Apple wins FCC clearance for iPhone XR in time for Oct. 19 preorders

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday granted its stamp of approval for the iPhone XR, which goes on sale in less than a month.

Until today Apple had been forced to include a disclaimer on the XR's product page. "iPhone XR has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. iPhone XR is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained," the text read.

The warning can still be found on the page, but Apple will presumably remove it in the near future.

The XR was generally expected to pass FCC scrutiny. Apple often waits as late as possible before getting regulatory approval though, a step which can help prevent leaks. The company will also frequently take advantage of secrecy options the FCC offers.

Preorders for the iPhone XR start Oct. 19 ahead of an Oct. 26 shipping date. The phone will share many of the features of the iPhone XS and XS Max, such as an A12 processor, Face ID, and an edge-to-edge display. It will however use a 6.1-inch LCD instead of OLED, and skip both 3D Touch and a second rear camera lens.

The tradeoff means the XR will start at $749, a full $250 less than the XS. Reports have suggested Apple expects the XR to be more popular as a result, making up 50 percent or more of new iPhone shipments.

6 Comments

robjn 8 Years · 283 comments

About 6 years ago

Although the XS has strong advantages over the XR, including true OLED blacks, HDR, optical zoom, higher pixel density, thinner, lighter, narrower bezels, etc - there are some good reasons for considering the XR.

Compared to XS, XR has
As much as 25% longer battery life.
Colors.
A 128GB option (if you need more than 64GB but don’t need 256GB this option makes the XR $350 cheaper!)
A bigger display that shows a little more content.
Symmetrical speaker grills and antenna lines.

seankill 15 Years · 566 comments

robjn said:

Although the XS has strong advantages over the XR, including true OLED blacks, HDR, optical zoom, higher pixel density, thinner, lighter, narrower bezels, etc - there are some good reasons for considering the XR.

Compared to XS, XR has
As much as 25% longer battery life.
Colors.
A 128GB option (if you need more than 64GB but don’t need 256GB this option makes the XR $350 cheaper!)
A bigger display that shows a little more content.
Symmetrical speaker grills and antenna lines.

If I wanted the screen size of the Xs and Xr, I would buy the Xr.
I will get the Xs Max when I decide to move on from the 7+

dewme 10 Years · 5775 comments

If Apple could have squeezed a 1920x1080 screen into the XR it would have been perfect. My 6 Plus was great to use with my Apple TV and 1080p HDTV because no scaling was required for mirroring. Using an iPad Pro with Apple TV and 1080p HDTV is far less enjoyable.

claire1 6 Years · 510 comments

dewme said:

If Apple could have squeezed a 1920x1080 screen into the XR it would have been perfect. My 6 Plus was great to use with my Apple TV and 1080p HDTV because no scaling was required for mirroring. Using an iPad Pro with Apple TV and 1080p HDTV is far less enjoyable.

Won't it play native 1080p over airplay? If not this is something Apple should fix.

claire1 said:

dewme said:

If Apple could have squeezed a 1920x1080 screen into the XR it would have been perfect. My 6 Plus was great to use with my Apple TV and 1080p HDTV because no scaling was required for mirroring. Using an iPad Pro with Apple TV and 1080p HDTV is far less enjoyable.

Won't it play native 1080p over airplay? If not this is something Apple should fix.

It probably does for playing media, but I’m talking screen mirroring, e.g., running Safari on your iPhone and seeing the same exact display without scaling on your Apple TV.