iPhone XR Liquid Retina display is Apple's most advanced LCD screen ever, here's why

published 13 September 2018

The Apple iPhone XR is official, bringing the company's first ever notch display with an LCD screen it calls the Liquid Retina. Apple also calls this "the most advanced LCD ever in a smartphone". Want to know why?

How can Apple claim that this is an LCD screen that outdoes that of all other smartphones? This, it says, is thanks to the Liquid Retina specs which gives an iPhone Xs style notch display experience on a more affordable LCD screen.

The iPhone XR Liquid Retina is a 6.1-inch panel that crams in 1.4 million pixels at 326 ppi for a 1792 x 828 resolution. This means it gives you a larger screen than the iPhone 8 Plus in a smaller build, says Apple.

Beyond that is where it gets really smart. A tap to wake function brings Apple up to speed with the Android competition. But its 120Hz touch-sensing, iOS systemwide colour management, "best colour accuracy, wide colour support" and True Tone display should all add up to an eye-watering display.

While Apple has done away with 3D Touch on this model there is still Haptic Touch, as Apple calls it, for touch sensitivity. A bit like what's found in the trackpad of a MacBook Pro. That essentially means you can press harder for different types of selection options.

All in all that should mean a screen you can look at and love the quality and size of, in a tight form factor, all while saving you money. What's not to love?

Luke is a former freelance writer for T3 with over two decades of experience covering tech, science and health. Among many others Luke wrote about health tech, software and apps, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and plenty more. In his free time, Luke used to climb mountains, swim outside and contort his body into silly positions while breathing as calmly as possible.