The iPhone XR is the best budget iPhone you can buy this side of the ones that still rock a physical home key, but that glory comes with some unpleasant side effects. Namely, its large glass body is as expensive to repair or replace as the housing of the iPhone 8 Plus.
While not as unpleasant as the price of the "other" category in Apple's iPhone XS and XS Max repair pages, the $399 tag would still make you pause before you rock the XR without a case. The XS and XS Max were recently disassembled and found to sport a glass "unibody" design of sorts, meaning that the silicon offal has to be completely scraped out until one reaches to the casing.
Putting Humpty-Dumpty back together, and applying the necessary waterproofing seals to restore the new iPhones to specification thus costs a pretty penny, so make sure you use protection from day one unless you splurge for insurance.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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