Apple Highlights Photos Shot on iPhone XR

Apple today highlighted "Shot on iPhone" photos captured with its latest smartphone, the iPhone XR. Apple shared portraits, landscapes, and more that iPhone XR users posted on social networks like Instagram and Twitter.

Apple's iPhone XR is equipped with the same 12-megapixel wide-angle lens that's in the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, and it has all of the same features like Smart HDR and Depth Control for adjusting the amount of blur in a Portrait mode photo.

iphonexraustinmann

Image via photographer Austin Mann

The iPhone XR is unique among iPhones because its rear-facing Portrait mode option doesn't require a two-lens camera setup.

Instead of relying on a telephoto and a wide-angle lens to separate the subject of a photo from the background, the iPhone XR uses software to create a similar effect. As a result, Portrait mode photos captured on the XR only work with people and aren't available for other subject matter like pets and food.


As a bonus, though, because rear Portrait mode on the iPhone XR uses the wide-angle lens with wider f/1.8 aperture instead of the f/2.4 telephoto lens used by the iPhone XS and XS Max, its Portrait photos can come out better in low lighting conditions.


The iPhone XR, like the XS and XS Max, uses a TrueDepth camera system for the front-facing camera with a 7-megapixel setup. TrueDepth on iPhone XR is identical to TrueDepth on Apple's pricier iPhones, allowing for a full front-facing Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting options.


Apple previously shared a series of images that were shot on iPhone XS and XS Max following the launch of those two devices. The company's full selection of iPhone XR photos can be seen in its Apple newsroom article.

Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
82 months ago
That's a fantastic photo of Angela Ahrendts.

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Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
82 months ago
Today, most camera phones make decent photos. The differences are mice nuts.

What's much more important is the person making the photograph. The strength of a photo is pretty much determined by the photographer's imagination, life experiences, creativity, understanding light and composition, and more.

I've been shooting with my iPhone almost exclusively for the last few years. And for the photos I like to make it works just fine.




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Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
82 months ago
Everyone do yourself a favor and don't use that fake looking portrait mode background blur effect on your wide angle photos. It looks so hokey and artificial. Like a poorly executed photoshop cutout.
Or continue using it - and realize years later you wish you never had.
The blur effect looks fine for the telephoto lenses on the cameras with twin lenses... but on the XR's wide angle lens it looks like garbage.
Oh  will tell you it's the greatest thing since the mouse, but you're smarter than that to get sucked into the hoopla
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheRealDGD Avatar
82 months ago
Good for a phone camera but please do not compare the images to my Nikon and the lenses I use.... it is night and day. But recently everyone is trying to be a professional... with inferior equipment.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
burgman Avatar
82 months ago
Seems you’re being a bit pedantic, for the most part, the photo looks excellent with the blurred bokeh background and focusing strictly on the individual.
Anyone commenting on photo quality minutiae viewed on the internet loses credibility to me.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
82 months ago
Whichever way you look at it, for the average person which is going to be more than 90% of owners, these are amazing pictures that they will be happy being able to achieve on their phone. For everyone else who thinks they under this or over that, meh, whatever.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)