Should You Buy an iPhone 11 in 2021?
The iPhone 11 came out in September 2019, with the iPhone 11 Pro. Like the iPhone XR before it, it has a 6.1-inch LCD and a variety of colors. A few months into 2021, with the iPhone 12 line out, is the 18-month-old iPhone 11 worth buying?
I haven’t used it much: I bought an iPhone 11 Pro on launch day and used it until the iPhone 12 line. I have this iPhone 11 because I got it at half off through a carrier and used it as the main camera for my videos for about six months. My primary phone lately has been the iPhone 12 mini, but I came across the 11 while cleaning up and used it for a week: restored from backup, swapped my SIM. And it’s really good. After the first day, I couldn’t tell I was using a previous-generation device: it just feels like an iPhone. The big size difference from the 12 mini was my biggest hurdle, but day-to-day use is pretty much the same as the iPhone 12 for much less money.
The display (the one downgrade)
A 6.1-inch LCD at 1792 by 828, 326 ppi. The iPhone 12 line has at least 460 ppi, a noticeably sharper look with crisper text (to some people). LCD contrast isn’t as good as OLED, where blacks are actually black versus an LED backlight, and there’s a weird haze or blur aberration around the screen’s edges that rubs me wrong. But after the first day of using it as my only phone, I didn’t notice the lower resolution, contrast or edge distortion in normal use (browsing, YouTube, banking, a quick game), unless you hold an OLED iPhone next to it and look at pixels. Otherwise, it has everything the 12 has except HDR: True Tone, P3 wide color and the same typical 625 nits brightness.
Performance
The A13 is a six-core processor with a 4-core GPU, and everything (opening apps, multitasking, FPS games, editing video) is as fast and fluid as you’d expect from a brand new phone in 2021. A difference from the iPhone 12 shows up in benchmarks, but not in real-world use.
Cameras
Still fantastic, with no qualifiers: a wide and ultra wide camera, Night mode, Deep Fusion and fantastic HDR with lots of detail, color and dynamic range indoors and out. Side by side with the iPhone 12, it’s hard to say one is better; I noticed the 12 had a bit warmer color, and both did a bad job at low-light portraits.
Battery
Good. The iPhone XR set a great example with 16 hours of video playback, beating the XS and XS Max; the 11 gets up to 17 hours in Apple’s test, which doesn’t translate to the real world either. For me, it lasts a full day of heavy use (browsing, email, calendar, Teams calls, Twitter, YouTube Studio, a few videos, trying new apps) with 10 to 20% left at bedtime.
Design
Compared with the regular iPhone 12, the 11 is ever so slightly heavier, wider and taller. It’s pretty much the iPhone X’s 2017 design: rounded sides, glass front and back, the same button and speaker placement and the notch. Nothing is fundamentally wrong: it’s still a premium look and feel with the classic iPhone weight balance. If I could change anything (besides flattening the edges like the 12), it would be the colors: the XR’s were punchy with character (especially the blue and red), while the 11’s are more muted and pastel, though a case will cover them anyway.
I use the ORNARTO liquid silicone case: very much like the Apple Silicone Case, which falls apart easily on the iPhone 11, so I’d recommend spending $14 instead of $40. For the screen, the iCarez matte screen protectors, which reduce glare and fingerprints, are easy to clean, and I’ve put them on almost all my devices.
5G
I don’t think you should buy a phone, or pay more for one, just because it has 5G. For most people it has zero benefit over LTE, and because of the different 5G bands you may even get slower speeds. The fastest millimeter-wave 5G requires a specific spot, a specific distance from a tower and no obstructions. Unless you need to download a full season of a show in a hurry, it doesn’t matter yet and won’t for a few years, so I don’t see lacking 5G as a problem.
Software support
iOS 14 supports all iPhones back to the iPhone 6s (2015), which means the 6s has received five major iOS updates. You can reasonably assume the iPhone 11 will get as many or more, giving you at least 4 to 5 more years of support if you buy now.
Price
New from Apple, the iPhone 11 is $600, $200 less than the 12, with performance, cameras, features and battery mostly matching: you just don’t get OLED. You can beat that with Apple refurbished: I saw an upgraded 128 GB model for $550 that day. I recommend buying refurbished from Apple (basically a new device including battery and case, with a full warranty), though you have to watch the inventory, which changes frequently.
Verdict
Absolutely worth it in 2021, whether your budget is tight, you don’t care about the latest and greatest, or you don’t like the iPhone 12’s flat design. The A13, long-lived support, near-flagship camera and battery performance and a design that still works make it an easy recommendation. Would the 11 work for you, or must you have the latest and greatest like me? You can see how I used the iPhone 11 as my main video camera in my video on that.
Links
- If this was helpful I have a tip jar
- iPhone 11
- ORNARTO Liquid Silicone Case
- iCarez Matte Screen Protector
- Apple Silicone Case
- Sony A6400
- Primary Lens Sigma f1.4 16mm
- Secondary Lens Sony f2.8 16-55MM G
- Sennheiser MKH-416 mic
- Zoom F6 recorder
- Rode VideoMic NTG
- iPad Pro 12.9
- Used DJI OSMO 3 Gimbal for some shots
- Tascam DR-10L Audio Recorder with Lav
In this video
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.
