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The iPhone XR arrived like an afterthought. No surprise, really. Apple’s always been one to lead with its best foot forward — the latest, greatest and, quite literally, the largest. Projecting the life on the bleeding edge is a cornerstone of the company’s image, market share and stock price.

The iPhone XR isn’t that. In the context of yesterday’s event, the handset is an also ran. It’s lower-powered, with a single camera and lower-resolution screen that stirred up criticism amongst display enthusiasts online. It’s also precisely the phone the company needed to make — and Apple’s going to sell a crapload of them as a result. In fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see this entry-level device outsell both of its premium brethren.

Over the last 24 hours, a number of folks have asked me which phone they should buy. The answer varies from person to person, of course, but for the majority, the XR simply makes the most sense. It is, as I wrote in my hands-on yesterday, the iPhone X for the rest of us.

Last year’s 10th anniversary handset pushed the limits of the iPhone, with regard to underlying technology, design and budget. It represented what was arguably the biggest leap for the line since the introduction of the App Store way back in 2008, while helping to break on the $1,000 smartphone

Apple announced the next version of its software to power your iPhone and iPad on June 5, as part of its annual WWDC conference for developers. iOS 11 beta is full of little surprises. If you want to try it for yourself, the public beta is free to download. It could change before Apple releases it to iPhones in fall.

The biggest changes come to Siri, Apple's voice assistant; interfaces like the lock screen, App Store and Control Center; and AR software that's going to mesh the virtual world with your own.

All these updates (and more) will bring a wave of new features to your device, and -- even more exciting to tech-watchers -- to Apple's next iPhones. For that reason, iOS 11 is especially important. As the operating system set to power the hotly anticipated 10th-anniversary iPhone, changes to iOS drop some major hints about what the iPhone 8 (or whatever Apple calls it) will be able to do.

The iPhone is Apple's most popular device, and also its biggest moneymaker by far. But phone sales have dropped. iOS 11 could help lure buyers by reinvigorating the software innards behind the next iPhone's hardware shell.

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