Facebook finally optimizes apps for iPhone XS Max, XR, and iPad Pros

It’s taken them a few months but it’s finally here. Facebook has updated its iOS apps to support the higher resolutions of the bigger iPhone XS Max and XR as well as the newest 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. The iPhone versions now run at their native resolutions, instead of having to use a scaled up version of the iPhone XS app. For the iPad version, the black bars that the app used to show are now gone. But as The Verge notes, the usable space of the app is still the same on the iPad.

Apple iPhone XR benchmarks show near identical performance to the iPhone XS

Benchmarks are not the be-all and end-all for determining if a phone is worth your time. But it does set some expectations. And all signs point to a positive experience with the more affordable iPhone XR. Packing the same A12 Bionic chip as the iPhone XS, it’s expected the performance was going to be similar. Macworld just shared the benchmark results and it shows that it gets the same performance but from last year’s iPhone X. It even tops the GPU test, which most likely comes from the fewer pixels the phone has to push. It’s also supposedly said to have better battery performance, even when compared to the iPhone 7 Plus (which has roughly the same display size and exact same battery).

Looks like Apple will sell a clear case for the iPhone XR

With a glass back and the more eye-catching colour options for the iPhone XR, it makes sense that Apple would want to sell a clear case for the phone. As spotted on the official press release on Apple’s Canadian Newsroom, a clear case will go on sale for CA$55. You can see it in the marketing image 9to5Mac has gotten a hold of above. Whether this will be released alongside the phone, we can’t say at the moment. But the phone will be on pre-order starting Friday, October 19, and will come to stores on the following Friday, October 26.

Apple welcomes ‘entry-level’ iPhone Xr

Entry-level might be a contentious term to call an iPhone but the new iPhone XR definitely the cheapest one you can get from the new iPhones that Apple just launched a few hours ago. Pricing starts at $1,029 for the 64GB version and it goes up to $1,239 for the 256GB model (you get a $1,099 128GB model, too). This cheaper iPhone model doesn’t scrimp much on the specs. You still get a large 6.1-inch display packed into the form factor of the iPhone 8 Plus’s 5.5-inch frame. Its battery life is said to last an hour and a half more than the 8 Plus’s. And it even uses Apple’s new 7-nanometer A12 Bionic chip, which powers the more expensive XS and XS Max. It also features the design last year’s iPhone X made popular: a notched, almost-bezel-less screen. But this time it comes in more eye-catching colors: White, Black, Blue, Yellow, Coral, and a (PRODUCT)RED version. It will also support a dual SIM setup through nano and eSIM combo and run on iOS 12.

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