About iPhone 11Pro

Design

The iPhone 11 Pro isn't here to wow you with an incredibly different design; it looks nearly identical to the iPhone XS before it and the iPhone X before that.

There is, however, a new frosted matte finish on back, which provides a subtle, but likable change from the ultra-smooth reflective glass we're used to seeing on iPhones. We found it to be a bit easier to grip the phone and hide smudges. It's the best-looking iPhone we've tested to date.

It's an upgrade that'll make you think twice about needing an iPhone case, especially if you have the iPhone 11 Pro in Midnight Green. That's this year's hot new color that shows off the fact that you do indeed have the new iPhone for 2019. Apple's plastic clear case may be the best solution for that. Other colors include Space Grey, Silver, and Gold, and all look different from prior iPhones thanks to the matte finish.

Is the TrueDepth camera notch still here? Yes. Does the rear triple-lens camera look funky? Also yes. But if this is your first nearly all-screen iPhone, know that it's easy to ignore the notch screen cutout, as much as we'd like it to go away, and we'd rather have a triple-lens camera eyesore (it's not that bad, really) in exchange for much better photos.

Display

Even with the unchanged 5.8-inch screen size, the iPhone 11 Pro display has been re-worked to be brighter, and it's noticeable when viewing the phone outdoors in sunny conditions. Its maximum brightness reaches 800 nits with normal content onscreen.

That's taken to another level when viewing HDR video content, with Apple claiming a max brightness of 1200 nits. Its returning support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 video is best viewed at 100% brightness. Watching an iTunes movie revealed new detail while maintaining deep black colors in scenes.

While Dolby Vision and HDR10 have been supported since the iPhone X, the library of HDR content has grown in the last two years. We're also treated to Dolby Atmos sound on the iPhone 11 Pro, simulating surround sound from the stereo speakers. This is great for those rare times you're not using your AirPods.

The larger iPhone 11 Pro Max offers a better viewing experience at 6.5 inches, which is also a 'Super Retina XDR display,' but there's something to be said about the one-hand-friendly 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro (the new small). We enjoyed being able to reach all corners of the screen with ease.

iOS 13 and performance

We've gone into great detail about iOS 13 features on our explainer page, and a lot of the changes are consistent on the iPhone 11 Pro, save for the extra camera app functionality on the new iPhones.

The standout tweak is Dark Mode, which inverts interface colors to tone down on the bright white and light gray themes in exchange for black and dark gray menu hues. It's a convincing reason to finally upgrade your iPhone if you're stuck on the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, which won't get updated beyond iOS 12.4.1.

Photo editing tools are far superior, the QuickPath keyboard allows you to trace out words without lifting a finger, the Reminders app has been overhauled, and the Find My app is a worthy combination of Find My iPhone and Find My Friends. Everything is wholly better, even if 3D Touch peek-and-pop hard presses have been replaced by more generic long presses. You'll get used to that.

Apple's A13 Bionic chipset makes unsurprising gains, offering performance you won't find on Android phones. Every new phone is snappy in the beginning, sure, but we found video editing and exporting to be noticeably faster on the iPhone 11 Pro.

We did notice some slowdown in booting up the camera app – although it could be an iOS 13 problem more than an issue with the A13's performance. Our Geekbench 5 benchmarking score tells us that it's the fastest phone around along with the iPhone 11 Pro Max, with a multi-core score of 3,431.

Battery

The iPhone 11 Pro battery consistently lasted us more than a day during our testing, often stretching close to a day and a half, even with heavy use. When enabled, the iOS 13 low-power mode really extends the life of this battery.

Apple claimed that the iPhone 11 Pro can last four hours longer than the iPhone XS, and true enough, we did see a noticeable increase over last year's 5.8-inch phone. But the bigger the phone, the larger the battery Apple is able to fit in; the 6.1-inch iPhone 11 and 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max lasted longer.

We made a conscious decision last year to favor the iPhone XS Max for its battery life over the iPhone XS, but that's not as big of a deal here. Apple eliminated 3D Touch to fit in a bigger battery and the new display has more efficiency, so we're able to recommend this smaller iPhone to power users without hesitation.

The fact that the 18W charger and lightning-to-USB-C cable are included in the box is a big deal. Our iPhone 11 Pro went from 0% to over 50% in 30 minutes, whereas the old 5W charger, which hung around for far too long, took forever to reach this point. 

We're still dealing with slow 7.5W wireless charging speeds, and the rumored reverse wireless charging feature never panned out as a way to charge your Apple Watch or AirPods from the back of the iPhone 11 Pro. There's always hope for the iPhone 12.