Reviews - Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Apple’s latest flagship phone is fast, chock-full of new features and has an unbelievably good set of cameras

- Jonathan Bray

Hands up: I was wrong about the iPhone 11 Pro. Or at least, the design. When I first saw it, I instinctively took against the look of the thing. That trio of camera lenses appeared awkward – ugly even – and they didn’t do much for my mild trypophobia, either.

Now I have one in my hands, however, my opinion has softened. The square camera bump isn’t quite as prominent as I first assumed it would be, and the fact it’s part of the same piece of glass – just with a different finish to the rest of the rear panel – is actually rather clever.

Jony Ive’s influence can still be seen, hidden in the fine details. Each camera lens is framed boldly in stainless steel, seemingly perfectly positioned in space, each one equidistant from the other.

But it’s the rest of the iPhone 11 Pro’s glass rear that proves ultimately persuasive: its matte finish has a silky texture that feels like beach glass, ground smooth by years of tidal shift.

Meet the models

While I concentrate on the iPhone 11 Pro here, it’s but one of three new iPhones. They all use Apple’s new A13 Bionic chip, but the plain iPhone 11 makes do with 4GB of RAM to its siblings’ 6GB. It also has a slightly smaller battery than the iPhone 11 Pro, but the big physical difference is its screen size and resolution: it uses a cheaper 6.1in IPS screen with a 828 x 1,792 resolution. It also has two rear cameras rather than three.

The 11 Pro Max has an identical specification to the 11 Pro, but a larger 6.5in AMOLED screen with a boosted 1,242 x 2,688 resolution. To help power it, Apple includes a 3,500mAh battery (versus 3,190mAh for the Pro and 3,110mAh for the plain 11).

As such, think of the 11 Pro Max as a super-sized version of the 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 as the more affordable option for people who can live without the camera’s new tricks.