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I Switched to an iPhone XR for a Week! Is the iPhone XR Worth it in 2022?

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Every fall I quickly upgrade to the newest iPhone. After five months with the iPhone 13 Pro, I wondered whether I could use a phone from 2018 without going crazy, so I bought a used iPhone XR on Swappa (the XR came out alongside the XS, but bigger and cheaper) and used it as my only phone for a week. I chose the XR because it still has a modern design and nearly the same 6.1-inch display as the 13 Pro, a better one-to-one comparison.

Buying it

On Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Swappa, about $240 to $280 looked like the right price for a base XR. I bought a 64 GB base model in coral, listed in good condition (with a warning that the photos didn’t represent the device, so I was a little nervous), fully tested with at least 80% battery health. It looked really good: no problems with the front or rear glass, a few scuffs and dings on the aluminum band around the speakers, so the previous owner had a case. Nothing listed as third-party replaced, and 89% battery health.

Day one

After 24 hours my screen-on time was about 3 hours and 2 minutes, and I was at about 51% battery by 3 PM, mostly Safari, Twitter, YouTube Studio, Mail and a couple of benchmarks. Issues:

  • No MagSafe. My nightstand charger (a Belkin BoostCharge Pro, which charges the iPhone via MagSafe plus the Apple Watch and AirPods) didn’t work, so I used a Lightning cable.
  • Camera. A walk produced photos that look pretty darn good for a 3.5-year-old phone, though the sky gradient was less pronounced than what I saw, a more modern iPhone would be more true-to-life, and zoomed in things aren’t sharp.
  • Brightness. The XR maxes at 625 nits, versus 1,000 on the 13 Pro, so about 62% as bright, noticeable in sun with sunglasses on.

Day two

During the Super Bowl, I scrolled Twitter a lot, and the 120 Hz bug caught me: I’d dismissed it since the iPhone 12 Pro, but with the 13 Pro, iPad Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro all at 120 Hz, I was very aware of the blurrier display when scrolling. The battery also took a bigger hit: down to about 35% by 4:22 PM, so I couldn’t make it to bedtime without charging. (It has a smaller battery than the 13 Pro, it’s a couple of years old, and it’s at 89% health.)

Day four

I’m honestly surprised how good it’s been: a pretty seamless experience beyond the camera and screen brightness. I used wireless CarPlay (the XR has it), AirPods, my Apple Watch Series 7, Handoff and AirDrop with the iPad and Mac. It loads the same apps and games, maybe slightly slower but still fast. The one other thing: more app and website reloads during multitasking, most likely from the 3 GB of memory vs. 4 and 6 GB in higher-end iPhones.

After seven days (and nine total)

I made it, and I haven’t picked up my 13 Pro except to charge it. What I learned: having the latest iPhone doesn’t fundamentally change your experience. All the most important things I do are available on older iPhones, because Apple supports and updates them. LiDAR, better and more cameras, a brighter screen and MagSafe are nice and make daily use better, but for most people it probably doesn’t matter, with one exception: battery life. Over the nine days my average screen-on time was about 4 hours 14 minutes, but I had to charge at least once every day, something I don’t usually do with the 13 Pro.

My reasons to switch back are mostly FOMO: wanting the best pocket camera when I photograph my daughter or video my wife finishing her first half marathon (I wish I’d had a better camera), 5G and the fastest chip, more RAM for multitasking, a better screen outdoors and when scrolling, and the accessories I own, like my MagSafe nightstand charger.

Otherwise there’s no real reason a normal person would need to upgrade from an XR. It’s a fantastic device, with about 90% of the experience of the top-of-the-line iPhone. Unless you need a specific feature, or fixing it for damage or a battery replacement costs more than a new iPhone, I’d stick with it. Are you okay rocking a three-plus-year-old iPhone?

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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