iPhone 11 Pro – Design and Features
Outwardly, the iPhone 11 Pro isn’t a radical redesign over the previous iPhone XS. In fact, Apple’s latest handset is built on the same overall all-screen (with the conspicuous camera notch at the top), glass-backed design as the iPhone X, which was introduced in 2017. But this iteration introduces one hard-to-miss change with the first triple-camera array on the back. This triangular arrangement makes the camera bump on the back of the new iPhone a significantly larger square, as opposed to the narrow vertical arrangement found on the X and XS models.The good news is the new bump isn’t nearly as tall as it might look in photos. The whole assembly, the three lenses and the surrounding hump, barely stand above the rest of the phone, and I would say the new bump is actually shorter than or equal in height to the one found on the iPhone X or iPhone XS.
More Expert Tech Roundups
Aside from these differences in the casing, the iPhone 11 Pro has seen some pretty extensive upgrades in the screen department. This new phone’s 5.8-inch (1,125 x 2,436) “Super Retina” XDR OLED display can hit a peak brightness of 1,200-nits—a level not seen on even most 4K TVs—to support both HDR10 and Dolby Vision.
To be clear, the phone’s display only gets that blindingly bright when you’re watching high dynamic range content, such as Blade Runner 2049 or John Wick: Chapter 2. With regular use, the display tops out at 800 nits, which is still pretty impressive from a device that fits in your pocket. Comparatively, the most Android phones peak around 600-nits or lower.
Samsung is one of the only other major brands that makes displays nearly as bright as the iPhone 11 Pro’s. DisplayMate recently reported that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 achieved a peak brightness of 1,308-nits and a regular max brightness of 800-nits with a fully white screen.
Frankly, the iPhone 11 Pro’s display looks incredible. Pixels sitting right next to each other can go from completely black to burning bright without the slightest hint of haloing. This is something that was available on the previous iPhones and just about any handset with an OLED display, but it’s more striking thanks to this model’s exceptionally radiant display and iOS 13’s new Dark Mode. The intense brightness of this screen also makes it possible to overpower direct sunlight for outdoor viewing.
The intense brightness of this screen also makes it possible to overpower direct sunlight for outdoor viewing
Another big hardware upgrade for the iPhone 11 Pro is the new A13 Bionic processor, which for the most part promises to be faster as usual. It’s biggest claim is it will allow the phone to last five hours longer compared to the previous XS model—a claim we’ll verify later on.“
Far less impressive is the 4GB of memory on every model of the iPhone 11 Pro. This phone also starts off with only a measly 64GB of storage and you’ll have to pay $150 or $350 more for the 256GB or 512GB models, respectively.
Getting back to the cameras, the addition of a third lens—a 13mm ultrawide—to complement the existing 26mm wide-angle and 52mm telephoto cameras was long-overdue. Almost every major Android phone of 2019, such as the OnePlus 7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, has had three cameras, but Apple has done some novel things with its implementation here that at least makes the wait a little more worth it.
Unlike most multi-camera Android phones, the iPhone 11 Pro grants you full, instantaneous access to all three cameras whenever you’re shooting stills or video. This is a huge boon for pro (or aspiring) videographers, as you can seamlessly swap between all three 12MP cameras and their different focal lengths without stopping and restarting. You can opt for either a dramatically abrupt punched-in or out effect, or you can move across the zoom range in one smooth motion.
It even has upgraded the front-facing selfie cameras with a pair of 12MP sensors, a noticeable step up from the previous dual 7MP snappers. What’s more, you can take slow motion selfie videos, which Apple has groaningly taken to calling them “slowfies.”
These new selfie cameras also offer a slightly wider 85-degree field of view, so you can take pictures of a with a group of friends more easily. Face ID also has benefited from this as it’s a bit faster and more reliably if you’re looking at the front of the phone from an askew angle.
What about the iPhone 11 Pro Max?
While we haven’t tested it yet, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is what you should get if you’re looking for a bigger version of this phone. The two handsets are essentially identical except the Max model features a slightly bigger 6.5-inch display that’s also a bit higher-resolution, with 1,242 x 2,688 pixels (up from 1,125 x 2,436).That larger frame also houses a larger battery, 3,969mAh vs 3,046mAh, to get through long days. This should grant the iPhone 11 Pro Max with a longer battery life than the other models, but I can’t verify that without testing it in house.
Otherwise, it features the same triple array of 12MP cameras and dual 12MP selfie (or slofie) cameras. Even the 4GB of available memory and storage options (64GB, 256GB, and 512GB) are the same across both phones, so choosing between the regular iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max really is just a matter of picking which phone size you want.
iPhone 11 Pro – Gaming and Performance
The iPhone 11 Pro is flipping fast thanks to the new A13 Bionic chip. Apps open all but immediately, switching between tasks is instantaneous, and getting around iOS 13 feels consistently snappy. Although it comes with only 4GB of RAM—far less than the 6GB to 12GB available in most top-end Android phones—I never ran into a memory-cap issue. I could easily jump back to apps I hadn’t touched in days and pick up on my progress from where I left off.All this performance makes the iPhone 11 Pro fantastic for playing games. Of course, it helps that the phone launched alongside Apple’s new Apple Arcade subscription service, so I’ve been able to try out several handfuls of high-quality mobile games to put it through its paces.
Between the faster processor and gorgeous screen the iPhone is back to being one of the best gaming phones
As you’d expect from the top of the line, the iPhone 11 Pro can easily handle fast-moving games like Sayonara Wild Hearts without the slightest hint of slowdown. Likewise, stunningly detailed games like Shinsekai Into the Depths and Assemble With Care ran without a single hitch, despite both being graphically demanding. Everything I threw at it ran flawlessly.“
Beyond how smooth games perform on the iPhone 11 Pro, they just look plain stunning. Thanks to its ultra-bright display, highlights really pop off the screen and you get the pitch blacks inherent to OLED displays (which Apple first offered on the iPhone X). Colors are also always spot on thanks to Apple’s True Tone technology calibrating the warmth and tint of the display according to your ambient lighting conditions.
Between the faster processor, the gorgeous screen, and the plethora of fantastic mobile games available through Apple Arcade—if you’re ready to pay $5 a month for it, that is—the iPhone is back to being one of the best phones for gaming.
iPhone 11 Pro – Camera
When it came to the iPhone 11 Pro’s cameras, I expected the improvements would be focused around the new ultrawide camera. However, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much the image quality from all of the cameras has improved year over year.The main wide-angle 26mm f1.8 camera now has a slightly improved sensor while the telephoto sensor sits behind a slightly faster 52mm f2.0 lens. The front-facing cameras, meanwhile, have been upgraded with dual 12MP sensors. And of course, there’s also the brand-new ultrawide camera with a 13mm f2.4 lens.Beyond those hardware specs, Apple has improved its image-processing software to produce wider dynamic range, richer colors, and a deeper level of contrast. It’s a drastic improvement over previous models as the images don’t look quite as flat as they used to.
Compared to the images you can get from a Google Pixel 3 or Samsung Note 10 Plus—arguably the best Android phones for photography—the photos I look with the iPhone 11 Pro look just as good now.Another big improvement to the iPhone 11 Pro’s camera is Night Mode, which produces better low-light photography. Night Mode turns on automatically when you try to shoot in the dark and it basically extends your exposure to somewhere between a full second and three seconds, depending on conditions.
As the camera is taking in more light, the resulting photos look brighter overall and they also reveal details that would have otherwise been shrouded in darkness. Just like a regular long-exposure image, if anything moves through the frame it will appear as a blur natural blur. Thankfully, the image processing doesn’t add any strange artifacting or compilation errors in your final image.
Compared to Nightscape on the OnePlus 7 Pro, Night Sight on the Google Pixel 3, and Night on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, the iPhone 11 Pro does an effective job of producing more natural-looking photos. It doesn’t quite look like a flat long-exposure photo or surreal like an HDR-processed image, but a pleasant composition somewhere in between.
One disappointing thing about Night Mode is it’s only available while shooting with either the main wide-angle camera or the telephoto lens, and not the ultrawide or front-facing cameras. It would make sense for Apple to add this feature to the ultrawide camera for late-night landscape photos.
The 4K 60fps videos you can shoot on the iPhone 11 Pro also look more stunning now Apple has enabled extended dynamic range for video recording. Like the images this phone outputs, movies shot on this camera just pop more thanks to a wider level of contrast and color depth.
The iPhone 11 Pro has one other camera trick called Deep Fusion, which promises to produce the high-resolution images by creating a composite photo from a series of frames taken both before and after you press the shutter button. This feature isn’t out yet, but we’ll update this review when the new camera mode is available.
iPhone 11 Pro – Battery Life
The iPhone 11 Pro offers some pretty impressive battery life. With regular usage, I easily found myself finishing the day with over 50% of my charge still intact. Heavier use, with a mix of gaming and watching videos on my commute, lowered my end-of-day battery status to 30% to 40%. Both figures are pretty impressive for a smartphone with only a 5.8-inch screen. You could easily get through two days of conservative use with the iPhone 11 Pro and not worry about running dry when you need you it most.If you do need to charge in a hurry, though, you can: the included 18W fast charger can have a near-dead phone get back to about half charge after plugging in for just 30 mins. Meanwhile, a full-hour charge will get you somewhere above a 75% charge.
Fast charging has been available on Apple’s handsets since the introduction of the iPhone X and iPhone 8, but it’s about time the company started including a beefier brick than the old 5W charger.
Naturally, the iPhone 11 line is compatible with Qi wireless chargers as well, but it’s at a slower rate than plugging in.
Purchasing Guide
The iPhone 11 Pro is available starting for $999 while the larger iPhone 11 Pro Max retails for $1,099. Just to note again, both of these base models come with only 64GB of storage and 4GB of memory, which certainly looks disappointing next to the Android phones you can get for less.
The $699 iPhone 11 may look tempting with the same processor, but know that it has an inferior LCD display, one fewer camera lens, and no included fast charger (which really should have been included). These new specs, along with drastically improved image/video quality and extended battery life, better justifies the price gulf between the Pro and the regular iPhone 11 compared to last year's models.
There are plenty of phones you should consider before the iPhone 11 Pro if you’re looking for the best specs for your money. But as a whole package Apple’s latests handset stands out as just a really well put together phone with a strikingly bright screen, much improved image and video quality, and access to the best mobile gaming library available right now.
If you prefer iOS or are just locked into Apple’s Messages platform this is the best iPhone to get. And if you’re jumping ship from Android, I think you’ll be really pleased with this new device and all the improvements iOS 13 has made to privacy and new features like Dark Mode.
