Phil Schiller explains thinking behind new XR and XS iPhone names
Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple has given a glimpse into the thinking behind the ‘XR’ and ‘XS’ suffixes on the company’s new iPhone models, revealing ‘XR’ and ‘XS’ don’t actually have any secret meaning behind them, though that didn’t stop Schiller from sharing his own personal take on what the suffixes mean to him.
Within an interview with Engadget ahead of the in-store launch of the iPhone XR next week, Schiller also discussed Apple’s naming and choice of a ‘720p’ screen resolution on the low-cost iPhone model which has been causing a stir within with Apple community.
Schiller said that to him, the XR and XS suffixes on the new iPhone XR and iPhone XS make him think of the automotive industry in which R and S are used on sport cars.
I love cars and things that go fast, and R and S are both letters used to denote sport cars that are really extra special” – Phil said with a smile.
Moving onto screen resolution, Schiller defended Apple’s decision to use what some class as an ‘outdated’ display, claiming that iPhone XR has a greater than 300 PPI display saying that the human eye is hardly able to see individual pixels at normal viewing angles.
“I think the only way to judge a display is to look at it,” – According to Schiller, Apple calls these screens “retina displays” because your eye can’t discern individual pixels unless you press your face up right against the glass. “If you can’t see the pixels, at some point the numbers don’t mean anything. They’re fairly arbitrary.” And when asked if the screen was to blame for the XR’s staggered release, he simply said, “This is when it’s ready.”