Shot on iPhone XR: Real-World Photos and Portraits With Depth Control From New York City - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Shot on iPhone XR: Real-World Photos and Portraits With Depth Control From New York City

MacRumors traveled to New York City this week to spend some time with the iPhone XR ahead of its release. While there, we spent the day testing its camera and Portrait Mode with Depth Control with help from some volunteer New Yorkers.

iphone xr portrait

Behind the scenes of shooting with the iPhone XR (not taken with iPhone XR)

The photos below were shot with the iPhone XR's default Camera app on iOS 12, and are unedited beyond being resized for this gallery. For some photos, we took advantage of standard features of the Camera app, such as Depth Control and manually adjusting the exposure of photos by tapping on a focus point.

While the iPhone XR does not have a telephoto lens like the iPhone XS and XS Max, the single wide-angle lens captures an impressive amount of detail. And with Depth Control, Apple has taken Portrait Mode to a whole new level, resulting in photos of people that are comparable to those shot with a DSLR camera.

We'll have more impressions about the iPhone XR cameras in the days to come, but after one day of testing, we can safely say that most people should be more than happy with the quality of photos shot on this device.

iphone xr photo 6
iphone xr photo 1
iphone xr photo 3
iphone xr photo 2
iphone xr photo 8
iphone xr photo 14
iphone xr photo 13
iphone xr photo 9
iphone xr photo 10
iphone xr photo 5
iphone xr photo 4
iphone xr photo 7
iphone xr portraits 2
iphone xr portrait 3
iPhone XR launches tomorrow, Friday, October 26. Stay tuned to MacRumors for continued coverage of the device.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

apple surprise and shine event

Apple Event Today: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo Cheat Sheet

Tuesday September 8, 2026 10:24 am PDT by
Apple's biggest event of the year is almost here, and all eyes are on Cupertino. With the first foldable iPhone expected to headline Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the rumor mill has been running full throttle, fuelled by the biggest single design change in the life of the iPhone. To get you up to speed, here's a quick reference...
All Screen iPhone 2030 Feature Sans Text

iPhone 18 Pro: Nine Reasons Not to Upgrade This Year

Monday September 7, 2026 5:01 am PDT by
Apple is set to unveil new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models on Wednesday, September 9, and the devices are expected to feature a design that's largely similar to the iPhone 17 Pro models, with a peppering of enhancements inside. Major changes are not expected until next year, when Apple is expected to introduce a radically redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone. If you're thinking of...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Release Date and Pre-Orders

Monday September 7, 2026 6:01 pm PDT by
Apple has announced that it will be holding an event on Wednesday, September 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with the company widely expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, its first-ever foldable iPhone Ultra, and more. Now that we know the event date, we can make an educated guess about when iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders will begin, but there is a bit of a wrinkle this year....

Top Rated Comments

duervo Avatar
103 months ago
Maybe it’s just me, but I always hold my phone in landscape mode when I take a photo or record a video.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mi7chy Avatar
103 months ago
Looks oversaturated and not natural.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
103 months ago
Not gonna lie, these are impressive.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EBone12355 Avatar
103 months ago
I want a TV show starring the two guys in the eighth photo.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
103 months ago
They look good, as expected since it's the XS system in 1 camera.

I think Apple really took a step forward in cameras this year. Clearly better than the X.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roncron Avatar
103 months ago
These photos don’t look very good to me, but I don’t think I’m seeing the actual original photo files the author of this article took. The photos I’m seeing look like they were posted at lower resolution to take less bandwidth for people reading this online.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)