Apple unveils iPhone 11 Pro

In addition to the iPhone 11, Apple on Tuesday unveiled the iPhone 11 Pro. This is the first handset Apple has ever labeled a ‘Pro’ product, and it believes it has the features to justify the name.

Display

The new iPhone 11 Pro comes in a slew of new colors, midnight green, space grey, silver and a new gold colorway. The display is of the Super Retina OLED variant, with 2 million to 1 contrast and 1200 nits of brightness. The panel of the smaller Pro model measures 5.8-inches, while the larger Pro Max has a massive 6.5-inch screen.

The new Super Retina XDR display, a custom-designed OLED, provides users an immersive HDR viewing experience for movies and other high-definition video with up to 1,200 nits brightness. Super Retina XDR features wide color support with system-wide color management and True Tone to offer a more natural viewing experience. With a 2 million-to-one contrast ratio with true blacks, pro users can enjoy a more vivid viewing experience for HDR videos and photos, and the Super Retina XDR display is even more power efficient.

Processor

The iPhone 11 Pro features the A13 Bionic (yes the same one in the iPhone 11), and Apple says it features up to 20 percent faster CPU and GPU than A12. A13 Bionic is built for machine learning, with a faster Neural Engine for real-time photo and video analysis, and new Machine Learning Accelerators that allow the CPU to deliver more than 1 trillion operations per second.

Cameras

As you can see in the above photos, the Pro model features 3 camera lenses: a 12MP wide camera w/ 26mm f/18, a 12MP telephoto w/ 52mm focal length and larger f/2.9, and a 12MP ultra-wide with 13mm f/2.4. There’s also a new feature coming in a software update called Deep Fusion, which uses Machine Learning to take low-light photos with great detail. The demo photos look incredible, and Phil refers to it as “computational photography mad science.”

Battery Life

Battery life is another major area of improvement for the iPhone 11 Pro. Apple says it offers 4 more hours of battery life than the current iPhone XS and the Max offers an extra hour (so 5 more hours of battery life than iPhone XS). SVP Phil Schiller also adds that, for the first time, Apple will be including its faster 18W charger in the box.

Additional Features

  • iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max feature the toughest glass ever in a smartphone and are rated IP68 for water resistance up to 4 meters for up to 30 minutes
  • The new Apple-designed U1 chip uses Ultra Wideband technology, the first ever in a smartphone, for spatial awareness. With iOS 13.1 coming on September 30, AirDrop gets even better with directionally aware suggestions.
  • Face ID, the most secure facial authentication in a smartphone, gets up to 30 percent faster and easier to use with improved performance at varying distances and support for more angles.
  • Spatial audio provides an immersive surround sound experience and Dolby Atmos delivers powerful, moving audio to iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
  • Gigabit-class LTE up to 1.6Gbps and Wi-Fi 6 allow for even faster download speeds and Dual SIM with eSIM.

Availability

The iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999, and the larger iPhone 11 Pro Max starts at $1099. You can pre-order them starting Friday at 5am PT, and they start shipping September 20. Apple is also keeping around the iPhone XR for $599, and of course there’s the iPhone 11 in the middle, which starts at $699.