Each year, Apple CEO Tim Cook calls a next-generation iPhones a best ever made.

The company’s 2018 lineup, privately a iPhone XS and XS Max, delivers on that promise: They’re a smartest, fastest, best iPhones we’ve seen to date.

But during this point, shopping an updated iPhone is like removing a new Ferrari — you’ll find a faster engine, a new cloak of paint, and a few new bells and whistles, though underneath all that it’s still basically a same automobile we could have bought final year. And only like that new Ferrari, these new iPhones are going to cost we a lot of money.

The 5.8-inch iPhone XS, due in stores on Friday, starts during $999. Its 6.5-inch large sister, a iPhone XS Max, that launches on a same day, costs $100 more. Want a entirely souped-up Max, with 512 GB of storage? That’ll cost we $1,449. The “affordable” iPhone XR ($749) ships subsequent month.

All of this is a lot to compensate for a mostly incremental upgrade, generally now that upgrading isn’t always necessary, given iPhones reason adult so most softened than they used to.

That doesn’t meant we shouldn’t buy one. The XS and XS Max are estimable upgrades with considerable features. Whether or not possibly indication is for we is adult to your needs — and, some-more importantly, your budget.

Note: If you’ve been reading this as a “X” S and “X” Max, tell your eyes to stop. It’s a iPhone 10S and 10S Max. Don’t worry, we’ve been observant it wrong all week, too.

What to design with a iPhone XS and XS Max

The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max’s internals are scarcely identical: With each, we get a 12 megapixel camera, better-sounding speakers and a ability to container dual SIM cards into one device — a plain perk for general travelers or people who have to switch between a device for work and one for personal use.

The phones come with Apple’s new A12 bionic chip, that helps energy formidable protracted existence apps and what creates Face ID and games bucket faster. Apple played adult a speed of these new phones during a product announcement, and they are fast. But so were a models before them.

Both models underline beautiful OLED screens that make examination videos, generally on a XS Max, totally immersive.

Battery life is also softened on both devices. Apple (AAPL) says we can fist about 30 mins longer on a XS compared to final year’s X, and 90 mins longer on a Max. It’s not a diversion changer, though we’ll take any additional mins we can get.

There is one vital disproportion between a iPhone XS and XS Max: size. The Max is undoubtedly big, though it’s technically a same distance as a iPhone 8 Plus. The edge-to-edge shade creates a apparition a device itself is 21% incomparable than a predecessor, though it’ll fit in your hands only as simply (or not) as comparison Plus models.

But it’s tough to shake a feeling that a device is large only to be big. Unlike a Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy Note or a iPad, a XS Max doesn’t support many facilities tailored for bigger screens, such as another quarrel of apps or a corresponding arrangement that lets we use dual apps during once. It’s a missed opportunity.

The genuine star of a new models is a camera. A new underline called Smart HDR shoots a four-frame aegis taken during opposite exposures and settings and blends them together to emanate some-more minute shots — identical to an existent underline on a Google Pixel 2.

But a expected fan favorite underline is a change to a iPhone’s Portrait Mode that lets we change a abyss of a print after we take it, permitting we to have some-more artistic control. For example, we can snap a shot of a crony on a beach and fuzz a credentials for an artsy feel. If we confirm after we wish to see some-more of a ocean, we can adjust a credentials around a revise button.

It’s an impressively-executed feature, though a formula also count on your print skills and a lighting. When it’s good, it’s unequivocally good. When it’s not, you’ll still get a decent-looking picture. The Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy S9 offer a identical feature, too.

The XS and XS Max come with headphones, though distinct final year, we won’t find an adapter enclosed in a box. This means you’ll need to spend $9 some-more for a dongle if we wish to use an aged span of headphones. It’s Apple’s approach of observant it’s finally time to get over a fact there’s no longer a headphone jack.

Should we buy an iPhone XS or XS Max?

It might be tough to hang your mind around spending scarcely a grand or some-more on a new iPhone. Although Apple sensitively dropped some of a lower-cost devices, including a iPhone 6S, iPhone SE and a iPhone X, it still sells dual comparison models — iPhone 7 ($449) and a iPhone 8 ($599) — during cheaper cost points, if we wish a deputy device but splurging for a XS line.

If you’re not in a marketplace for another iPhone, can’t means one or only can’t move yourself to spend a money, cruise upgrading your existent program to iOS 12 to make it feel new again. Try a buzzy new Screen Time tool, that logs only how spooky we are with your iPhone. (It took me reduction than dual hours to comprehend we entrance apps like Instagram approach too much.) The underline also lets we set timers for how prolonged we wish to use certain apps.

But not all iOS 12 facilities interpret to comparison models. Memoji, an charcterised emoji animation we can customize to demeanour like you, requires users to entrance an iPhone with Face ID to emanate and send one to a friend.

If you’re on a fence, cruise a iPhone XS or XS Max as a several-year investment. After all, we’re relocating divided from a two-year deputy cycle as these inclination get some-more durable. It’s a large reason because Apple can clear a aloft cost tags.

Correction: An progressing chronicle of this essay wrongly reported a cost of a iPhone XR.