iPhone 12 Pro Max Review : Critics and Users

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is by far the heaviest, expensive and the biggest of all the iPhones by Apple. The phone has been given many names already. Some call it a ‘Professional’s Phone’ and some call it ‘Phone for the riches’. Everyone seem to have their own versions about iPhone 12 Pro Max.

iPhone 12 Pro Max Specifications

• Body: Stainless-steel frame with glossy finish, Ceramic Shield front with oleophobic coating, Glass back with frosted finish, IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. Silver, Graphite, Gold, Pacific Blue color options. 160.8 x 78.1 x 7.4 mm, 228 g.
• Display: 6.7″ Retina XDR OLED screen of 1,284 x 2,778 px resolution, 458ppi, 800 nits, 120Hz touch sensing. HDR10, Dolby Vision support, wide color gamut. True Tone.
• Chipset: Apple A14 Bionic chip (5nm) – Hexa-core (2×3.1 GHz Firestorm + 4×1.8 GHz Icestorm with 3.1GHz Turboboost) Apple CPU, four-core Apple GPU, 16-core Apple NPU 4-gen
• Memory: 6GB of RAM; 128/256/512GB of internal storage
• Rear camera: Triple 12MP camera: Primary – 1.7µm pixels, 26mm, f/1.6, IBIS, Dual Pixel AF; Ultrawide-angle – 1.0µm pixels, 13mm, f/2.4, 120-degree field of view; Telephoto — 1.0µm pixels, 65mm, f/2.2, OIS, 2.5x optical zoom; dual-LED flash with slow sync. Night Mode, Smart HDR 3, Deep Fusion.
• Video recording: 2160p@60/30fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps video recording with wider dynamic range and spatial sound, OIS + EIS, Dolby Vision capturing.
• Front camera: Dual camera – 23mm 12MP f/2.2 front-facing camera with HDR mode + 3D TOF camera; Night Mode, Smart HDR 3, Deep Fusion. 2160p@60/30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps video recording with wider dynamic range and spatial sound, EIS.
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, 5G, 4G; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac/6; Bluetooth 5.0; Lightning port; GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS; NFC; Apple U1 chip ultrawideband
• Battery: 3,687 mAh battery, 20W fast charging, 15 Qi wireless charging (MagSafe)
• Misc: Face ID through dedicated TrueDepth camera, stereo speakers, Taptic Engine

iPhone 12 Pro Max : What is new?

It is a large phone. It is even larger than the iPhone 11 Pro Max by a few centimetres. This means it has a better screen-to-body ratio as well as a slightly better resolution. However, it weighs almost the same as the last version and that is despite the ceramic coating and the steel frame.

The flat edge makes it even more stylish but also it makes it difficult to carry in hands all the time. You probably should also invest in a good phone cover for the grip.

Display and Design Review

the iPhone 12 Pro Max has the same ‘new’ design as the entire iPhone 12 range. The sides are squared off making it look extremely classy.

Apple has used Ceramic Shield technology to protect the screen. It isn’t truly unbreakable but it sure does has the capacity to survive those oops accidents. The scratches and cracks aren’t visible if the phone falls, which makes it much stronger.

Also, the frosted glass at the back doesn’t leave any fingerprints.

Even after being the biggest iPhone so far, it isn’t the biggest phone in the market. OnePlus 8 and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are even bigger than iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The 6.7-inch OLED display is great to look at. It is crisp and bright. It almost gives you the feel of a tablet. I mean the screen is that big.

Camera Review

The iPhone 12 Pro Max has the same selfie camera and ultrawide camera as the 12 and 12 Pro but different main and telephoto cameras on the back.

Apple has also gone with a new telephoto camera with a longer focal length (65mm vs 52mm), so you now get 2.5x optical zoom and 12x digital zoom, compared to 2x optical and 10x digital on the iPhone 12 Pro. A side-effect of having a longer optical zoom range in a similarly sized body as the 12 Pro is that the telephoto camera’s aperture has had to be downgraded to a narrower f/2.2 from f/2.0

Apple has used sensor-shift stabilization, which means the sensor itself can move slightly on its axes to compensate for hand shakes, instead of the lens moving (known as OIS). It’s a first on an iPhone, but a similar feature was seen in the Vivo X50 Pro recently.

The main camera has the same 12-megapixel resolution but a 47% physically larger sensor, which can collect up to 87% more light than its predecessor.

Battery Life

Apple is known to have made iPhones with not so big battery life.

Battery life is class leading at more than 48 hours between charges (eight hours longer than the iPhone 12) with the screen on for more than seven hours.

Basically, if you charge the phone’s battery today; say around 10 AM, it will last till day after tomorrow 10 AM, 5G enabled. Now that’s something.

It takes 30 minutes to charge the battery to 50%, 73 minutes to reach 90% but two hours 13 minutes for a full charge using a cable and an Apple 20W USB-C power adaptor, or more than three hours with the MagSafe wireless charger.

Box inclusions

Sadly, the iPhone 12 Pro Max doesn’t have an adapter of the charger. Also, the headphones are missing from the box. The new phone comes with a Type-C data cable and a SIM slot pin.

The company might just take the pin too in the next series 😛

Price

iPhone 12 Pro Max price in India starts from ₹ 129,900. The lowest price of iPhone 12 Pro Max is ₹ 129,900 at Flipkart on 6th January 2021.

It indeed is a pricey phone and will dig your pockets deep.

Verdict on iPhone 12 Pro Max

Pros: very long battery, top performance, improved low-light camera, longer optical zoom, portraits with night mode, water resistant, wireless charging, MagSafe, Face ID, fantastic screen, 5G, long software support.

Cons: no USB-C, need your own charger, enormous, super heavy, very expensive.

If you can handle the huge cost and size, this is a phone for you. Loaded with almost everything needed in a smartphone, this could be the best buy for 2021.

Aakanksha Chandra

An enthusiastic writer, counselor, and education specialist. Having worked with the corporate, writing has become my all-time favorite. It brings out a plethora of emotions and knowledge. Know more about her on facebook