Apple is upgrading the fleet of iPhones it loans out during extended repair periods from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone XR.
Commencing November 4, Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers will apparently start offering the iPhone XR as a loan option when you send your device in to be fixed. The news comes via one of Apple’s internal memos, which has been seen by MacRumors.
The memo mentions that this shift will take place in the US and “other select regions”, though it’s unclear precisely which regions that will entail.
This marks a small but significant upgrade from the iPhone 8 that Apple’s repair specialists will currently send you. The iPhone XR is a generational leap over that phone, with a faster Apple A12 Bionic chip vs the iPhone 8’s A11.
More meaningfully, the iPhone XR represents a big step toward Apple’s more modern design approach. It’s got the current Face ID notch in place of the iPhone 8’s older Touch ID home button, as well as the accompanying reduction in bezel size.
It also packs a much larger 6.1-inch display, much like the iPhone 13, though without the newer phone’s sharp resolution and AMOLED panel technology.
The single 12MP camera is pretty similar, if not identical, across both devices, though of course that bump up in processing power brings its own photographic benefits.
It might only be a minor year-on-year bump, then, but you’ll soon be getting a much more familiar experience the next time you have to send your iPhone in for an extended visit to the repair shop.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
