Apple has announced the third phone in its new line-up: the iPhone XR.

Unveiled at the company's Gather Round event in Cupertino, it will be available soon after the also new iPhone XS and XS Max. But, as rumoured beforehand, it will be more affordable than the premium models.

Made from aerospace grade aluminium and with an edge to edge LCD screen, dubbed the Liquid Retina display, the 6.1-inch handset is actually considerably smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus in the hand.

It comes with a new screen feature called haptic touch, to get to the camera quickly from the screen as there is no physical button on the front.

The rear sports a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with improved two-tone flash.

Bar the camera and screen, the rest of the specifications are largely the same as the XS and XS Max.

The phone has the same TrueDepth Face ID camera (and notch) on the front as the iPhone XS. And it has the same A12 Bionic processor inside, so will support all the same new features. It is also dust and waterproof like the premium models.

Battery life is claimed to last up to an hour and half longer per day than the iPhone 8 Plus.

The iPhone XR will come in six colours: white, black, yellow, blue, coral and a special Product(Red) edition from the off.

You will be able to pre-order the handset from 19 October, with shipping a week later.

It starts at $749 in the US, £749 in the UK for the 64GB version. There will also be 128GB and 256GB models.