iPhone 12 Pro Max Review, Price, Camera, Design, Battery life

byProoWix | Best Reviews, Tips, Deals & News •March 16, 2022

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iPhone 12 Pro Max Review, Price, Camera, Design, Battery life

iPhone 12 Pro Max: The best iPhone yet is only for those with deep pockets

If you're looking for the best iPhone on the market, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is it: It's powerful, has the longest battery life on the iPhone we've tested in 2020 and the camera is top-notch. You'll need to be prepared to take on the extra weight, as it's also the biggest iPhone ever, and the cost isn't up to snuff, but we're adding an extra half-star for all those iPhone fans out there. Simply the best Apple can bring - the iPhone 12 Pro Max manages to do it well.

Pros

Amazing Performance
Great screen
Longer battery life
Powerful camera
3x optical zoom telephoto

Cons

Feels almost too large
The most expensive iPhone
The camera is not hugely better than the 12 Pro

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SHORT REVIEW

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the biggest iPhone Apple has ever made, and it's also the best - although you're only likely to agree if you have to spend $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for the privilege of owning it. There is no objection. 'Don't mind having a big phone call about your personal day today.

The design of the 12 Pro Max is similar to that of other handsets in the 2020 iPhone 12 family: there's a new flat-sided frame, which looks more industrial and is slightly less comfortable than last year's model. It's a facelift that's actually a bit outdated, having debuted a decade ago in the iPhone 4, but recently made a comeback in iPad Pro models.

We are expecting the iPhone 12 Pro Max to be replaced by the iPhone 13 Pro Max when the latter launches in September or October. While Apple keeps the older basic models in its lineup, it generally quietly retires the larger versions, which means you'll be able to find the iPhone 12 Pro Max at other retailers, perhaps at a discount.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is decked out in premium-looking, more muted colors, and we're fans of the shiny metal rim around the edge (even though it's an actual fingerprint magnet). It gives a modern and industrial look to the big phone.

While the iPhone 12 Pro Max is actually only a very small amount compared to last year's 11 Pro Max, the bezels around the OLED display has been shrunk so that Apple can increase the screen size to 6.7 inches — and that's a good choice to take. There's a compelling reason for the new bigger iPhone.

Images are clearer and more visible on the larger display, you can view more web pages or images in daily use – and as a movie-watching machine, it's the best iPhone ever. This is one of the best displays on the market, capable of rendering both color scenes and more subtle tones with ease.

The key feature of the new iPhone 12 Pro Max is the camera array: There are three cameras, all upgraded with better image processors. While the camera block protrudes more from the back of the phone than on recent iPhones, the main 12MP sensor has been upgraded to capture a lot more light, and improvements have been made to image processing as well - some of the ones we took The photos were really impressive.

However, the 12 Pro Max didn't outdo the iPhone 12 Pro's camera performance in our tests, which was surprising—images were, overall, clearer and brighter than the 12 Pro Max, but not by a huge amount.

If you're a budding filmmaker, we'd say it's definitely worth taking a look at the 12 Pro Max – it's packing Dolby Vision recording at 4K and 60 frames per second, so if you're a content creator who wants to take a closer look at the 12 Pro Max. Looking for a phone that can record high-quality footage, the 12 Pro Max can certainly do that.

HDR will make your movies even better, with better brightness and color; However, this may sound a bit artificial, and the clips will take up more storage space on your phone. It's not a feature most should upgrade to.

The 12 Pro Max starts with 128GB of storage, which is the bare minimum we'd expect, as the cameras will fill it up quickly – and with 5G on board, you'll be able to download content faster, making it easy to fill up. Will be done. Your phone with movies and music.

5G is the future of mobile connectivity, but that in itself isn't a reason to buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max... just yet. Many parts of the world still don't have 5G coverage, so many users will find this feature redundant for now. Over the next few years, connectivity will become much more widespread, so buying a 5G iPhone is more about future-proofing it to enjoy next-generation speeds, unless you live in the middle of a major city.

And 5G mostly only brings faster speeds (though it's also faster than Wi-Fi for most), so you might not feel like it's something that's missing from your life right now.

Apple has also added innovative MagSafe technology to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which enables you to magnetically clip chargers, cases, and accessories to your new iPhone. We love this addition, with more accessories showing up all the time right now; As time goes on, MagSafe will get better, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max will future-proof you as more accessories appear on the market.

Along with the bigger display, a big reason to go for the iPhone 12 Pro Max is battery life – it has the biggest battery in the all-new iPhone 12 range due to the bigger chassis. We easily made a day of use in our testing, and even on days when we really pushed the battery hard, we got until 7:30 p.m. before needing a charger Was - If you've read our iPhone 12 Pro review, and are concerned about whether it will last long enough, we recommend going up to the Max.

If you want the best of things in an Apple smartphone, then the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the one. The bigger and brighter display, better camera, longer battery life, and loud grunt inside make it an attractive smartphone. If your hands can handle the extra load (and with the higher cost of your wallet), this is ideal.

However, if the Pro Max feels like a bit more than you need, or is beyond your budget, the iPhone 12 Pro offers a similar feature set and performance for less (albeit without the extended battery life) -- and among the cameras. difference of. T marked as we expected.

If you're open to Android there are a few other top-flight phones to consider as well, most notably the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which topped our list of the best smartphones at the time of writing. You might also want to take a look at the OnePlus 9 Pro, which matches or is better than the iPhone 12 Pro Max in many areas while coming in at a slightly lower price.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Release date and price

Following the October 13, 2020 announcement, Apple confirmed that the iPhone 12 Pro Max would arrive a few weeks after its launch; While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro were available on October 23, the company opted to release both the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max at a later date.

The pre-orders for the iPhone 12 Pro Max started on November 6, 2020, and you can now buy the phone worldwide.

Prices for the iPhone 12 Pro Max start at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for 128GB of storage, up to $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,019 for 256GB and up to $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,369 for 512GB increases.

Apple holds phone prices well, so as of May 2021, you'll more or less still be seeing those prices, even if you shop around. Although as the year progresses we wouldn't be surprised if some stores start offering modest discounts, especially during sales events.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Design

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is bigger. This is Apple's biggest iPhone ever if only a few millimeters. However, as it also has the new square edges of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Max, along with the brutal, industrial design of the new iPad Pro range, it feels big in the hand.

That's not to say it's a bad thing — if you're not buying the 12 Pro Max because you want a huge iPhone, you're missing the point.

Those angular edges mean the phone isn't as comfortable to hold as the more rounded iPhone 11 Pro Max, the curved side that folds more softly in the palm.

One of the key features of the Pro Max this year is the more 'mature' color it comes in - there's a shiny stainless steel band on the outside, and this, the front accents, and the back of the phone now come in graphite, gold. , Silver and Pacific Blue.

That glossy outer rim looks fancy, but it's also a magnet for fingerprints—get ready to polish it off a bit if you want it to look new and premium.

Given the price tag, you'd expect an expensive-looking phone, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max certainly looks the part, especially in the gold color that we reviewed.

Essentially, the 12 Pro Max's design is just a larger version of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, and despite the size, it still fits snugly in the hand, and the Siri/Screen Lock button on the left is easy to hit. and volume keys on the right.

However, there's one big difference: The three-camera setup on the back of the 12 Pro Max is much more protruding than on the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, as there's a bigger sensor at the bottom to pull in more light (we'll get to what It's worth it in the camera section, but - spoiler alert - it's not bad at all).

This means that when you're laying the iPhone 12 Pro Max on a table, it actually vibrates from side to side if you're tapping on the screen - it's almost fun to play absentmindedly, Such is the flourish. This is really noticeable and will make most people think about putting a case on the iPhone.

As mentioned, it's the largest iPhone Apple has ever made, with dimensions of 160.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.4mm, and despite being thinner than last year's 11 Pro Max, it's actually a bit smaller in the hand. Looks great, thanks to the square edges.

Be prepared for something that might bother you before you buy: Apple has removed the charging block and EarPods out of the box. Now you're only getting a charging cable at the time of purchase—and that's USB-C to Lightning, rather than the standard USB-A to Lightning cable that Apple has been putting in boxes for years.

The USB-C cable charges the iPhone more quickly - but you'll need to buy a charging block from Apple for $19 / £19 / AU$29 to use it.

It doesn't make sense for Apple to do so — it says it's taking this step to reduce electronic waste, as everyone already has to block and charge headphones, but no one indeed has The pass would be the right block to allow this new cable to be used - it would make far more sense to do so when Apple had been supplying this charging lead for a few years.

If you don't have the right block, or if you've never had an iPhone before, you'll need to take into account the cost of a new charging block on top of the 12 Pro Max's already high price tag.

Key Solution: If you want a huge iPhone and all the benefits, you'll enjoy the design of this larger model — but you definitely won't be able to reach around the screen with your thumb.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Display

The iPhone 12 Pro Max has the biggest display of any iPhone ever made - that in itself is a good reason to upgrade.

Considering the new technology that appeared in last year's 11 Pro and Pro Max, all the models in the iPhone 12 range are packing OLED displays, and this size in particular makes a really big difference. Apple is calling it the 'Super XDR OLED Display,' and in layman's terms, this translates to a clear, bright, and sharp screen with excellent color reproduction.

It's a real upgrade for anyone coming from older iPhones—the performance here is shockingly better, and the images really pop with color and detail.

Thanks to thinner bezels around the new iPhone 12 Pro Max display, the screen can extend out to the sides of the device, resulting in a 6.7-inch display compared to the 6.5-inch roundness on the 11 Pro Max, and it's actually smaller. Looks impressive. That extra screen estate is really noticeable next to last year's phone and adds to the sense of immersion when watching movies or similar.

It's not a huge step up in terms of brightness—it's a very similar OLED panel to the ones we saw on the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max—but it's pin-sharp, and streamed or downloaded content looks dynamic on the larger display. Things like blockbuster action movies and nature documentaries with high contrast ratios seem incredibly absorbing.

Apple has added a ceramic shield to the front of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, as with others in the iPhone 12 range – designed to make it four times less likely to fall in the event of a fall.

We didn't test that claim during our review — partly because we don't want to randomly see if we can break into an expensive phone to see what happens — but Apple also makes the claim. Making that the iPhone 12 range is scratch-resistant, thanks to a 'dual ion-exchange process.

It's not something we've seen in our use. Like last year's iPhone 11 Pro Max, the device started showing small marks and scratches at the beginning of our testing. Nothing obvious in daily use, but you can clearly see tiny scuffs and scratches when the screen is off, despite we've seen the phone with the Razer Blade (or even the keys and loose change). Don't keep it in your pocket with you.

If you're thinking you can get away without a case when you upgrade, the iPhone 12 Pro Max's rigidity has certainly improved, but it looks like it'll still hold up if you don't protect it. Showing signs of wear and tear.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Camera

The biggest reason to upgrade to the iPhone 12 Pro Max sits on the back of the phone: It's the camera array. Three 12MP cameras reside here - standard wide, ultra-wide, and 2.5x telephoto zoom - and they've also been upgraded from last year, with an ultra-wide sensor as well as Night Mode available for the main shooter.

While you might think that there isn't much difference between the 12 Pro Max and the 12 Pro, Apple is ready to prefer the Pro Max if you want the best camera experience on the iPhone.

It totally achieves that with the giant new iPhone. The sensor is larger on the inside (thanks to the larger dimensions) and results in a camera that can absorb more light and take brighter, clearer pictures, one that once again falls away for reasons that You may have a different camera for this.

The result is simple: If you want to take the best photos you can with an iPhone, you can't look anywhere other than the 12 Pro Max.

Apple is making a great deal about 'computational photography', with the chipset inside the iPhone 12 range intelligent enough to know what it's looking at and transform the resulting image. Deep Fusion, which debuted on Apple's iPhones last year, analyzes images pixel by pixel to produce the best possible results post-capture.

The new Smart HDR3 capability seeks out different scenes while taking a photo, capturing multiple exposures and stitching them together to give you the best picture possible, while Night Mode, which requires you to take different amounts of time Requiring the phone to be still (depending on circumstances) can turn a dark, gloomy setting into a lively scene.

There's clearly an upgrade over last year's iPhone 11 Pro Max, especially in low light. Cropping those images taken in darker scenes shows that there is less noise, and the overall picture looks more vibrant.

This year gets more elements of the picture to improve and enhance Smart HDR, and as a result, we took tons of photos that we'd be happy to have on the wall, with or without editing – that's always a good sign.

We spent hours taking pictures with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max with the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and a few things became really clear during that comparison.

First, the iPhone 12 Pro Max's larger sensor definitely lets in more light than the iPhone 11 Pro Max, and the vibrancy, clarity, and detail in every photo are a real step up.

iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G, MagSafe, iOS, and performance

The headline feature of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the camera in our opinion, but the biggest change comes in the form of the addition of 5G and MagSafe to the entire iPhone 12 range.

We've already covered our findings in some depth in our iPhone 12 review and iPhone 12 Pro review, and what we've seen, in terms of new features, is whether they perform exactly as well on the 12 Pro Max.

In the interest of saving your fingers, we won't go into as much depth here as we did in those reviews - we urge you to visit and check them out to get our full views - but here are the main things we found Using these fancy new toys on iPhone 12 Pro Max.

iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G

Apple was confused about 5G – should it wait until the technology is mature and well-positioned around the world so that most of its customers can connect to this ultra-fast, low-latency network? However, if it waits, it won't get as much input on how the technology is deployed and will have to spend more time customizing its phone.

Or does it go first, put 5G on every new phone and steer it in the direction it wants, hyping people up for this new technology... even if it's not something many people can use Are, thanks to 5G infrastructure widespread?

It opted for the latter, and as a result, it is difficult to say that 5G is a major reason to buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Doing some speed tests proved that you can get some exciting download rates in and around London with a 400Mbps clock. Downloads of large apps and media were much faster than before, but it's hard to say we particularly struggled on 4G—it's just as fast with 5G.

To do any 5G testing, we also had to travel to a big city—we hardly live in rural areas, but 5G hasn't reached where everyone lives, which means that for many people, it's a big deal. would be a redundant feature. Apple has worked so that when 5G rolls out soon depending on where you live, it'll be a nice bonus and your phone will be able to connect to it, but it's not a big reason to upgrade just yet — as well, as Whether you will see, it has an effect on battery life.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Magsafe

We as an innovation from Apple are big fans of MagSafe. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's a magnetic ring hidden in the rear casing of the iPhone 12 range, and you can easily clip chargers, cases, and accessories onto the iPhone - opening up a realm of possibilities.

In the future, imagine snap-on gaming controllers, projectors, instant photo printers – Apple is about to inspire many accessory makers to really enhance the iPhone by adding it to their range. Already we're seeing some new cases, car vent mounts, and tripod add-ons appearing, making it easy to expand the functionality of the iPhone.

Since there's a chip inside the MagSafe that can communicate with the iPhone itself, it can rely on the connected device not to function improperly – meaning things like a wireless MagSafe charger can deliver faster wireless charges. Because the iPhone 12 knows it is coming from a reliable source and will not damage the battery.

We also had a chance to try out the Wallet snap-on, which pops up on the back of your phone and gives you access to your bank cards. It turned out to be a little too easy for our liking, and it's not ideal that you have to remove it every time you want to pay for something, but it's another example of innovation.

The range of MagSafe accessories is already growing, and soon we'll have things like PopSockets that clip magnetically to help you hold your iPhone more securely, and that magnet compares to stick-on pads. There is a far better solution that will lose stickiness longer.

Like 5G, MagSafe is a technology for the future, but a future that may be visible in the next few months rather than years.

iPhone 12 Pro Max iOS 14.5

The iPhone 12 Pro Max launched running iOS 14, but it has already seen several updates, with iOS 14.5 being the latest version of its software at the time of writing.

We won't spend much time on this, as all recent iPhones have the same software, but iOS 14 was a major change to iOS, including things like home screen widgets and an app library that brought it closer to Android.

Minor updates since then have included things like Apple Fitness Plus, app tracking transparency, new emoji, and ProRaw camera features that were announced at launch. Overall, iOS is by far the best, but you don't need to spend that much to experience it.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Performance

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most powerful iPhone we've tested—it scored the best in our benchmarks to confirm our experience. The iPhone 12's A14 Bionic chipset is already the market leader when it comes to smartphone CPUs, so the 12 Pro Max is arguably the most powerful in the market.

It's a very close competition between it and the regular Pro, packing both 6GB of RAM and an upgraded GPU, so you'd expect this device to break every benchmark when it comes to multitasking and gaming.

It's important to look beyond the raw numbers because how it performs on a day-to-day basis is what matters—but most flagship smartphones these days are capable of handling almost any app you throw at them.

The blazing performance we got in the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the kind of performance we've come to expect from a phone at this price range, and considering the range of apps that the iPhone now runs on, it's easy to use for editing media. The ability to perform in any scenario is key, from everything to high-quality gaming - and we didn't see any evidence of a slowdown in our testing.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Battery life

If you want an iPhone with the best battery life, then the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the better option for you. The larger size means there's extra capacity to play with, and the result is the best performance we've seen on the iPhone 12 range.

Generally, the battery life is pretty close to that of the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which we've been using for over a year now, but a lot will depend on whether you're using it daily in and out of the 5Grange. Sitting more comfortably. In front of a desk in the house.

Persistent 5G connections weren't really something we could test regularly on the new iPhone, partly due to it currently being in lockdown. But like the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, we did notice some degradation in battery life performance when using 5G speeds - we saw a 26-minute YouTube test on 5G took 7% battery, where the same battery life tested in 4G areas Affects only 3% of

This is hardly the most scientific test though, and with the current circumstances not being able to spend long periods in the 5G spot - we'll be giving it a more thorough test soon. However, the conclusion that 5G is more expensive for battery life is visible on the 12 Pro Max-like other iPhones.

Apple will throttle your 5G speed when it thinks you don't need it, and most often when you're not using the phone directly in your hand to save battery (audio streaming or app updates, for example). to do). However, it will still display the 5G symbol on the device when this is happening - so you won't know it is being deliberately slowed down to save battery.

The biggest problem with the smaller batteries of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro was that they sometimes struggled to last through the end of the day, especially when not connected to Wi-Fi. The iPhone 12 Pro Max doesn't have the same problem even when used for more resource-intensive tasks.

In fact, on the day we tried our best to drain the battery so we could do our charging test, we struggled to get it down quickly. Spotify's copious amounts, some streaming of 4K HDR content on YouTube, regular web browsing, etc. still took us until 7:30 p.m. to reach absolute zero — and it's intentionally draining the battery intermittently during the day. Had been.

In more regular conditions in mixed Wi-Fi and 4G areas, with some camera use, Spotify in a 90-minute run, and some YouTube testing, we found that we lost 60% of battery over 20 hours. It's a nice and slow descent and taking into account the previous Plus/Max iPhone performance, we've seen over the years.