This story was written in collaboration with Forbes Finds. Forbes Finds covers products and experiences we think you’ll love. Featured products are independently selected and linked to for your convenience. If you buy something using a link on this page, Forbes may receive a small share of that sale.
iPhone XR (left) vs. iPhone 8 Plus (right)
Update 9/10: Adjusted final section based on new iPhone prices
Every year, the Apple ecosystem gets a little more muddled. After all, when the official Apple store sells iPhones that are three generations old, and they all look essentially the same, it’s hard to keep track of what’s what.
It would also be easy to assume that all iPhones are essentially equal, just with minor annual upgrades. So why bother getting the latest if the only difference is price? But will saving a bit of cash by buying an older phone make you a budgeting genius or stick you with a phone that you’ll end up resenting sooner rather than later? With a new collection of iPhones about to be revealed, here’s a look at how the iPhone 8 Plus compares with the iPhone XR.
iPhone 8 Plus
I had the iPhone 8 Plus the weekend it came out and loved it. It was the biggest, fastest, most innovative iPhone on the market. With a 5.5" Retina HD display, 1920x1080 resolution, and the addition of TrueTone, it offered an incredibly crisp picture. The 8 series iPhones are where Portrait mode made its debut as well. The 8 Plus also has fast charging, 13 hours of battery life and wireless Qi charging. The A11 chip of the iPhone 8 Plus also has a neural engine onboard, assisting with image and speech tasks. If you regularly use 3D Touch (which would be odd since everyone, including Apple, has forgotten it exists), the 8 Plus has it, where the XR doesn't. The only oddity for the 8 Plus is that it only comes in two sizes, 64GB and 256GB. For a more reasonable 128GB of storage space, you'll need to take a look at...
iPhone XR
The iPhone XR is the current iPhone darling and for good reason. Since it ditches Touch ID (and its requisite Home button) for Face ID, the iPhone XR is a quarter inch smaller than the 8 Plus, but has a display that's a half inch larger. The XR also introduces Portrait mode for the front-facing camera as well as the rear. (That's right, Portrait mode selfies.) The rear camera for the XR does take a hardware hit. With only one camera instead of two, there's no optical zoom. But the 12MP camera is the same as the 8 Plus, takes amazing pics, and, in addition, gives you control over bokeh and depth control. If you like to shoot videos on your iPhone, the XR has greater dynamic depth as well. With its A12 Bionic Chip and enhanced neural engine, the XR also gives you access to Animojis and Memojis. It also has a larger battery (despite being a smaller phone) giving you an additional two hours of battery life. And if you'd like your iPhone to be something other than silver, space grey, or rose gold, the XR gives you blue, yellow, red, and coral options in addition to black and white.
Verdict
With the announcement of the new iPhone 11 and the subsequent drop of the iPhone 8 Plus’ cost to $429, it’s a much more attractive device. Now, for $170 less than a 64GB iPhone XR, you can get a 64GB iPhone 8 Plus. While the XR has a larger screen, better camera, and longer battery life. It’s hard to say if all that equals nearly $200 of added value. It’ll be up to you to decide if the XR's better chip and fun colors is enough to sway you away from the iPhone 8 Plus.
While I declared the XR the winner previously, I have to tip my hat to the 8 Plus. For under $450, it’s a phenomenal iPhone.
