This year Apple launched three new iPhones and iPhone 11 Pro Max is the maxed out variant. With a huge name, the phone has some great specifications to go with. Still, the design philosophy has not changed much since iPhone X.
Apple has taken a step to go head to head against Google’s Pixel line up when it comes to smartphone photography and maybe this is one of the main reason to get an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Other than that, the battery performance is also pretty good, even better than some android.
iPhone 11 Pro Max Review
Design
As mentioned, Apple has gone the safe route with if ain’t broke don’t fix it. The overall design is reminiscent of two-year-old iPhone X, but maybe that is not a bad thing to start with. On the back, you will be able to spot a new camera bump, housing 3 cameras and a flash. For some people, it is triggering trypophobia though.
Other than that the button placements are usual. On the right side, there is a power button. The left side houses the beloved mute slider and volume control buttons. There is no headphone jack or fingerprint scanner of any sort but the dual speakers are Dolby Atmos supported. We are still waiting to see the universal USB-C port on iPhones rather than the proprietary lighting port. The phone is a bit heavy with a weight of 7.97 ounces.
Another thing changed in the new iPhone 11 Pro Max is the rear glass finish. Apple has opted for a frosted matte feel for a better grip in hands and it attracts fewer fingerprints. The phone is available in gorgeous midnight green, space grey, silver and gold color variant. The phone is also IP68 water and dust resistant.
Display
With a 6.5-inch display with 2688×1242 resolution, iPhone 11 Pro Max has the biggest OLED display in an iPhone ever. Apple is calling the display Super Retina XDR. The display with HDR and HDR 10 support.
The display brightness is also improved this year for all the models. Apple has brightened up the display up to 800 nits and in while watching HDR10 and Dolby Vision content it goes up to 1200 nits. Overall the viewing experience is far better than previous iterations but the refresh rate on iPhone 11 Pro Max is still stuck at 60 Hz. Apple also removed the 3D Touch feature as not many people were using that.
Hardware and Performance
iPhones always had a better processing power than any android phones and the trend is continuing. iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with A13 Bionic processor – third-gen Neural Engine, 64GB, 256GB or 512GB storage options without any microSD support. Although Apple has not mentioned the RAM capacity officially, it has 4 GB, which is more than enough for iOS.
iPhone 11 Pro Max has the best performance of any smartphones ever and the benchmark scores prove that. IT can handle any application or game without any hick-ups. Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and Ultra-Wideband chip for spatial awareness all are present in iPhone 11 Pro Max. Hopefully, the next generation of iPhones will come with 5G capability.
Battery
Android smartphones always had an upper hand when it comes to battery performance. But this year Apple has put a 3,969 mAh battery on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. With the optimization of iOS and the moderate battery size, the phone can run up to a day and a half with heavy to medium usage.
The phone comes with an 18W adapter in the box with fast charging enabled which allows charging the phone to 100% in one and a half hour. iPhone 11 Pro Max also has wireless charging support but in a really slow pace of 7.5W, that takes a lot more time to fully charge it.
Yes, it is pretty fast comparing to older iPhones, but many Android phones nowadays come with fast charging capabilities up to 45W. So in this category, Apple is still playing catch up.
Camera
The camera is the strongest point of the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It comes with 3 lenses on the back. First, there is a 12 MP ultra-wide sensor with ƒ/2.4 aperture and 120° field of view. The second lens is 12 MP wide-angle and the aperture is ƒ/1.8 and optical image stabilization. Finally, there is a 12 MP telephoto lens with ƒ/2.0 aperture also with optical image stabilization. On the front, there is a 12 MP camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture.
Still Image
From the wide-angle lens, you can zoom in or out 2× which is optical. Then there is support for up to 10× digital zoom with Ai to protect the details. With these lenses and precisely made camera software, you can zoom in or out without effecting the white balance and HDR even in videos.
When it comes to portraits there is advanced bokeh and many lighting effects. In Panorama mode you can click a picture up to 63MP. While in photo mode, holding the shutter button will take a video. In a dark environment, iOS kicks on the Night Mode to take some great images with sharper details and much less noise. You can click images either with HEIF or JPEG format.
Animoji and Memoji features are available for the front camera. You can send those directly to your friends with iMessage or as a video to android users. For biometric authentication, there is FaceID, thanks to the TrueDepth camera on the front. Apple also worked on that to make it faster.
Images from iPhone 11 Pro looks gorgeous with good HDR and details. Colours pop but most of the time images have a warm tint comparing to Google Pixel 4 XL.
Video
When it comes to video, the iPhone blows away any android phone. First of all, you can record 4K footage at 24 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps with Extended dynamic range and optical image stabilization. There is also slow-motion video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps.
While recording a video you can zoom in or out up to 2× optically and 6× digitally with a special audio zoom feature, which is also available in Samsung Galaxy Note 10. You can take 8 MP images in the video mode. For audio, it uses both of the microphones to record it in stereo mode. Video formats recorded in iPhone 11 Pro are HEVC and H.264.
Software
iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with iOS 13. Although the OS is not that much customisable like android, it gets the job done every time with ease. With the Apple Ecosystem, it takes the user experience to a whole new level. Also, Apple is extremely fast and reliable for future iOS updates as they do not have to rely on other manufacturers to push those. It also comes with system-wide dark mode, which takes advantage of the OLED panel to save some battery power.
Price and Availability
iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a price tag of $1,100 for the base 64 GB variant. You can also opt-in for a monthly installment plan of $45.79. Then the 256 GB variant costs $1,249 and finally 512 GB option is on sale for $1,449.
For manufacturing defects, Apple will provide you with a warranty for a year. For an extra 2 year of coverage with accidental damage, You can pay more for AppleCare+. As there is no microSD support, if you need the extra storage you have to go for the higher variant.
Verdict
Apple has put everything they could to make the iPhone 11 Pro Max the best iPhone ever. You can take great images and videos with the phone and as it comes with a big battery, you can go on for more than a day. The only thing missing is a fluid 90 Hz or 120 Hz display like OnePlus 7T.
But as it has a hefty price tag, if you can live with a slightly smaller display, iPhone 11 Pro is a better deal. Because the 256 GB variant iPhone 11 Pro costs almost the same as 64 GB iPhone 11 Pro Max.