Gadgets

iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max review roundup: It’s still an iPhone

Reviewers like the iPhone XS, but still can’t wait for the iPhone XR.

by
Bryan M. Wolfe
September 18, 2018

Image: KnowTechie

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With this year’s iPhone lineup, Apple took its 2017 launch playbook and reversed it. This year, instead of releasing its most expensive new models second, it’s releasing them first. As a result, some of the early iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max reviews seem half-baked at best and rightly so.

For example, The Wall Street Journal thinks assessing the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max without the iPhone XR, which launches in October, is like something out of a familiar nursery rhyme, stating:

Imagine Goldilocks only tested the cold and hot porridges and never found the one that was “just right.” Her life might have been entirely different. That’s how I feel about testing the iPhone XS and XS Max—without the iPhone XR—for the past week.

The Verge says both new models are terrific but are “fundamentally just spec-bumped updates to the iPhone X.” Regardless, it suggests waiting until the iPhone XR arrives before making a purchase.

Over at USA Today, there’s the you knew it was coming complaint over the prices for this year’s iPhones, which can hit $1,449 for the most expensive iPhone Xs Max model. Nonetheless, it calls the devices “the best iPhones Apple has ever made, and I expect those of you who buy them will be thrilled. As for if the cost justifies the expense, well, maybe you should wait until the XR appears next month. ”

Finally, I suggest that you read the TechCrunch iPhone Xs review, which begins by saying that this year’s “S” models aren’t all that different than the iPhone X. Still, it believes this “weakness, however, is only really present if you view it through the eyes of the year-over-year upgrader.”

It suggests those iPhone X users will only be happy if you “love what they’ve done with the camera to want to make the jump.” Nonetheless, “as a move from any other device, it’s a huge win.”