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iPhone 11 Pro: 1 Year Later

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We’re about a week from the iPhone 12, with faster chips, better cameras and 5G. I’ve had this iPhone 11 Pro for just over a year, a good time to look back: how has it held up, and is it worth considering in 2020?

Design and the notch

The 11 Pro has the same overall design as the iPhone X from three years earlier: a stainless steel frame sandwiched between two pieces of glass, a notch on the front and a giant camera bump. When the iPhone X came out, people complained that the notch was ugly before they even had the phone, but reviewers then said it fades away, and that’s been my experience. The functionality of Face ID is huge compared to a slight aesthetic issue. The one issue is the pandemic: unlocking with a mask on. I’m at home most of the time, so it’s not an issue for me. I like Face ID and don’t care much about the notch, which is good because rumors say the iPhone 12 will have one too.

Display

A 5.8-inch “Super Retina XDR” display that Apple says reaches up to 1,200 nits for HDR, which means that outdoors, you can actually see the screen. With True Tone and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, it’s an enjoyable display. Apple has had the best phone displays for a long time, even when they were LCD, with better brightness and color accuracy than most on the market, and with OLED they continue improving.

Back glass and wear

A frosted back glass with a non-frosted camera bump, which looks almost concave. Over the year, the phone’s been in and out of cases (the Apple Silicone cases, until a couple fell apart on me, and the Spigen Air Armor and others). There are essentially no scratches on the sides or back glass. My previous iPhone XS in silver was a magnet for micro-abrasions, with the whole steel frame scratched to heck. I’m glad I chose Midnight Green: it hides scratches much better, and you’d need the right light, angle and spot to see the few there are.

Cameras

Many people mocked the camera bump, comparing it to cooktop burners or aliens, but like the notch, it fades away. What matters more than I expected is the ultra wide: I liked the telephoto on the XS, and wasn’t excited about the ultra wide until I used it. There were many occasions in tight spaces where the regular wide was too narrow, and the ultra wide made a huge difference. Standing in one place and taking three pictures at different focal lengths lets you pick the photo that best fits the moment.

Night mode gets pretty amazing shots with very little light: when ambient light is low enough, the iPhone takes a bunch of shots and compiles them into something hard to believe is usable. Video quality is still unmatched in clarity and stabilization (4K at 60 fps, or 1080p at 120 fps for slow motion). The cameras are so good that I sold my Canon M50 earlier this year and used this iPhone for my YouTube videos.

Speakers

Really good: I use the phone to watch video while getting ready in the morning, news, YouTube or podcasts, and even in the shower: it’s waterproof, so I set it on the shelf and listen with no worry about splashes or humidity.

Performance

The A13 is fast. Each year reviewers talk about how much faster iPhones get and how nothing takes advantage, and it’s true: I don’t need the power to browse or check email, and the same will be true of the A14. The biggest benefit of the power in the 11 Pro (and probably back to the iPhone 7) is that it’s there for a few years down the road, when apps and features need it. After a year, it hasn’t slowed down a bit and shouldn’t over the next couple of years.

Battery

Apple promised four more hours than the iPhone XS, and I saw a huge improvement moving from the XS. Over the last few months I’ve used my phone at home more than ever, averaging over 6.5 hours of screen time (“holy crap”), so I’ve charged more: watching AT&T TV Now news, checking YouTube stats constantly, and doom-scrolling Twitter more than ever. Battery health shows 94% (my XS showed 100% after its first year), probably from heavier usage and more charging. Pre-pandemic I had no problem getting through a day and a half if I needed.

Should you upgrade to the iPhone 12?

There will be the desire for the newest and coolest: faster, better cameras and a redesigned form factor, probably with flat edges. But it’ll play all the same games and run all the same apps, with the same iOS 14, and probably have 5G “for the 17 people that have access to it.” It might have something unexpected, like the U1 chip in the iPhone 11, which is still pretty much useless. After a full year, the iPhone 11 Pro is still pretty great: the design, cameras, performance and features are a winning combination, and “no sane, rational person” should spend another $1,000 next week if they have a device that’s 95% of what the iPhone 12 will be. If you struggle with wanting to go caseless but fear damaging it, see my video on going caseless.

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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