iPhone 12 Pro Max Review: How much has Apple taken things to the next level?

Apple announced four variants of the iPhone 12 this time with significant upgrades over the iPhone 11 series. The upgrades came not only with the processor but also in design, connectivity, cameras and even charging. As it happens with the iPhone range, the top of the line offering, iPhone 12 Pro Max, comes loaded with all the bells and whistles Apple has to offer. This is a review of the phone after two weeks of usage as my primary device.

Design

The iPhone 12 Pro Max sports a sleek and flat design, which reminds me of the iPhone 5s. In my opinion, it looks and feels much better than the iPhone 11 Pro max. The all-new Pacific Blue colour in the matte finish gives a royal touch to the flagship device. It is also sturdier and now offer much better IP68 water resistance with protection up to 6 meters depth in water. Remember that even though it has the rating, Apple does not cover water damage in its standard warranty. One gripe we have is that the camera module sticks out, and while it is not something to worry about immediately, the glass on the lenses could be prone to damage in the long run. Compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the phone feels sleeker, and even though it got a more prominent display, it does not feel enormous in hand.

Display

Not only do you get a flat design on the device, but Apple has also made a comeback to a flat display instead of a curved one, which is a significant thing. The curved display on the previous-generation iPhone is more prone to cracks from drops or bumps compared to a flat display. Moreover, the iPhone 12 Pro Max uses a ceramic shield for protection – it is claimed to have 4x more drop resistance. The other significant change is that the iPhone 12 Pro Max comes with a 6.7-inch OLED display – the biggest available on an iPhone to date. It’s the same as the iPhone 11 Pro Max - Super Retina XDR OLED with HDR10, Dolby Vision, and a wide colour gamut in terms of display specs. In real life usage, the screen impresses with its high brightness, excellent contrast, deep blacks and rich colours. Yes, the screen still has a 60Hz refresh rate, whereas, in comparison, Android flagships now offer a 120Hz refresh rate. The reason is that iPhone does not need to provide a higher refresh rate as its optimized interface already works smoothly. In most usage scenarios, the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s screen looks as smooth as an Android screen with a 90/120Hz display. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has received DisplayMate’s highest ever rating of A+ and the Best smartphone display award, which further shows that the screen is one of the best available on a smartphone today.

Hardware

In its usual upgrade cycle, Apple has upgraded the processor on the new iPhone 12 range. The iPhone 12 is powered by the new A14 Bionic processor, based on a 5nm architecture and a four-core GPU. Compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the 12 Pro Max now comes with a base storage of 128GB and has 6GB RAM (11 Pro Max has 4GB). The battery is the surprising factor in specifications – the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 3,687mAh battery. This is smaller in capacity than the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which has a 3,969mAh battery, despite the iPhone 12 Pro Max being a tad bit bigger in size. The major new hardware upgrade is the MagSafe wireless charging capability. This is a magnetic snap-on charging technology similar to what we have on the Apple Watch – the charger connects to the iPhone via magnets and offers up to 15W charging speeds. Keep in mind that you would have to purchase the Magsafe charger separately for Rs 4,500. Apple also offers many accessories, including cases and wallets that use magnets to snap-on to the iPhone for additional functionality and style.

Connectivity

Connectivity is another area where Apple has taken significant strides. All the iPhone 12 variants now offer 5G connectivity. This is along with the usual WiFi-6, Bluetooth 5 and NFC. This definitely makes the iPhone 12 range future proof, especially since we have no clear idea when India would get to see 5G connectivity.

Performance 

Performance has never been an issue with iPhones. Even a 4-year-old iPhone 8 Plus still offers smooth performance and is compatible with the current iOS 14. With the iPhone 12 Pro Max, we did not notice any issues in terms of opening apps, switching between multiple open apps (over 40 apps open in the background) or playing any genre of game. The iPhone 12 Pro Max doesn’t have any issues playing 4k videos as well as editing them. Needless to say that the phone works seamlessly for any usage scenario, making it suitable for everyone, be it a housewife, entrepreneur, creator or gamer.

Battery & Charging

As mentioned above, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a smaller battery in capacity than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Thankfully, even though it’s a few hundred mAh smaller and powers a slightly bigger display, the battery still lasts from 9am to 9pm with regular day to day mix usage. With heavy use, we had to reach out to the charger by 5pm. There is support for fast charging now via Apple’s 20W USB C charger (not included in the box), which is always an excellent feature to have. Of course, when compared to 65W fast charging available on mid-range Android devices, the 20W fast charging does seem a bit outdated. Hopefully, Apple will work on providing better fast charging on the iPhone 13 series next year.

Camera

The camera is where the most significant changes have been made on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Purely in terms of specifications, you get a triple 12MP camera system with ultra-wide, wide and telephoto lenses along with an all-new LiDAR scanner. The LiDAR scanner helps in AR and makes a big difference in photography via its depth sensing. The 12 Pro Max features an ultra-wide lens with f/2.4 aperture and 120-degree field of view, a wide lens with f/1.6 aperture and a telephoto lens with f/2.2 aperture. You get a 5x optical zoom range, digital zoom up to 12x, and an all-new sensor-shift optical image stabilization. On the front, it has a 12MP camera with an f2.2 aperture with cinematic video stabilization.

Now that the specifications are out of the way, you should know that the 12 Pro Max has one of the best cameras available on a smartphone. It takes brilliant photographs with minimal effort, which makes the phone great for any type of user. Portrait shots are improved with better edge detection and adjustable bokeh. Moreover, not only does it takes excellent photos from the rear camera, even selfies from the 12 Pro Max are bright, well lit and sharp in focus. Even in low light, using night mode, the photos came out very well lit, and although there was visible noise in some areas, the night photos were still good enough to be shared with others over social media.

Along with the hardware, the software plays an essential role in getting these fantastic photos. The phone uses Deep Fusion to capture details and comes with an updated Smart HDR 3 that delivers improved colours, contrast and sharpness. For those who love to tweak their photos, the iPhone 12 Pro Max offers the option to shoot in ProRaw format that gives you the photo in a RAW format, just like a DSLR to tweak the photo as per your preference. These provide the iPhone 12 Pro Max with a big advantage for photos compared to the competition and even its own iPhone 12 Pro.

Even for videos, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is ahead of the competition. It is the first smartphone to offer video recording in Dolby Vision format. So it can capture unmatched details in videos with punchy colours – almost the same quality of videos you see in movies. Moreover, the new sensor-shift technology also offers a gimbal-like stabilization for videos, ensuring you get top-quality videos. All in all, if photos and videos are your priority, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the phone for you.

Conclusion

At Rs 1,19,900 onwards, is the 12 Pro Max worth the price? The answer is Yes, if you don’t mind spending the money and want the best iPhone available, then the 12 Pro Max should be your choice. It gives you the largest screen on an iPhone, unmatched camera capabilities, fantastic design, a great operating system with millions of apps and its future-ready with 5G connectivity. That being said, if you are on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, then you can avoid upgrading for now unless you feel that you need to get those camera capabilities right away. At the time of writing, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has been launched with an impressive feature set, and that will be the Android flagship to take on the Apple flagship. Keep an eye out for our review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to see if it can match up to iPhone 12 Pro Max