Iphone XR vs Iphone 11: Is it worth upgradable??

This year iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro were launched and the most amazing thing is that the iPhone 11 was launched at a lesser price tag compared to the iPhone XR during launch.

Now the price of the iPhone XR has dropped significantly which makes it a good value for money smartphones. Now let’s see whether iPhone 11 is worth upgradable from the iPhone XR or iPhone XR still a good buy and worth it?

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Design:

In terms of design, there isn’t any difference because both smartphones look identical as both have a similar notch on top. The sides of both smartphones are made of aluminum and at back, both are made of glass. Both phones lack support for MicroSD expansion and a 3.5 mm headphone jack but both provide earphones Type-C used in that lightning port.

The only difference lies in the camera setup on the back. The iPhone XR sports a single camera whereas the iPhone 11 comes with dual rear cameras one being the main camera and an ultrawide camera.

Except for this both the smartphones have a similar size with identical thickness and weigh at 194gms which feels a bit on the heavier side.

The iPhone 11 comes with an IP68 rating which is a step above the IP67 rating for dust and water resistance which means the iPhone 11 can be submerged up to 2 meters in freshwater compared to 1 meter for 30 minutes for iPhone XR.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Display:

Both the smartphones sport the same display which is a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina Display that has a 1792 x 828 pixels with a 326 PPI and has a screen-to-body ratio of 19.5:9. The screen on both is good with good viewing angles and color production.

The screen isn’t as good as on the iPhone 11 higher models as both don’t support HDR10 content on their screens which the iPhone 11 Pro supports. However, you still get Haptic Touch over 3D Touch. Both also have good visibility under direct sunlight.

However, both phones are good when it comes to viewing content like videos and playing games on their screens.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Performance:

This is where the iPhone 11 shines over the iPhone XR as it comes with this year’s Apple A13 Bionic chip over last year’s Apple A12 Bionic chip with some further improvements. The iPhone XR shipped with Apple A12 Bionic chip which is based on TSMC’s 7nm process that is also found on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

This chipset clocks at 2×2.5 GHz called Vortex Cores for high performance and 4×1.6 GHz called Tempest Cores for energy efficiency. These cores are 15 percent faster and consume 40 percent less power compared to Apple A11 Bionic chip. It is coupled with 4-core graphics GPU which provides better power efficiency and multi-rendering capabilities.

The iPhone 11 comes with this year’s latest chip called the Apple A13 Bionic chip which a 6 core chip that sports 2×2.65 GHz Lightning high-performance cores and 4×1.8 GHz Thunder Cores for higher power efficiency. This chipset is said to be 20 percent faster and 40 percent energy efficient as compared to A12 Bionic chip.

It has also got the same GPU setup from the iPhone XR with a 20 percent faster performance. Both phones have a dedicated neural engine for enhanced gaming tasks and better image processing though the neural engine on the A13 Bionic chip is faster and better.

In terms of performance, you won’t notice any much of a difference as both can handle light to heavy intensive tasks and breeze through some heavy games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 Extreme.

When it comes to app opening speeds and closing the A13 Bionic holds a slight edge as apps open faster and in terms of benchmarks, the A13 Bionic scores 5477 on Single Core and 13882 on Multi-Core on Geekbench 4.1 compared to 4818 on Single Core and 11678 on Multi-Core on the iPhone XR.

On an overall basis, both the smartphones provide a faster and smoother experience with no stuttering or lag but still, the A13 Bionic chip in iPhone 11 holds the edge if you look at the benchmarks overall.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Software:

iPhone XR ships with iOS 12.0.1 out of the box like the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The software on the smartphone is very good and easy to use. Apple has implemented gesture-based controls and all controls come to hand easily. It will soon receive the iOS 13 which came with the iPhone 11.

Now coming to iOS 13, there have been major improvements as it now comes with many new features such as a system-wide Dark Mode, faster charging, and some improvements to the battery life, and there comes detailed control over location access in Maps. The look in icons has been also refreshed a bit.

Like the iOS 12, you have all the things and shortcuts for easy use in iOS 13. Overall you will get the same experience when using both the phones.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Camera:

In terms of camera, the iPhone 11 gains an edge with two cameras over the single camera on the iPhone XR. The iPhone XR came with a single camera that is 12MP f/1.8 with OIS and quad-LED two-tone flash. The images come to be sharp and clear with good saturation in the background and color production.

During the night the images come out to be good as the OIS helps the camera to capture more light and the pictures come out to be great and detailed. Even the dynamic range is very good and with HDR on the images comes out to be true in color.


Apple has provided Portrait Mode like on the iPhone XS Max which produces some really good portraits with good background blur in the surroundings. But we do notice the images come out to be zoomed a little bit.

On the front, the iPhone XR gets a 7MP f/2.2 camera that gives some very good selfies whether normal or portraits.

The iPhone 11 gets a dual camera of which the main camera is a 12MP f/1.8 with OIS like the iPhone XR and the secondary camera is a 12MP ultrawide f/2.4 with OIS and there are a brighter True Tone flash and Portrait Lighting with six effects which makes a good improvement over the Portrait Mode over the iPhone XR.

The images shot from the camera come out to be exceptional with really good details and perfect color saturation. The dynamic range with HDR also improves from the iPhone XR as the newer one gets a next-generation Smart HDR for images.

The portraits taken from the iPhone 11 come out to be better as the images were taken to capture better light and have a better dynamic range compared to the iPhone XR. With the new improved Night Mode, the images come out to be excellent during the night and you get a wide field of view compared to the slightly zoomed image of the iPhone XR. 

The ultrawide camera takes some really good images with great details and with OIS the images shot during night contain less noise and appear brighter.

Moving to the front camera, here the iPhone 11 gets a 12MP TrueDepth camera with f/2.2 aperture compared to the 7MP f/2.2 camera on the iPhone XR. With the iPhone 11, you get next-generation HDR for selfies and portraits. 

The portraits and selfies come out to be excellent with a good dynamic range and a wider field of view compared to iPhone XR.

The iPhone 11 front camera supports 4k@60fps,30fps whereas the iPhone XR only supports up to 1080@60fps. The iPhone 11 also provides slow-motion videos called Slofies. Overall both shoot great videos from the front and back but the videos came out to be a little bit better (wider) and natural in the iPhone 11.

In terms of the loudspeaker, the iPhone 11 supports Dolby Atmos and sounds better than the iPhone XR.

iPhone XR vs iPhone 11 Battery:

The iPhone XR packed a 2942 mAh battery which is larger than the iPhone XS provides good battery life as it packs a lower LCD panel. We can easily get around 6-7 hours of screen on time and 20-22 hrs of usage. From normal day usage of camera, navigation, calls, and social media there was just 10-15 percent left in the tank at the end of the day which is very good.

The iPhone 11 gets a little bigger battery at 3112mAh which provides a slightly better battery life compared to the iPhone XR.

With normal usage, the phone provides 7-8 hrs of screen on time. It also gets 1hr of extra video playback and combined with the Apple A13 Bionic chip which is more power-efficient compared to the Apple A12 Bionic chip you get improved battery life from the iPhone XR.

Unfortunately, Apple does not ship both the smartphones with an 18W fast charger which can charge both the smartphones to 55 percent in 0-30mins which you have to buy separately.

Both rather come with a 5W charger out of the box which charges both approximately around 4hrs which is a very long duration since competitors like OnePlus offer Dash Charger, Wrap Charger inside the box nowadays.

Verdict: Is it worth upgradable?

The iPhone 11 isn’t a huge improvement over the iPhone XR. Well if you consider the camera as your highest priority then iPhone 11 is better as it comes with an extra 12MP ultra-wide camera, with a dedicated night mode and the front camera also provides 4k recording. 

This doesn’t mean that the cameras on the iPhone XR are bad, they are really good.

The iPhone 11 boasts slightly better battery life and performance but there won’t be any difference in performance.

Upgrading from an older iPhone like 5,6,7,8 to the iPhone 11 will be worth as there will be a much overall improved user experience.

Well upgrading from the iPhone XR to iPhone 11 seems worthy only if you want better cameras and a boost in speed or otherwise, the iPhone XR is still one of the greatest smartphones with great performance and provides greater value in the market today.

For buying the iPhone XR click this link: iPhone XR from Rs. 44,900

Check out the prices for Iphone11 Pro by clicking this