iPhone Xr: Apple's new, cheaper and colourful handset opens for pre-orders

Latest model includes many of the features of the more premium iPhone Xs, but at a reduced price

Andrew Griffin
Friday 19 October 2018 10:49 BST
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Introducing the Iphone XR

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Apple's iPhone Xr – the cheaper version of its new handsets – is now on sale.

It can be pre-ordered from Apple or a huge range of carriers from today, ahead of its release date on 26 October.

The phone was revealed alongside the more premium iPhone Xs at an Apple event last month, when it announced that the new phone would not launch for weeks. That extra time appears to have allowed Apple to make plenty of them, with no reports of supply problems.

The iPhone Xr is meant to be the cheaper version of Apple's new line-up, sitting between the size of the Xs and the Xs Max but at the bottom of the price range.

It borrows from the design of those phones but swaps some of the more expensive parts – like the shiny steel around the edges – for cheaper aluminium. It also comes in a whole host of looks, with Apple re-introducing brighter colours to its range.

Beyond the design, the features of the iPhone Xr are almost the same as its more expensive sibling. It still features the beefed up A12 bionic processor and the improved camera.

But it also removes some of the more expensive features, too. The Xr has an LCD screen rather than the richer OLED found on the Xs, and features only one camera on the back instead of two.

The Xr starts at $749 in the US, or roughly in the same in pounds and euros. The same carriers that offered deals on the Xs are doing so for the Xr.

The handset will actually go on sale – and arrive with people who pre-order it – just a few days before Apple's next big launch event. On 30 October in New York, it is expected to show off new updates to the iPad Pro and its Macs.

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