"If we're going to push the upper boundaries with XS and XS Max to make something the best, how do we make something that's more affordable for a larger audience? To make the overall iPhone audience even larger? What choices can we make and still make it a phone that people can hold and say, 'I have the best too'?"

Those were the questions Apple grappled with while developing the XR, according to Schiller. The company's answers came in many parts, some more straightforward than others.

The XR was meant to provide the best performance possible, so the company packed one of its new A12 Bionic chipsets inside. This is the same sliver of silicon that powers the iPhone XS and XS Max, and when I reviewed those earlier this year, I said the level of power the chipset provided made those phones all but future proof. To offer the same kind of performance for significantly less money than its flagship phones is a new -- and surprising -- move for Apple, but one that makes the XR a tantalizing option for upgraders and newcomers alike.

iPhones are among the most widely used cameras in the world, so Apple transplanted the iPhone XS' excellent 12-megapixel wide-angle camera into the XR's body and augmented it with a dose of machine learning for better dynamic range and portrait shots. Since there's no room for a fingerprint sensor up front anymore, there's a Face ID sensor array at the top of the device. And you guessed it: That's the same Face ID setup as on the XS and XS Max, another way the lines among all of these phones gets a bit fuzzy. In fact, it might be easier to run through some of the notable features the XR doesn't share with its siblings: There's no second telephoto camera and no pressure-sensitive 3D Touch technology in the screen.

Before any of that, though, you'll notice the iPhone XR's new body. It's a little bigger in dimension than the iPhone XS, and you won't find any stainless steel here -- just glass, aerospace-grade aluminum and a lot of color. The colors on offer -- black, white, blue, yellow, coral and red -- are beautiful, but the XR's physical dimensions themselves are a little unusual. Plenty of people have told me the 5.8-inch screen on the XS can feel a little small, and the XS Max's 6.5-inch whopper of a display is overkill for people with smaller hands. With the XR, though, Schiller said the team hit the sweet spot and made "the one size of iPhone XR that can appeal to the widest number of people." It seems a little odd, then, that Apple wouldn't try to produce a premium smartphone this size; alas, maybe next year.

At least with respect to the first point, Schiller believes this is a case of what's on paper not doing justice to reality. "I think the only way to judge a display is to look at it," he told me, adding that 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."

"If you can't see the pixels, at some point the numbers don't mean anything."

I didn't expect Schiller to tackle those supply-chain reports, but he has a point about the quality of the screen. After using an iPhone XR in the packed demo room outside the Steve Jobs Theater earlier this year, I honestly couldn't find much to complain about. If I took my glasses off and really got in close, I could make out individual pixels, but then again, my job is to be sort of a snob about these things. Here's the thing: The XR's screen packs as many pixels into each linear inch as every non-Plus iPhone from the 4 through the 8. Apple's displays have gotten more impressive since those days, certainly, but we're still working with a great display here. For the vast majority of people out there, it's far more than merely "good enough."

And really, "far more than good enough" feels like the XR's unofficial credo. From its processor to its camera to even that contentious screen, this is a device that can feel remarkably premium without the requisite price tag. The thing to remember, though, is that the iPhone XR doesn't exist in a vacuum.

"We don't think about categories," he said. "We think the iPhone X technology and experience is something really wonderful, and we want to get it to as many people as possible, and we want to do it in a way that still makes it the best phone."

The jury is still out on whether the iPhone XR is "the best phone" Schiller describes, but it's easy to see how valuable a device like this can be. You just need to go outside: The streets of New York City are full of people from all walks of life clinging to their iPhone 6s and 7s and SEs: They're well-worn and many have cracked screens, but they're in use nonetheless. On the half-hour subway ride to our meeting place, I counted no less than 10 iPhones that appeared to be more than a year old, still being used to read, to text or to drown out the din of the Q train. Those devices won't last forever, and with the XR, Apple is giving them a valuable next step: a highly polished taste of modern performance and design that doesn't start at $999.

Images: Evan Rodgers