Top 4 iPhone X Alternatives: What You’ll be Missing and Some Perks

Not looking to shell out $1400 for the flagship iPhone? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. There are plenty of affordable alternatives out there that bring you the latest tech, cool features, and the classy look.

iPhone XR

That’s an obvious alternative right? It belongs to the same 2018 lineup of iPhones and is as latest as it gets for a premium smartphone. It features the same powerful A12 Bionic chip as iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, advanced facial recognition, and the same camera sensor (XS sports dual sensors, while XR has just 1).

Of course, iPhone XR’s substantially lower price tag does come with some tradeoffs. It features an LCD screen with a resolution of just 720p and packs only 3GB of RAM, which quite frankly should be more than enough for most users, especially enterprise users.

Pixel 3

If you are not big on the whole iOS thing, then you have an excellent choice before you in the form of Google’s Pixel 3. Google and Apple have very different approaches to what constitutes a premium phone, and their devices are great in their own way. When it comes to performance, iPhone XS fares better than Pixel 3. However, Pixel 3’s graphics performance is significantly superior. Pixel 3 sports a brilliant OLED screen and the colors are fantastic too. The camera is on par with that of iPhone XS on many fronts and perhaps even better at low-light photography. The one thing that you might miss in Pixel 3 is the 3D facial recognition. Apart from that, it’s a capable alternative to the top end flagship iPhones.

iPhone 7 Plus

At just three generations old, iPhone 7 Plus continues to be a snappy phone. The continued OS upgrades from Apple mean that you’ll get to experience the latest iOS on your device even for a few more years. Whether you are looking for security updates, latest software features, or performance upgrades, Apple has you covered. Also, you get full HD resolution screen, albeit a slightly older one.

Of course, you’ll be on an A10 Bionic quad processor and an LCD screen, instead of an OLED display of iPhone XS. And miss out on the facial recognition.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Another worthy addition from the Android ecosystem, is the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. It’s  all your big screen fantasies come true. At 6.4-inch, Galaxy Note 9’s screen is slightly smaller than that of iPhone XS, but the bezels give the Note 9 a large form. The display is superior to that of XS, although the overall performance favors the XS. When it comes to graphics performance, Note 9 is a clear winner.

On the other hand, the camera on iPhone XS is a notch ahead. Note 9 also comes with dual pane view, stylus, and face recognition capabilities. The latter is not as accurate as that on iPhone XS. One area where Galaxy Note 9 wins hands down is in terms of battery. With 4,000 mAh battery, it offers an impressive life between successive charges.

Galaxy Note 9 does feel quite premium in the hands, except for the eyesore of a fingerprint scanner on the back.

So many choices! All of these alternatives cost only a fraction of what the iPhone XS series devices cost and the tradeoff may not be significant for most of us.