The new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max were presented a week ago by Apple, during its classic September event, and on September 21st they will go on sale in many countries, including Italy. For this reason, in recent days the largest US newspapers and technology sites have published reviews, comments and their first observations on the new smartphones with which Apple aims to keep sales high, along with the iPhone XR that will instead be available starting from October. The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max received quite positive reviews, albeit less enthusiastic than last year when iPhone X was a novelty and a surprise for many. The newcomers are an evolution of that phone, with fewer surprising innovations.
Camera
It is one of the most used tools in a smartphone and the one you pay the most attention to when deciding which phone to buy. Like its predecessor, the new iPhone XS uses dual rear cameras and new algorithms to better process images, achieve more realistic color rendition and apply better selective focus. According to Wired's Loren Goode, the iPhone XS live up to expectations over last year's model, with improvements in portraits and the ability to take clearer, less noise photographs in low light. Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch had the same impression and says that the new iPhone XS are a further step towards the rendering of a classic SLR, although the two systems cannot be directly compared.
The Verge's Nilay Patel is a bit stricter and notes that in some conditions Google's Pixel 2s take slightly better photographs, largely thanks to a more accurate algorithm system. Others have pointed out that the novelties for the camera are not very evident, considering that the number of megapixels and the lens settings have remained the same as the previous model, but are still decisive starting with the new sensor that produces higher quality images.
Battery
From the tests and tests carried out for a few days, all the main reviews agree that in the iPhone XS there has not been a great progress in autonomy smartphone, comparable to that of last year's iPhone Xs. Apple declares that with one charge you get about 30 minutes more autonomy than the previous one, but the figure varies a lot depending on the use made of it. The battery is still sufficient for more than a whole day, with an average use of the smartphone.
Things change for the iPhone XS Max, which having larger dimensions can accommodate a larger battery. Patel writes that the autonomy is more than 90 minutes more declared by Apple compared to the iPhone X. Using the phone a lot – email, chat, photos, video and music playback – Patel still managed to get about 12 hours of autonomy, without having to put the phone into energy saving mode. He writes that from this point of view the new smartphone is reliable, as is the smaller iPhone XS, albeit with a shorter maximum duration.
Panzarino shares the very positive opinion on the battery of the iPhone XS Max, whose duration far exceeded that of the iPhone X and iPhone XS he tested together. He writes that it is more complicated to say with certainty which of the two smaller smartphones has the best autonomy, since it is a difference that is reduced to a few tens of minutes. Furthermore, the iPhone X used for the test was now one year old, therefore with the battery deteriorated from use compared to the new smartphone.
Screen
The OLED screens of the new iPhone XS are considered by most reviews to be the best around right now, both for color rendering and for their brightness. The almost total lack of frames around the screens has allowed Apple to keep the size of the new iPhones contained, even if they are equipped with large screens of 5.8 and 6.5 inches. Many articles have mainly focused on the size of the iPhone XS Max, with the largest screen ever put by Apple on an iPhone.
Mashable's Ray Wong writes that the iPhone XS Max is not that big, especially considering that many users were already used to the size of the iPhone 8 Plus, even more bulky, but with a smaller screen due to the presence of the bezels. . Wong writes that in his test in parallel with the two dimensions of the iPhone he often preferred the Max, for the rendering of the screen especially for reading, watching videos and playing video games.
Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal is more critical and believes that Apple has not worked enough to make better use of the screen of the iPhone XS Max, for example with a variant of the operating system that allows you to have some features like on the iPad (for example, split a half the screen to use two apps at the same time). In the New York Times, Brian X. Chen, who has always been critical of smartphones with very large screens, writes that he has changed his mind and found the use of the iPhone XS Max very pleasant. The lack of frames made the phone less large than it could have been, reducing its footprint. However, Chen says he is convinced that the smaller version is ideal for most people.
Conclusions
Almost all reviews agree that the innovations offered by the iPhone XS are not enough to abandon your iPhone X, which is only a year old if it is. it was bought in the weeks immediately after the presentation in September 2017. This is probably also the reason why Apple stopped selling the iPhone X in much of the world, avoiding that the previous less expensive model could affect the sales of the new one.
Goode writes that it doesn't make much sense to switch from the X to the XS, and probably not even if you have an even older iPhone, like the 7. The differences are there and are perceptible, but that doesn't mean that your old iPhone has suddenly gotten worse. IPhones are among the best smartphones in the world, and continue to be for several years after purchase, compared to the competition.
Patel does not recommend rushing to buy the new model to those who already own an X, while those who were already thinking of changing their smartphone might think about it. However, the advice is to wait until October, when the iPhone XR will also be available, which will cost a little less and could be a good compromise for those who need to change smartphones, but do not want to go above 1,000 euros of expenditure.
