppi screen, but I can hardly tell a difference in clarity versus my 5 year old 320ppi Moto G. The only noticeable change from that resolution bump is that the 1440p display makes my GPU tear through battery like you wouldn't believe.
I can definitely tell the difference between 1080p and 720p. The second one looks smudged or like it is underwater or with a lousy flexible plastic screen protector on top.
Without a screen size attached, raw resolution isn't a very useful metric. Like, if we're talking a 5+ inch phone, of course you can tell the difference between 720 and 1080. With a 4 inch phone, I kinda doubt it. That's why I was using dpi/ppi, dots/pixels per inch.
I can change the resolution on my phone (while keeping the screen size). And I notice a significant difference between 1080p and 720p.
I think most phones these days have 5 inch screens or larger.
4 inch phones are rare.
Most phones here are closer to 5 inch than 4 inch. And they're “compact”:
https://www.techradar.com/news/best-compact-phones
Something worth noting is that 720p on a 1080p display will look a lot worse than 720p on a native 720p display. The scaling isn't integer, meaning that one pixel on a 1080p display will be some weird multiple like 2.2 pixels for upscaled 720p, so some of the pixels aren't where they strictly should be, and clarity suffers.
But anyway, I think you're missing the point I was trying to make, which is that you need to consider PPI rather than screen resolution. The 720p 4 inch phone thing was just a hypothetical. What I'm saying is that anything higher than around 350ppi is largely unnoticeable and wasteful of processing power. If you want straight resolution numbers, I'm saying that phones under 6.5 inches, which is basically all phones, don't benefit from going above 1080p. By the same metric, phones bigger than around 4.5 inches should be higher than 720p, and the next common resolution above that is 1080p.
I see. I understand now. Thank you.
Perhaps a bit unrelated, but I don’t think Unbox Therapy is a great source. I stopped watching him many years ago, because I realized how shallow his videos are. His videos are essentially opening the box, listing some basic specs... and that’s about it, nothing in depth, not even a review.
He also pulled that trick where he said he was giving away a truck-full of iPhones in videos, and advertisements, and social media, and in the end, only gave away like 10 (IIRC) then deleted everything about the giveaway. I might add a link here later, but it should be easy to find something about this online.
Out of all the people to level criticism at Apple and the iPhone, I would not rate Lou as anywhere close to the top. It's fairly well known he's biased against Apple due to getting kicked out of their press events, and his videos are clearly designed to generate clicks. All the feedback provided in this discussion appears to be more levelheaded. XR is an LCD phone, XS is an OLED with pentile.
I moved from the 7 Plus, which has an LCD with the near same resolution as the XR, and I couldn't see the pixels. I can actually see hints of the pentile display on the XS. If that holds between XR and XS, you're not looking at much difference.
Storm in a teacup, but I wouldn't expect any less from UnboxTherapy.