Apple iPhone XS Review, Camera Samples

Apple iPhone XS Price: Rs 99,900 (64GB), Rs 1,14,900 (256GB), Rs 1,34,990 (512GB)

In 2017, Apple launched the iPhone X along with the Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The iPhone X offered a complete redesign of the iPhone and people loved it despite its insanely high price. Now, in 2018, Apple has launched the successor the iPhone X with two variants – iPhone XS and XS Max. While the iPhone XS is an incremental upgrade of the iPhone X, the XS Max comes with a larger display replacing the ‘Plus’ phone range from Apple. 

What Are The Internal Upgrades?

Apple has a set strategy for iPhone launches. It launches a new iPhone every alternate year and in between it launches an iteration of the device with upgraded internal hardware. Since the iPhone X was the new device last year, the iPhone XS this year comes with the same design but with upgraded specifications. You get the new Apple A12 Bionic chipset, 4GB RAM and a new storage option of 512GB. This would offer better performance over the iPhone X, but noticeable mainly in gaming. The new processor also adds a few features to the camera which are not there on the iPhone X: Smart HDR and depth control after taking a photo. Also, the iPhone now has dual SIM.

Does Apple XS look the same as its predecessor?

Yes and No. While the overall design is the same as the iPhone X, the XS has one noticeable change in the design. On the bottom of the phone, the iPhone X has 6 speaker holes on either side of the lightning connector. In comparison, the iPhone XS has three speaker holes on one side along with an antenna line. The only other way the iPhone XS can be distinguished from the iPhone X is if you get the new ‘Gold’ color of the phone. The gold color is available only on the iPhone XS and XS Max. Other than that, the iPhone XS has the same beautiful 5.8-inch OLED display with the notch on top, glass front and back for a premium appearance and uses FaceID face unlock.

How do I use two SIM cards on the iPhone?

The iPhone XS and XS Max both support Dual SIM. However, you can physically insert only one SIM in the device like the previous iPhones. Apple has integrated an eSIM in the new iPhone and you can use it with any telecom operator of your choice. Do keep in mind that while the Dual SIM functionality is present, it is not yet activated. Apple has announced that this feature will be enabled at a later date via software update. 

Is the iPhone camera the best available?

Apple has upgraded the rear cameras on both the new iPhones. The 12MP primary lens has a larger sensor now and you get optical image stabilization on both the camera lenses now. The larger sensor allows for more light to captured by the iPhone now and this results in better performance than even the iPhone X in low light. The portrait mode works great and you can now adjust the blur amount after the photos are taken – this works great and gives you the control to improve your photographs. The other new addition to the iPhone’s camera is SmartHDR. SmartHDR uses the iPhone’s new hardware along with machine learning to detect and improve the photos taken with the camera. The feature is enabled by default on the iPhone and results in photos with better colors, balanced contrast and more details in various scenarios compared to even the iPhone X. Overall, the camera will deliver excellent photos without worrying about settings or tweaks for almost all users. What we feel is that the iPhone XS and XS Max both will deliver great images for users and keep up with the iPhone camera legacy. However, the portrait mode is still not at par with what we have seen on the Google Pixel 2XL. The iPhone’s image quality has improved a lot with the iPhone XS but we still feel that the Pixel 2 XL delivers much better images when it comes to low light.

What about the front Camera?

The front camera of the iPhone XS and XS Max is the same as the iPhone X. it is a 7MP camera with an f2.2 aperture that takes great photos in the day as well as low light. It also benefits from SmartHDR as the rear camera making your selfies look better. There have been complaints of users that the iPhone XS camera adds a beauty effect to t

he selfies. In our use we did notice that the selfies taken with the XS showed a much smoother skin – this is mainly because of SmartHDR. Considering a lot of users install a third-party app to get beauty effects on their selfies, this feature would be appreciated by them. Like the rear camera, you can now control the blur effect for portrait photos taken with the front camera as well.

Should I Upgrade?

If you own the Apple iPhone X, the XS is not a justifiable upgrade. The cameras are the only big improvement compared to the iPhone X and even then, it’s not worth upgrading to the iPhone XS for just the cameras. On the other hand, if you are on an iPhone 7 or 8, then the XS is an ideal phone to switch: you get better and bigger screen, a big upgrade on the camera plus a major bump on the performance.

iPhone XS vs iPhone XS Max

As mentioned in the beginning, the XS Max has a larger display and this is one of the two main differences it has from the iPhone XS. The iphone XS Max has a 6.5-inch size display (2688 x 1242 pixels) whereas the iPhone XS has a 5.8-inch screen. If you were thinking bigger screen means you will be able to view more content on the XS Max display, you are wrong. You still have the same 6 x 4 app layout and almost all apps show the same amount of content (just with bigger font size). The one area where the XS max display impresses over the XS is video – the larger display is great for watching videos. The second differentiating factor is the battery. Since the XS Max is larger in size, it gets a slightly bigger battery. In terms of specifications: XS Max has a 3,174mAh battery compared to the 2,658mAh battery on the iPhone XS. What this translates to is much better battery life on the XS Max. Other than these, both the phones are identical in terms of features, performance, and camera.