iphone-12-pro-max-review

iPhone 12 Pro Max (2021) Review Leave a comment

So, It’s been about six months since Apple announced their powerhouse of a pro phone along with 3 other new iPhones. But we are going to discuss the best of the lineup, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max. Just like its name, it is massive in every way. 

Apple has stated that this is the best iPhone they have to offer up until now. And with many other good and evolving smartphones, one may wonder what makes this iPhone so unique. Given that it’s Apple’s most Pro phone, what even are the things considered “Pro” these days? Is the so-called Pro worth the price? Should an Android user switch to IOS just for the sake of 12 Pro Max?

Well here’s everything you need to know about the iPhone 12 Pro Max and why it is the one the best if not the best smartphone.

Specifications

First off, Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way.

  • iPhone 12 Pro Max comes with the newest Apple A14 Bionic processor.
  • It packs a 6.7 inches Super Retina XDR OLED capacitive touchscreen, 2778 x 1284 pixels resolution at 458 pi, and HDR display. 
  • An all-new unique ceramic shield glass screen (scratch resistant). Along with this, the screen features 1200 nits max brightness, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, True Tone, Wide color (P3) gamut, and 60Hz refresh rate.
  • The 3 rear cameras consist of a 12 MP (wide) + 12 MP (telephoto) 5x optical zoom + 12 MP (ultrawide) and LiDAR scanner best for night mode.
  • The front camera features a 12 MP (wide) + SL 3D camera sensor.
  • The phone’s sensors include Lidar, Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer + Siri natural language commands, and dictation.
  • A non-removable 3687 mAh Li-Ion battery + USB Power Delivery 2.0 + Fast charging 20W + 7W Qi and 15W MagSafe Wireless Charging Options. The iPhone operates on iOS 14 (Upgradeable) .
  • It contains 6GB RAM along with three options of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB of internal memory.
  • Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max is available in different colors like Graphite, Silver, Gold, Pacific Blue.

Listed above are the maxed-out specs for Apple’s best Pro Max smartphone. But let’s see how well does each part fare in the normal day-to-day use or “Pro” use.

Display

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max has an excellent display. It’s sharp, vibrant, color-accurate, and more importantly, it’s big. It has a 6.7-inch screen now, which is slightly larger than last year’s Pro Max’s 6.5 inches. This is the biggest screen in an iPhone till now. 

60 Hz Refresh Rate

But the issue that remains with the display is the relatively low screen refresh rate of 60 hertz, while almost all the other competitive smartphones have a refresh rate of 120 hertz, which is double that of the iPhone. 

A higher refresh rate essentially gives you a much smoother viewing and gaming experience. But here’s the thing… The iPhone is the smoothest 60 hertz there is, mainly because of the 120-hertz touch sample rate which means that the touch sensor is refreshing twice as fast as a normal 60-hertz display. It isn’t noticeable to a normal person using the iPhone and even for Pro work, it isn’t that big of a deal.

Ceramic Shield

On Paper, Apple claims that their new ceramic shield screen is 4x more drop-resistant than the previous iPhone 11. That 4x number might be a bit of an exaggeration as some people have drop-tested it. But yes, the ceramic shield does hold out very fairly in regards to the last iPhones. That being said, ceramic shield displays are still scratchable. So, if you want your iPhone in the top-notch condition a screen protector is still recommended.

Notch

The iPhone has the biggest notch among smartphones in the market. But here’s the thing… On the 12 Pro Max, it doesn’t really seem that big because on the larger display of the Max, the notch is still the same size as on the regular iPhone 12.

Apple hasn’t put the big notch on the top of the screen just for show. The notch contains many important features packed all together. A dot-projector for the Face iD, 12MP Front Camera, Microphone, Speaker, Ambient Light Sensor, Flood Illuminator, Proximity Sensor, Infrared Camera. Some people complain about the notch but eventually, everyone gets used to it.

Battery

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 3687 mAh battery. Compared to the other flagship smartphones out there, it is pretty small, as on average they have about 4000 to 5000 mAh battery. But again, this is Apple. With the quality and efficiency they provide, the numbers do not really matter.

Performance

On the iPhone 12 Pro, you can consistently get 6 – 7 hours of screen on time. It is really something considering the size, the display, and the powerful A14 Bionic chip running inside this phone.

Apple really isn’t the top competitor in terms of battery or charging speed but the battery on this Pro iPhone is reasonably good.

Magsafe

It is one of the most interesting things announced along with the new iPhone. The iPhone 12 series has a built-in magnet for 15 watts wireless charging with MagSafe.It is also proven to be better for battery health overall. Rumor is that Apple is planning to completely get rid of the charging port for their future iPhone. So potentially Magsafe could be the only charger to charge your iPhone in the future (other than third-party accessories, of course).

MagSafe also has room for many other officially announced iPhone accessories from Apple that attach to the back of your phone. Third-party developers have already started selling many cool MagSafe accessories which are very helpful. Hopefully, Apple will also launch a whole new eco-system of just magnet MagSafe accessories.

Camera

With so many new phones and technology out in the market, the only real thing that truly differentiates them is the cameras. Nowadays, every smartphone company establishes its focus towards cameras, as the main thing that stands out to a regular smartphone user is the camera quality.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max it’s a triple camera system. iPhone cameras are probably the best ones in a smartphone, and in the iPhone 12 Pro Max version, Apple has put a completely new and larger camera along with sensors. Its camera rig contains a 12 MP optically stabilized sensor, 120 degrees 12MP ultra-wide lens, 2.5x Optical telephoto zoom lens, a Lidar scanner, mic, and a flash.

Photos & Videos

Apple’s goal with these cameras is to achieve great photo quality with the simplest effort and they are being consistent at it. The 12 Pro Max takes very dynamic and natural-looking pictures. The camera app is plain and simple. You just point and shoot and achieve the best-looking results. And if you want to get a little complex with your photography, there are a few options to allow you to do that but not too many.

When you just take a picture from the iPhone, the software does all the work processing the best quality image with the help of a great image signal processor. The iPhone does this job better than any other phone. iPhone 12 Pro Max maxes out at 12x digital zoom which is pretty decent.

Videos with this phone are also the best looking out of any smartphone. With the 12 pro series, Apple has released 4k HDR video with Dolby Vision. The video stabilization has also been taken to a whole new level with the sensor-shift optical image stabilization and lets you shoot 4k 60fps stabilized video with full consistency.

Front Facing Camera

The 12 MP dual camera on the front shoots excellent selfies with accurate color exposures and depth of field. And now, Apple has put the option for 4K video recording at 60 FPS in the front camera as well.

4K 60 fps from the rear facing camera is absolutely great and supports dolby vision and HDR video. However, 4k 60 fps on the front camera isn’t so great. Dynamic range completely messes up, the colors aren’t so vibrant, and HDR and dolby vision aren’t supported on 4k 60 fps front camera video.

Aside from that, the front camera takes beautiful portrait images and records stunning videos even in low light.

A14 Bionic Processor

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is powered by Apple’s latest and fastest ever A14 Bionic Chip. As expected from this processor, the performance is absolutely great. The phone runs super smooth even with heavy downloading and multitasking. 

With this chip, Apple has definitely secured the 12 Pro Max as a future proof phone, because even after three to four years, you can be pretty confident that this phone is going to be performing very well. 

Software

iPhone 12 Pro Max runs on iOS 14 by default and this year they have introduced the widgets to iOS which are really cool as well as helpful. Even though Android has had them for years, Apple makes sure everything is close to perfection and iOS widgets are the same in that regard. If an android user is considering moving to iOS, now is the best time. With iOS 14’s flexibility that transition will be easier to make.

RAM & Storage

iPhone 12 Pro Max has a RAM of 6 GB, though it may seem less for a top competing high-end smartphone. Apple has debunked this theory as they establish their RAM with the highest quality with which the numbers don’t really matter.

This iPhone comes with storage capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB, which is perfect for a “Pro” phone of this caliber and the heavy lifting it is supposed to perform. No external storage is supported on the iPhone, but the Internal storage makes up for that.

5G Internet

All of the new iPhone 12s support full 5G coverage. However, today, there aren’t many areas that provide 5G to the public. Having a 5G phone means that your phone is future-supported. It will take a few years for 5G to become common everywhere, but if your area has 5G coverage, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max you can take advantage of the mind-blowing 5G speeds.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Overall Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max is a pretty good phone. It can improve in some areas, but it compensates that fact with other cool features. The thing is Apple’s good at what they do and if they decide not to add something to their phone, they might be working on that feature to perfect it completely as they have all eyes pointed towards them. 

Overall, this phone is worth the price if you can afford it. It is the biggest and best screen, biggest and best iPhone, and biggest and best in every way.

This is our full review of the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max. Let us know if there’s anything we missed and feel free to drop any questions in the comments.

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