The iPhone 11 Pro's three lenses thrilled critics and unsettled trypophobes
Apple's first iPhone to carry the Pro label arrived in September 2019 with a square bump holding three 12-megapixel cameras. Reviewers called the camera the big upgrade; some people with trypophobia said the clustered lenses made them uneasy. It also became one of the longest supported iPhones, reaching iOS 27.
Tim Cook unveiled the 11 Pro and the larger 11 Pro Max on September 10, 2019, at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, at the first Apple event streamed live on YouTube. Codenamed D42 and D43 during development, they had leaked in detail months earlier, though a widely rumoured reverse wireless charging feature never appeared. Prices started at 999 dollars and 1,099 dollars, sales began on September 20, and Apple pulled them from its store on October 13, 2020, after the iPhone 12 Pro launch.
The camera array paired an ultra-wide lens with a 120 degree field of view, a standard wide lens and a telephoto with 2x optical zoom, plus an automatic Night Mode for low light. The front camera added 120 frames-per-second slow motion, marketed as slofies. DXOMARK scored the phone 117, tying it with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus for second place on its camera ranking. Inside sat the A13 Bionic chip, 4 GB of RAM and a choice of 64, 256 or 512 GB of storage, with IP68 resistance rated for 30 minutes at 4 metres.
Batteries grew modestly over the XS generation and the displays were OLED panels that Apple branded Super Retina XDR, at 458 pixels per inch. It was the first iPhone generation to ship with a Lightning to USB-C cable and the only one to include an 18-watt fast charger in the box. A new Midnight Green finish joined the palette, and the glass back switched to a frosted matte texture with a centred logo.
Critics praised the camera, screen and battery life but found the design too close to the XS. Apple estimates the 11 Pro's carbon footprint at 80 kilograms of CO2 equivalent, with 83 percent coming from manufacturing and raw materials. Repairs with non-Apple batteries or screens trigger on-screen warnings nudging owners towards certified technicians, even when the parts work.
Source: IPhone 11 Pro
