YouTube adds HDR support for iPhone XS and XS Max

Apple may not be using YouTube's favorite codecs, but that does not mean you'll get a second-rate viewing experience on the latest iPhones. YouTube has updated its iOS app and added HDR support for iPhone XS and XS Max, as noted AppleInsider.

The phones were launched on Friday, and in the days that followed their launch, users noticed that they could not read the high-dynamic content of the service – while the iPhone X, 8 Plus, 8 and iPad Pro can. YouTube did not have HDR ready on time for Friday, but fortunately the company was quick to implement compatibility with the wider color gamut and the vivid and vibrant video. It took until May to YouTube to introduce HDR support for iPhones 2017 after its launch on Android last September. The highest resolution you can get from YouTube on the two new iPhone XS models is 1080p.

Last August, YouTube announced a "Signature Device" program to indicate which smartphones offer the "best experience" when streaming videos from the platform. Right now, these are all Android smartphones and no iOS devices. This is due to Apple's lack of support for the VP9 codec. IPhone verifies all other requirements to obtain the signature device badge, except VP9 hardware decoding.

The codec requires less bandwidth for high-resolution videos, but Apple has not yet adopted bandwidth on iOS, macOS or Apple TV. As a result, most of Apple's devices, including the Apple TV 4K – stay capped at 1080p resolution. (High resolution video can be viewed in Chrome on Mac).

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