While the iPhone XR is at least $250 cheaper than any version of the iPhone XS, testing by an electronics insurance company shows that the display is just as resistant to breakage during a drop.
This is what happens to an iPhone XR dropped on a sidewalk.
The XR's LCD cracked on the first drop from 6 feet onto a sidewalk, becoming unusable, phone insurance firm SquareTrade said in a test video published on Monday. That result is identical to the OLED panel on the iPhone XS.
Both phones saw their back glass shatter under similar drops.
The video additionally shows a bend test for the XR, revealing that it takes about 260 pounds of pressure to flex the phone's metal chassis. That should prevent any "bendgate" problems as with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, though people should still avoid putting the phone in their back pocket in case they sit down.
SquareTrade's tests suggest that Apple's only real compromises with the XR are in features. Aside from the use of LCD, the XR has 3 gigabytes of RAM instead of 4, no 3D Touch, and a single-lens rear camera. The iPhone XS and iPhone XR share A12 processors, Face ID, edge-to-edge displays, and other technologies.