So Apple has just had it’s September 2019 Event and whilst they did announce some interesting things regarding a new 10.2” iPad, and the Apple Watch Series 5. However, the product that everyone was waiting to hear about was also announced, the new iPhone line up!
So here are 40 Things You Didn’t Know about the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro!
1. Night Mode
Google has it, Samsung has it, Huawei has it, OnePlus has it and now Apple has it as well!
This massively improves the low light photography on the iPhone 11’s.
The Night Mode example that Apple showed at their September Event (Source: Apple)
2. Exclusivity of Features
However, even-though this is a software feature - Night is restricted to the iPhone 11’s only.
And the same thing applies to “Quick Video Recording” which allows you to record a video by just holding on the shutter button when in Photos mode which previously was for burst shots.
Source: Apple
3. U1 Chip
New U1 chip allows the iPhone to very accurately detect the position of another U1 equipped device, with an error margin of just 5cm.
This will be extremely useful when Apple releases the competitor to the Title tracker.
4. Thicker Body
The iPhone 11 Pro & Pro Max now got thicker than the XS & XS Max from last year, by 0.4mm.
The iPhone 11 however, kept the same thickness as the XR from last year, at 8.3mm thick.
5.No 5G
This pretty much says it all. No 5G until 2020 actually.
The OnePlus 7 Pro which costs £649 comes with a 90Hz Refresh Rate display
6. No Pro Motion Display
And no 120Hz or even 90Hz refresh rate display that other Android smartphones are starting to have now.
This is pretty disappointing considering that Apple already uses a 120Hz Pro-Motion Display on the iPad Pro, yet not on the iPhone Pro.
Some flagships, like the Samsung Galaxy S10 (Above), now come with reverse wireless charging. The iPhone does not.
7. No Reverse Wireless Charging
This was supposed to be coming but it apparently got removed because of some inefficiency issues that Apple was experiencing.
However the hardware might still be present (according to Sonny Dickson), which means that you might just see this enabled through a software update in the future, although highly unlikely.
Case manufacturers were designing cases to accommodate an S-Pen style stylus for the iPhone (Source: Olixar)
8. No Apple Pencil Support
Another feature that was leaked heavily and was supposed to be coming, apparently got removed as well.
Not too fussed about this myself, as I wouldn’t have used it unless the Pencil was built into the iPhone (like the Samsung Galaxy Note does it), but the leaks suggested that it would just be a standalone Pencil, just like the 1st gen Apple Pencil.
9. Improved Telephoto
If you care about telephoto (zoomed in) shots, the iPhone 11 Pro lets 40% more light into the sensor, by have a larger f/2.0 aperture vs the f/2.4 aperture that the iPhone XS’s had.
Also - you can now use either the telephoto or the regular module, when taking Portrait Mode shots.
10. Wide Angle Panoramas
Thanks to that 3rd ultra-wide angle module, Panoramas are also much wider now!
A wide angle panorama taken in Chine (Source: Austin Mann)
When using the camera you can access this zoom wheel, which will transition smoothly between the lenses depending on the shot you’re taking (Source: MKBHD)
11. Flawless Transition
And you can fluidly switch between all 3 lenses, by using the new zoom wheel! Extremely intuitive and easy to use!
12. Auto Focus and Exposure
And the iPhone 11 also keeps the exact same focus point and exposure level, across all 3 camera modules!
13. 100% Focus Pixels
The main (regular) camera module on the iPhone 11’s, also have 100% Focus Pixels now, which means that every single pixel on the camera sensor, would now be used for focusing. So you get faster and more accurate focus.
14. True Tone Flash Improvements
The True Tone Flash is now 36% brighter
15. Smart HDR Improvements
The SmartHDR functionality that we got with the iPhone XS’s last year is now even better, thanks to the Apple A13 processor.
16. 4K 60 on all Lenses
And unlike all other smartphones that also have 3 camera modules - the iPhone 11’s are the only ones capable of recording 4K60fps on all 3 modules, as most other phones are restricted to 4K30, when using the wideangle lens for example.
With apps such as Filmic Pro you will be able to view and record multiple camera streams (Source: Apple)
17. Simultaneous Recording
The iPhone 11’s also allows you to record multiple video streams using all the cameras, at the same time (using 3rd party apps such as Filmic Pro)!
18. Extended Dynamic Range
And you can now record in Extended Dynamic Range in 4K60 as well! Previously, this was restricted to 4k30.
19. 4K 60 Front Camera
This is huge! Previously we had 1080p60, now we have full 4K60 video recording, with the front facing camera!
When held in landscape, the front facing camera will automatically switch to a wide angle lense (Source: Apple
20. Wide Angle Front Camera
Front camera is also wider now. It uses a larger 12MP sensor but only saves the photos in 7MP.
However, you can also shoot wider shots, by using the full 12MP sensor.
21. Deep Fusion
This will be coming in a future software update, but it will allow the iPhone to combine multiple photos into a very high resolution image.
22. Water Resistance
This has been increase to 4m of depth on the iPhone 11 Pro’s (from 2m on the iPhone XS’s) and up to 2m of depth of the iPhone 11 (from 1m on the iPhone XR). Up to 30minutes of submersion on all of them.
23. Water Damage
BUT if your phone does get damaged by water, this will not be covered under warranty. Pretty odd that they’re promoting such a feature, but if your phone breaks, you’ll be on your own.
24.Improved Audio
Audio has also been improved by adding spacial audio and Dolby Atmos Support.
25. Improved FaceID
FaceID is now faster by 30% BUT this is thanks to iOS 13 and NOT any new FaceID hardware. Many reviews got this wrong and said that FaceID comes with new hardware but it does not.
26. WiFi
WiFi 6 is here on the iPhones 11’s! Not only does this mean that we can get speeds of up to 9.6Gb/s but you can say goodbye to traffic congestion (only if you’re using a WiFi 6 router, alongside WiFi 6 enabled devices on that network).
The new iPhone shares the same display panel as Samsung’s Note 10 (Above)
27. Note 10 Display
Apple introduced the new Super Retina XDR display. But this is actually the same display that Samsung uses on their Note 10 and S10 line of smartphones.
Source: Apple
28. Display Brightness
Brightness is up to 1200nits from 1000 (when viewing HDR content) and up to 800 nits from 625 nits (outdoors).
29. Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratio is now double. 2M:1 up from 1M:1
3D Touch Demo
30. Goodbye 3D Touch
This has now been completely removed and replaced with Haptic Touch.
So instead of pressing harder for that secondary tap, you now hold for longer. I don’t mind this, as I wasn’t using 3D Touch at all, but those who have been using it, will miss it.
31. Improved Haptics
The Haptic engine has now been improved with the iPhone 11’s. Most likely because of the removal of 3D Touch and the focus towards Haptic Touch.
Like on Samsung Flagships, if you pinch and zoom, the audio will become louder as well (Source: Samsung)
32. Audio Zoom
Same as the Note 10 & the Note 10+, when you zoom into a video, the audio will also get louder. Pretty cool!
33. Improved Battery
We now get up to 5 hours of more battery life on the 11 Pro Max vs the XS Max, up to 4 hours on the 11 Pro vs the XS, and up to 1 hour on the 11 vs XR.
This is the biggest battery life improvement we’ve ever had in an iPhone.
34. Fast Charging
Not a lot of people know this, but all iPhones from the 6 onwards supported fast charging.
35. Fast Charger
We finally get one inside the box of the iPhone 11 Pro & Pro Max, the regular 11 doesn’t get one unfortunately.
This has been extremely long overdue, as Android manufacturers have been including a faster charger in the box for the past 5+ years.
Source: Apple
36. eSIM
The iPhone XS was one of the first phones in the world to get eSIM support.
What this means is that you do not need to have a physical SIM inside your phone to make phone calls. Instead, you can just register to a carrier from the settings menu and always be connected.
This also makes your iPhone theft proof, since if it gets stolen, there’s no SIM to remove which means that it will always have an internet connection, unless it’s turned off.
37.Matte & Glossy
It’s quite interesting how the iPhone 11 has a glossy back and a matte camera module, while the iPhone 11 Pro’s have a matte back and a glossy camera module.
The back of the iPhone 11 Pro (Source: Apple)
38. Strongest Glass
Strongest Glass in a smartphone, so Apple claims. However they claimed the same thing with the XS, and mine shattered when it fell from my couch onto a wooden floor. 20-30cm drop and my iPhone was a goner.
Source: Apple
39. Storage Letdown
64GB is the baseline. On a “Pro” smartphone. If this was $600-$700 I wouldn’t complain but for £1150? Ouch, that’s bad!
Source: Apple
40. Lower & Higher Price
The iPhone 11 is now $50 less than the iPhone XR used to cost ($700 vs $750)
iPhone 11 Pro’s are the same price as the XS & XS Max from the year before, however outside the US they are quite a bit more expensive. £50 more in the UK and even more in some other countries.
The iPhone 11’s price compared to its predecessor, the XR (Source: Apple)