The 2018 iPhone XS, XS Max and XR owners thread (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

They don’t have anything up for a Max yet.

Assuming the Xs fits I don’t see a completely clear cases in Statement.

 

[Sam Posten]

@TonyD
I bought the XS Max Statement right from Apple. Got it 2 days before the phone.
https://www.apple.com/us_edu_20224/...nt-series-case-for-iphone-xs-max-lucent-black

Fully transparent Traction:
https://www.apple.com/us_edu_20224/...terbox-traction-series-case-for-iphone-xs-max

I like the grippy faux leather bottom half. YMMV.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Otterbox statement

Thank you - looks good, I’ll see if the local Apple Store has it

 

[Mark Booth]

I LOVE THIS PHONE (iPhone XS)!!

And I LOVE CarPlay (now installed in both of my Mazdas). I played with Waze in CarPlay today and it's fantastic. I used it on a 10-mile route I drive regularly and Waze (correctly) warned me about two police officers along the way. One had someone already pulled over to give them a ticket and the other was around a blind curve waiting for his next victim. Sweet.

I am a very happy camper! This is the best iPhone Apple has ever made!

Mark

 

[DaveF]

Visited the local Apple Store this evening to have a look at the new iPhones. While the Max is amazingly huge, I think I’ll get the regular X when I upgrade. I can use it one-handed without losing much screen size* over my current 8+.

* The narrower screen will take some getting used to. A friend upgraded from a 6+ to an X and is disappointed. The decrease in screen width is worse for him the increase in height. For me, I noticed it and it’s the one detail that makes me want to jump to the X+.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Reviews are out!
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9gtzfj/reviews_are_going_live/

3D view:
https://www.hotspot3d.com/

My max is due tomorrow, I ordered a Unicorn Supcase and a glass screen protector to go with it

 

[Sam Posten]

Let us know how you like it @Dave Scarpa

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Let us know how you like it @Dave Scarpa

i love it, I loved my SE but after using the Max there is no comparison, the screen is a stunner especially when playing HDR content. its a very fast device especially coming for the A9, this thing just tears thru anything you can throw at it

 

[TonyD]

Where is the hdr iPhone content?

 

[Sam Posten]

On iTunes and Youtube.

 

[Ted Todorov]

On iTunes and Youtube.

Netflix too, I would think.

But the only videos I glance at on my iPhone are the ones that I have just shot on my iPhone. Once they’ve made it to iCloud Inwatch them them on my iPad or AppleTV. Which is why I have an XS instead of an XS Max — thsize of the screen is irrelevant to me. I n the past I was. Getting Pluses because of the better camera. I am very happy that the camera is now the same, and I can stick with a smaller iPhone

 

[Clinton McClure]

My wife upgraded from a 7+ to a Xs Max today. After setting it up for her, I’m glad I didn’t upgrade too. There’s not enough of an appreciable speed or performance increase to justify a $1000 purchase for me. Maybe the iPhone 11 or 12 will be enough of a bump that I can feel good about upgrading. As it is, my 7+ opens apps and works just as well as her Xs Max.

On a related note, her mom upgraded from a 5c to an Xs Max on Saturday and it was a very worthwhile upgrade. Her step dad upgraded from a very old Samsung phone to a Galaxy S9+ that, after setting it up for him, made me happy I never switched to Galaxy phones. It’s a highly customizable and confusing phone that takes five or six actions to do what my iPhone does in one.

 

[DaveF]

We did the household budget yesterday (well, my wife has worked on it the past couple of weekends, and she reviewed it with me yesterday ). We didn't budget for new iPhones this year. Our two year plan would have us upgrading from iPhone 8+ to iPhone INXS this Fall. But I'm getting anxious that $1000+ pocket computers are getting too expensive for us to upgrade every two years. I'm more wait and see than I've been since 2010 when I first bought in with the iPhone 4.

 

[JQuintana]

My wife upgraded from a 7+ to a Xs Max today. After setting it up for her, I’m glad I didn’t upgrade too. There’s not enough of an appreciable speed or performance increase to justify a $1000 purchase for me. Maybe the iPhone 11 or 12 will be enough of a bump that I can feel good about upgrading. As it is, my 7+ opens apps and works just as well as her Xs Max.

On a related note, her mom upgraded from a 5c to an Xs Max on Saturday and it was a very worthwhile upgrade. Her step dad upgraded from a very old Samsung phone to a Galaxy S9+ that, after setting it up for him, made me happy I never switched to Galaxy phones. It’s a highly customizable and confusing phone that takes five or six actions to do what my iPhone does in one.

Can you give me some examples? I never had any issues with my Galaxy phones. I love how customizable they are. I've been using them since S 3 hit the streets.

Full confession that I gave my wife my S8 since her lease was up on her S7 and me being gadget lover, I opted for the awesome new OnePlus 6T that has the fingerprint reader built into the screen (take that iphone! ), has 8GB memory and 128gb storage and costs over HALF of what an decent sized iphone offers at $550).

My daughter on the other hand being a teen feels life isn't complete without an iphone so she has the 7. No way in heck I'm spending $1000 to upgrade her phone even though she keeps hinting she'd like a new iphone.

But yes, I'd like to hear what feature takes 5-6 actions to do. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Maybe I was just tired but it seemed things that should be simple 1-step actions like swiping left once to delete an email took several different actions to complete. Maybe that can be set up differently and fine-tuned, I don’t know. There were other things but I don’t remember what they were. The OS just seemed to be overly complicated for a phone and Bixby (or whatever it was called) kept turning on randomly. I was just unimpressed.

 

[JQuintana]

I use Gmail for all email and it's as easy as it comes. Bixby has on/off feature now so I left it off with no issues. The S8 is an awesome device with IMO better features and flexibility than any other iphone line. The s9 just up'd the game even more.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Despite Sam firmly telling me at one point Apple would never do this...

A report today from Forbes indicates Apple is considering a lower pricing strategy on their phones due to lackluster sales

 

[Sam Posten]

I don't think I'd ever say anyone would NEVER do something, that isn't my style. But it clearly is not in Apple's strategy to go after the low end of the market. They have been pursuing ever higher end phones and they now have a pretty good idea where the top end of what the market is willing to pay is at. I very much doubt they will drop prices on current models, but I have been wrong before.

I would be very surprised to see a stripped down phone from them in 2019.

Here's the thing. People say they want an iPhone that costs less. But they won't buy lower specced iPhones cause that's not why people buy iPhones in the first place. They want the new hotness. Want a lower specced iPhone at a better price than the XS/Max? Buy last year's iPhone. But again, that's not new and exciting. What they want is for the top end iPhone to be affordable. That's not going to happen any time soon.

 

[DaveF]

Despite Sam firmly telling me at one point Apple would never do this...

A report today from Forbes indicates Apple is considering a lower pricing strategy on their phones due to lackluster sales

What you left out is that the reported pricing cut is to Chinese retailers:

Yahoo has confirmed that this practice quietly began on Tuesday with Apple cutting approximately $100 from the price it charges Chinese partners for the iPhone XR. Immediately, these partners - including Suning, “China’s Best Buy” - began lowing prices.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordon...ts-cost-sales-upgrade-discounts/#3652193a6852

Apple's sales in the US were fantastic and per se were a new profit or revenue peak year over year. But China was down and clobbered Apple (and LG and Samsung and ...). China appears to be entering a recession and is also in the trade war with the US, which by most analyses* is the explanation for Apple's reduced sales there. So they're lowering prices in China. What else is there to do? (* There's also the Ben Thompson perspective that Chinese consumers rely on China-specific software, and the phone is just a fancy container for that software. They buy big for the new-hotness to flaunt their wealth. The iPhone XS look like the X, so isn't new hotness, so doesn't get bought as much.)

I would be very surprised to see a stripped down phone from them in 2019.

Here's the thing. People say they want an iPhone that costs less. But they won't buy lower specced iPhones cause that's not why people buy iPhones in the first place. They want the new hotness. Want a lower specced iPhone at a better price than the XS/Max? Buy last year's iPhone. But again, that's not new and exciting. What they want is for the top end iPhone to be affordable. That's not going to happen any time soon.

This is not really true. Apple enthusiasts and more affluent buyers only like to buy the top-end. I'm among them, as are a number of friends. But I see no small number of people that buy the lower end phone. And more importantly, and reported by Apple: people keep their phones longer. So even if people only buy top-end phones, they wait that third or fourth or even fifth year before splurging on a top-end phone. Which is also problem for Apple, if people only want their best models, but are willing to wait three or more years between releases.

 

[Ted Todorov]

But I see no small number of people that buy the lower end phone. And more importantly, and reported by Apple: people keep their phones longer. So even if people only buy top-end phones, they wait that third or fourth or even fifth year before splurging on a top-end phone. Which is also problem for Apple, if people only want their best models, but are willing to wait three or more years between releases.

There are three basic categories of people - yes, the ones that want the top of the line iPhone (and thus buy XS instead of XR), those who buy new ones when the old one breaks - or as a birthday or holiday present. And there are those who buy the cheapest one possible: which explains why the iPhone SE was surprisingly popular, while the iPhone 5C & XR are not). People who are currently buying iPhone 7s & 8s right now are mostly in the buy a new one because they need it category.
All of the may also be in the keep it longer category if they did not switch to Apple's annual upgrade program.
And clearly, based on what they said during their iPhone release session, Apple is not only aware of the existing lengthening of lifespan for iPhones - they actively encourage it. I doubt they would actively and publicly encourage it if they considered it a problem.