As we saw with Apple’s expo earlier this month, the naming strategy behind iPhones has been thrown out the window. We completely skipped the iPhone 9, and instead got three new version of the iPhone X where the X isn’t really an X, but is a 10. So, why did they throw an R into the equation? Let’s go back to studying the alphabet to figure out just what Apple was going for here.
So the last time Apple revealed what a letter meant in an iPhone’s name was when the 3GS in 2009. In this example, the S stood for speed because it was the fastest iteration of the model on the market at the time. So does the R mean that the iPhone XR is the “rarest” or “realest” iPhone? Actually, no.
It’s being speculated that the only reason the name XR was chose was because R is the letter that precedes S in the alphabet. And if you think about it, this is a perfect marketing strategy. Not only does XR look cool, but the name 10R is easy to remember and slides off the tongue perfectly. Additionally, it’s a lower quality and less expensive version of the XS, so its almost like Apple acknowledged the step backwards they were taking and named the phone accordingly.
