So, we’ve all been reading rumors about the upcoming iPhone 11 series for a while now. Some of them talked about a square camera design with 4 lenses, some talked about a triple-camera setup, others mentioned a zero-bezel design, and more.
Some of these rumors were wrong. But, some of them also turned out to be true. That being said, now that the news come straight from the source, we don’t have to keep on guessing anymore. Here’s the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max!
Design
Here is where the first big rumors are proven to be false. The iPhone 11 series isn’t bezel-less. In fact, it shares more or less the same notch that we’ve seen on the iPhone XR.
Some of the biggest changes include the camera housing, which is indeed square, just like the rumors suggested. But, more on that later on in the camera section.
Another somewhat big change is the building materials. The iPhone 11 series made from 100% recyclable stainless steel. So, if you like living green, then that’s definitely something to brag about with your new phone.
Speaking of build quality, Apple claims that the iPhone 11 comes with the toughest glass that we’ve ever seen on an iPhone. Of course, the amount of endurance that this adds in day to day usage remains to be seen.
Regarding the new colors, as you can see in the image above, we’re looking at:
- Black
- White/Grey
- Red
- Green
- Pink
- Yellow
And then there’s also the iPhone 11 Pro which, for some reason, offers a slightly different color palette.
This time, we’re looking at:
- A darker green
- Grey
- Black
- Gold
And that’s about it for the design.
Specs
Every new generation of iPhones is expected to be faster and more power-efficient than the last one and the iPhone 11 series is no exception to that rule. Let’s start with something basic: the phone’s display.
This year, we’re looking at a 6.1-inch display which, according to Apple, can reach a 2-million to 1 contrast ratio. Now, let us not forget that even some of the best displays in the market struggle to reach a 5,000/1 contrast ratio. So, take that info with a grain of salt.
Still, that being said, the display is without a doubt an improvement over the last generation. And for that reason, Apple is now calling it the “Super Retina XDR Display.
Moving on to the CPU, the new iPhone 11 series is rocking the A13 chip. Yes, that includes the iPhone 11 Pro as well.
Apple claims that this chip offers not only the fastest CPU that there is for a smartphone – but also the fastest GPU. That makes for a phone that’s not just great for working and browsing social media, but also for gaming.
One of the features that make this possible is extensive machine learning. Thanks to AI, the iPhone 11 is capable of a trillion operations per second.
That sounds like a phone that needs a lot of power, for sure. However, thanks to the 7nm process and the low power design of the CPU cores, the new iPhones can actually last 4 to 5 hours longer compared to the older generation.
Features
Apart from everything that we’ve mentioned until now and excluding the camera features that we’ll shortly mention afterward, one of the biggest new features for the iPhone 11, which is also going to be available for all Apple products is Apple Arcade.
Apple Arcade is a subscription-based service which offers a ton of games that are exclusive to Apple devices only. That includes the iPhone 11 and, hopefully, our older iPhones as well.
Apart from gaming, Apple has also focused on enhancing the audio experience. All of the new iPhone 11 variants come with spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.
In case you’ve never heard about it, that kind of audio technology is designed to give us more spatial awareness. It makes it easier to understand where sounds are coming from.
This is extremely useful. Not only for immersing ourselves in movies and shows, but also for gaming. Actually, especially for gaming. That’s one of the reasons that gaming headsets will every so often advertise their surround audio tech.
Camera
The camera is one of the things that Apple likes to focus on. And you can tell not just from the time that they’ve spent talking about it in the presentation, but also due to the new features that it brings to the table.
The base model comes with a dual-camera setup with one wide lens and another ultra-wide camera. And as you can see above, the Pro variant also offers an additional telephoto lens.
In case you don’t know about it, ultra-wide lenses are used to capture a higher/wider field of view while telephoto lenses can zoom in on a subject without sacrificing image quality.
That being said, the iPhone 11 Pro is able to zoom up to 4x without introducing any blurriness or pixelation while the base variant can only reach up to 2x.
As per usual, Apple didn’t just add an extra camera and called it a day. The new iPhone series also offers:
- Improved image processing
- Better depth of field control and effects
- Night Mode improvements
- Very good video image stabilization
- Live transitioning between wide and ultra-wide mode while capturing a video
- Video recording of up to 4K 60FPS
- Slow-mo video capture in selfie mode
- Deep fusion
- And more
Night mode is without a doubt one of the features that are really impressive. It can change a scene from “Almost pitch Black” to “Acceptable/Good” with the press of a button.
Other than that, there is also deep fusion which takes numerous pictures in a row in less than a second and combines them to create an image that’s vastly more detailed than a normal shot.
Pricing and Availability
iPhones have only been getting more and more expensive through the years. So, many of us were afraid that the bar would only get higher. But, thankfully, that’s not the case. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
The base model starts at just about $699 while the iPhone 11 Pro comes in at $999 with the iPhone 11 Pro Max asking for $1099. Obviously, do keep in mind that pricing may vary from region to region.
Regarding availability, the iPhone 11 series will go on sale starting on September 20. We assume that Apple is referring to the US launch and that the release will become globally available shortly afterward.
That’s all for now. If we got anything wrong or if there are any questions, then let us know all about that in the comments section down below!