Hands-on with the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, iPhone XR, and Apple Watch Series 4 [Videos]

After Apple unveiled the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, iPhone XR, and Apple Watch Series 4 at Steve Jobs Theaters, members of the press were given time to go hands-on with the company’s latest products.

Head below for a roundup of early hands-on videos with the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, iPhone Xr, and Apple Watch Series 4.

Apple Watch Series 4

The Apple Watch Series 4 was the first device unveiled by Apple today. It includes a host of improvements over its predecessor, including an over 30 percent larger display, performance improvements, new health features, and more.

Here’s what Engadget had to say about the Apple Watch Series 4, highlighting the new Digital Crown with Haptic feedback:

More significant than the upgraded display, I think, is Apple’s revised approach to the Digital Crown, that small rotating knob on the upper-right side that has always been integral to the user experience. It now provides haptic feedback, which Apple claims will be especially useful for apps like Apple Music, where you’re likely to crave precision when scrolling through items in a list.

The Verge, meanwhile, says the new display makes the Series 3 look cramped in comparison:

The display looks great. It isn’t quite edge-to-edge, but it makes the Series 3 look pretty cramped. The colors are bright and vivid on a fully black background. And though I’m not a fan of the super busy new watchfaces, I could see people really getting into having more information on them.

Check out a roundup of Apple Watch Series 4 videos below:

iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max were the next products introduced by Apple at its ‘Gather round’ event today. iPhone Xs Max is a completely new form factor at 6.5-inches, while both devices include performance improvements thanks to the new A12 Bionic processor.

Mashable’s Pete Pachal describes the iPhone Xs Max as ‘impressively light’ in his hands-on:

The XS Max, for all its screen inches (6.5, the largest iPhone by far) and extreme-lifestyle-inspired branding, feels like an iPhone. It’s impressively light; the iPhone has generally gotten heavier the past couple of years as Apple has labored to make it more durable, so this is a thankful change in the opposite direction.

CNBC’s Todd Haselton says the iPhone Xs is a gorgeous phone, but says it’s a clear incremental update:

Holding it, though, it felt so much like the iPhone X that I already own that I’m not sure I’d upgrade. It will probably appeal to people who missed out on last year’s iPhone X, which Apple will stop selling, and it starts at the same price: $999. It’s a gorgeous phone, and I think people will love it, but it’s just an “S” incremental sort of upgrade from the iPhone X.

Check out a roundup of iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max videos below:

iPhone XR

Last but certainly not least, Apple unveiled the iPhone XR – a colorful new phone that serves as the cheapest 2018 iPhone available at a starting price of $749. Apple is able to keep the price down by using an LCD display, a single camera setup, and removing 3D Touch.

The Verge’s Nilay Patel writes that while there’s a ‘pretty prominent’ bezel around the screen. Despite this, he says it’s still one of the better LCD designs on the market:

It’s very nice — as nice as any previous iPhone LCD, which have always led the industry. Looking closely at the notch and the rounded corners, you can see the anti-aliasing tricks Apple had to do to make the technology work, but it all looks great in person. There’s a pretty prominent bezel all the way around. Other edge-to-edge LCD phones have a “chin,” but the larger bezel evens all that out. It’s clever, and it preserves the look of a full-screen phone.

TechCrunch’s Brian Heater says the iPhone XR feels ‘like less of an afterthought’ than the iPhone 8:

The XR feels like less of an afterthought, unlike the iPhone 8, which was hugely overshadowed by the iPhone X released alongside it. It looks and feels enough like the premium handset that, when coupled with the $250 price drop, it seems inevitable that Apple will sell a ton of the damn things.

Watch the early iPhone XR hands-on videos below:

Wrap up

What do you think of our first looks at the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and iPhone XR? Are you impressed, underwhelmed, or somewhere in the middle? Let us know down in the comments!

Read more about the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max in our full coverage right here, and more about the Apple Watch Series 4 here. Read our live blog of Apple’s September 2018 event and our news hub here.