Apple slashes iPhone XR prices; now Rs 17,000 cheaper, 10% cashback extra

Apart from limited period discount and HDFC bank cashback offer, customers can also avail a no cost equated monthly instalment from Bajaj Finance and HDFC bank consumer loans.

iPhone XR, the most affordable phone in the latest range of Apple smartphones, will be available at a discounted price of Rs 59,900 (64GB) for a limited period of time starting from April 5. Cupertino, US-based technology giant has also partnered with HDFC bank, which is offering a flat cashback of 10 per cent on the iPhone XR that brings down the phone’s effective price to Rs 53,900 (64GB).

The iPhone XR comes in three storage variants – 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. Under the promotion offer, all the variants will receive Rs 17,000 discount, 10 per cent cashback offer from HDFC Bank on credit and debit cards.

Apart from limited period discount and HDFC bank cashback offer, customers can also avail a no cost equated monthly instalment from Bajaj Finance and HDFC bank consumer loans.

ALSO READ: iPhone XR review

iPhone XR features and specifications

The iPhone XR sports a 6.1-inch LCD screen of 1792 x 828 resolution. The display supports wide colour gamut with colour management system. The screen supports tap to wake feature and Apple True Tone technology, which uses six-channel light sensor to subtly adjusts the white balance onscreen to match the colour temperature of the surrounding light.

In terms of imaging, the iPhone XR features a 12-megapixel camera on the back of f/1.8 aperture size and wide angle lens. The camera is backed by optical image stabilisation. It is also capable of taking 4K videos at 60 frames per second. The camera now supports stereo audio in video recordings.

On the front, there is a 7MP TruDepth wide angle lens of f/2.2 aperture size. The camera module supports smart HDR, portrait lighting and Bokeh. The phone also records videos with stereo audio.

Business Standard

Apple iPhone XR: Cheaper, but as powerful as iPhone XS-series smartphones

In an era of skyrocketing smartphone prices, it's a relief that Apple's $750 iPhone is just as powerful and nearly as capable as its $1,000 counterparts, our reviewer found.

Business Standard :Good news, Apple loyalists: You won’t have to burn $1,000 on your next iPhone. That’s because for about $750, you can have the iPhone XR, which is just as fast and nearly as capable as its more expensive counterparts.

The cheaper iPhone, which becomes available this Friday, is the model that most people should buy. This year’s other iPhones — namely the XS and XS Max devices, which cost about $1,000 and $1,100 and are already in stores — are luxury devices better suited for enthusiasts willing to spend a premium for superior cameras or a jumbo screen.

For everyone else, the XR is perfectly adequate and has few downsides. Its 6.1-inch screen, which is based on LCD, an older display technology, looks ever so slightly inferior to the OLED screens on the XS phones — but you would need to be a movie buff to notice the difference.

The XR’s single-lens camera is also less capable than the dual-lens cameras on the XS models. Yet the XR can still produce very satisfying photos of people using portrait mode, also known as the bokeh effect, which puts the picture’s main subject in sharp focus while gently blurring the background.

The XR is slightly less durable than its more expensive cousins. Its glass back is not as tough as the one on the XS. Its casing, or chassis, is composed of aluminum instead of the more robust stainless steel on the costlier phones. Yet these differences are negligible. (I recommend that people use a case to protect those parts of the phone anyway; carrying a phone without a case is a bit like driving a car without bumpers.)

All of these minor negatives add up to a win for price-conscious consumers, especially as smartphone prices keep climbing — iPhones a few years ago started at about $650, while prices for Android phones from Google and Samsung have also shot up to between $700 and $1,000.

After I tested an XR for four days, here are the highlights.

A bright and vibrant display

Apple developed a new kind of LCD to improve color accuracy and squeeze the XR’s screen into the corners of the phone. The result is what Apple calls a Liquid Retina display, which looks better — brighter and more vibrant — than past iPhone LCD screens.

I confess that I struggled to see a difference between the Liquid Retina screen and the OLED on an iPhone XS. The distinction is most evident in blacks: If you look at a photo taken in the dark, you will notice that the blacks on the XR’s screen have a faint blue glow, which is coming from the backlight used to illuminate the screen, while the blacks on the XS look darker and more realistic because the OLED technology turns off individual pixels to make them black... Read More