Apple iPhone 11: Does the good outweigh the bad?

The iPhone 11 debuted as Apple’s budget iPhone, much like the Samsung Galaxy S10e. To the fans’ surprise, the iPhone 11 was announced with a starting price of $699, which is decent by Apple’s standards.

But it isn’t the same in India, as the same phone will set you back at least Rs 15,000 more. So, at Rs 65K, we thought it’d be fair to ask whether or not the iPhone 11 delivers for its expensive price tag.

After looking at the key specs of the iPhone 11, let’s take a look at whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Display

The iPhone 11 gets a Retina LCD screen, which is easily one of the best-in-class LCD panels we’ve seen. However, we are at the Rs 65K price point here, and at this price, an OLED display is not an irrational demand.

Sure, you could say this is just Apple being Apple. But let’s say Samsung, Huawei, Google or OnePlus gave us an LCD panel at Rs 65K, the response would be swift and justifiably harsh. So, why give Apple a free pass?

Camera

Apple spent most of its iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max briefing talking about improved camera performance on the new iPhones. However, the iPhone 11 gets two cameras as opposed to three on the Pro models.

But those two cameras are pretty capable. The overall camera performance on the iPhone 11 is easily one of the best we’ve seen. There is really nothing to complain about in terms of overall camera performance, making it well-worth the Rs 64,900.

Performance

The iPhone 11 is equipped with the A13 Bionic chip, which is integrated with the fastest smartphone CPU and GPU. The A13 chip delivers the highest standards of performance in a smartphone while offering excellent power efficiency. Additionally, Apple also claims the A13 chipset delivers the best AI performance. Again, you simply can’t have any complaints about the processor.

Design

In terms of design, Apple should be doing better. The iPhone 11 looks more or less like an iPhone XR with two cameras. Moreover, the wide notch on the front seemed outdated in 2018.

Apple claims that the iPhone 11 can deliver an additional hour of battery life over the iPhone XR. However, battery size is much smaller as compared to other smartphones in this price range.

The iPhone 11 also offers only 64GB of storage at Rs 65K, and although there are higher storage configurations, they will cost you more. We could still give the battery a pass, but not the storage, a Rs 65K phone offering 64GB of storage is more-than unreasonable.

Verdict

In terms of performance and camera, the iPhone 11 is a definite winner; compromise is hardly in the picture. Then there’s the lacklustre display, limited storage, and dated design. No matter how many times we look at it, we keep coming back to that premium price.

At that premium price, you want a phone that doesn’t compromise on anything. However, in terms of whether or not the good outweighs the bad; our answer would have to be no.