Longer battery life
Apple has significantly increased battery life in its new phones. At the time of writing we do not know whether it is larger batteries, more power-efficient hardware or a combination of both that provides the improvement.
- iPhone 11 has one hour more battery life compared with the iPhone XR
- iPhone 11 Pro has four hours longer battery life than the iPhone XS
- iPhone 11 Pro Max has five hours longer battery life than the iPhone XS Max
Water-resistant design, WiFi 6 and improved Face ID
Among the more understated improvements are better water and dust resistance, support for WiFi 6, an included fast charger and improved Face ID technology.
IP68: The new models have a slightly better IP rating compared with last year’s iPhone models. The iPhone 11 series is IP68-rated instead of the previous IP67. That means the phones withstand 30 minutes at two metres depth. It is not something we recommend you try, but you can feel a bit more secure in heavy rain or if you drop your phone in the bathtub.
WiFi 6: With support for WiFi 6 (802.11ax) the new iPhone 11 models can take advantage of the benefits offered by the newer and more powerful WiFi 6 routers on the market. The technology is still new and is available in only a small number of router products. When you use an iPhone 11 with a WiFi 6 router you get higher performance, better security and lower power consumption than with older routers.
Fast charger: A fast charger is finally included, but only if you get an iPhone 11 Pro or 11 Pro Max. The more expensive models come with a faster 18W charger while the iPhone 11 instead gets the usual 5W charger that older models had in the box.
Face ID: Face recognition with Face ID has improved with support for recognition from wider angles. This makes it easier to use Face ID even when you are positioned further towards the edge of the camera’s field of view.
Dolby Atmos: All three models support the Dolby Atmos audio format. It is a high-resolution audio format that normally requires extra speakers in a home cinema system to create added height and depth in the sound. According to Dolby, Atmos on phones should give extra dynamics in audio and make dialogue easier to discern. You will never get a true Atmos feeling from a phone, but it is a welcome addition nonetheless.