IPhone 12 pro max review: release date, price, specifications and features

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Introduction

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is much more than just a larger-screen iPhone 12 Pro. This is the largest display ever on an iPhone, measuring 6.7 inches. The iPhone 12 Pro Max (starting at $1,099), on the other hand, lives up to its name in other ways, with an even more advanced camera than the regular iPhone 12 Pro and significantly longer battery life.

Of course, it has the same lightning-fast A14 Bionic chip and 5G connectivity as the other iPhone 12 models, but this is the Apple phone to get if you want the best of everything. Is all of this worth the extra $100 over the standard Pro? Absolutely.

Price

The iPhone 12 Pro Max was released on November 13, 2020, for $1,099/£1,099 for 128GB of storage. The 256GB version costs $1,199/£1,199, and the 512GB version costs $1,399/£1,399.

Regardless of storage, the iPhone 12 Pro Max costs $100/£100 more than the regular iPhone 12 Pro.

It should be noted that the iPhone 12 Pro Max does not include a charger. A fast 20W charger is $19, while Apple's MagSafe charger is $39. See our iPhone 12 pro max affiliate links from Amazon at the end or the beginning of this review. If you purchase your iPhone 12 Pro Max from Amazon, for example, you can save up to $100 by trading in your old device.

Design & screen

In comparison to the regular iPhone 12 Pro, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a beast of a phone. It's the difference between having a flagship phone you can use with one hand and, well, not having one.

But in exchange, you get a much larger and more immersive display that not only fits more content on the screen at once, but also includes a larger keyboard for typing and a mini movie theatre in your pocket.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max appears to be more expensive than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. This is due to the new phone's sleeker-looking flat edges. My unit's polished gleaming gold stainless steel was particularly appealing. It's the equivalent of jewellery for smartphones. However, the finish quickly picks up fingerprints.

Aside from gold, the other colour options include the more mundane silver and graphite, as well as the eye-catching Pacific Blue found on the regular iPhone 12 Pro.

The notch on the iPhone 12 Pro is still quite large, but the TrueDepth camera is still very useful for Face ID. I just wish Apple could incorporate Touch ID into the display or the power button, as it did with the new iPad Air.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is slightly larger than its predecessor, measuring 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches and weighing 8.03 ounces. However, because Apple trimmed the screen's borders, you get a larger display in roughly the same size.

This year's iPhone 12 Pro Max is also more durable. You get a Ceramic Shield display with four times the drop performance and a better IP68 water resistance rating that goes down to 6 metres instead of 4 metres.

Display

The iPhone 12 Pro Max's OLED display is smaller but brighter than the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra's at 6.7-inch. I enjoyed an explosion of colours while watching Stranger Things, which almost made me forget I was holding a phone.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max also has the most accurate colour display we've ever tested. The panel scored 0.07 on the Delta-E test, with 0 being perfect. The Note 20 Ultra achieved a score of 0.24.

In our lab tests, the iPhone 12 Pro Max's display averaged 654 nits, while the Galaxy's display averaged a slightly higher 662 nits. However, in direct sunlight, we found the iPhone's screen to be easier to read.

The only thing the iPhone 12 Pro Max lacks is a smooth 120Hz rate, which would have allowed for smoother scrolling and even better gameplay, as seen on the latest Samsung flagships. Let's hope for the iPhone 13!

Performance

When it comes to raw performance, the A14 Bionic processor in the iPhone 12 Pro Max, paired with 6GB of RAM, is unrivalled. I kicked, slashed, and impaled enemies with abandon while playing Arena, and the gameplay remained as fluid and smooth as a console.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max also outperformed the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in the 3D Mark Wild Life graphics benchmark. The iPhone's frame rate was 41 fps, while the Galaxy's was only 24 fps.

On Geekbench 5, the iPhone 12 Pro Max outperformed the Android competition, as expected.

Apple's phone scored 4,111 points on the multi-core test and 1,603 points on the single core test. In comparison, the Snapdragon 865 Plus chip in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra scored only 3,294 and 985.

In our own video editing experiment. The iPhone 12 Pro Max transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 28 seconds, compared to 1 minute and 16 seconds for the Note 20 Ultra.

iPhone 12 Pro Max review: 5G

The iPhone 12 Pro Max supports all 5G frequencies, including sub-6GHz and mmWave. I tested the phone on T-network Mobile's and saw steady but not blazing speeds in central New Jersey.
Using the Speedtest.net app, the iPhone 12 Pro Max reached a maximum download speed of 211 Mbps and an upload speed of 77.5 Mbps.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max, like other iPhone 12 models, can automatically switch to 4G via Smart Data Mode. This is most useful when the screen is turned off, such as when streaming music.

Cameras

The iPhone 12 Pro Max has the best camera of any phone, which is saying a lot given how good the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Pixel 5 are.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a larger main sensor than the iPhone 12 Pro, which is intended to provide an 87 percent improvement in low-light conditions when compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The iPhone 12 Pro Max's main lens also has a fast f/1.6 aperture and a LiDAR sensor for faster auto focus.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max's 12MP telephoto lens also has a 2.5x optical zoom, which falls short of the Note 20 Ultra's 5x zoom but is better than the iPhone 12 Pro's 2x.

In comparison, Google's image appears flat and dull.

In portrait mode, the iPhone 12 and Pixel 5 were more evenly matched. The iPhone renders my face better, especially in the shadows.

Both the iPhone 12 Pro and the Pixel 5 capture pleasing images in this selfie, but they excel in different ways.

The Pixel 5 image has more detail, whereas the iPhone 12 image is warmer and has more even lighting across the face.

Finally, this Night Mode shot demonstrates how Apple's LiDAR sensor gives it an advantage. It can take portraits at night, whereas the Pixel 5 cannot. As a result, the face is much more in focus in the iPhone 12 Pro Max photograph.

Video Capture

To maintain stability, the iPhone 12 Pro Max employs sensor shift stabilisation rather than optical image stabilisation. Nonetheless, the results were quite impressive. Even when walking quickly, the iPhone 12 Pro Max did an excellent job of keeping this park footage smooth, even when some lens flare from the sun crept in.

Iphone (12 Pro Max) Battery

iPhone 12 Pro Max review: Battery life

One of the most compelling reasons to purchase the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the longer battery life.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max lasted 10 hours and 53 minutes on the Tom's Guide battery test, which involves continuous web browsing over 5G. That's nearly two hours longer than the standard iPhone 12 Pro, which lasted 9:06 minutes.

With a runtime of 10:26 over 5G, Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 Ultra trailed the 12 Pro Max by 7:59 with the 120Hz display mode enabled.

iPhone 12 Pro Max review: Charging(MagSafe)

The 12 Pro Max, like the rest of the iPhone 12 lineup, does not come with a charger. That may be the environmentally friendly thing to do, as Apple claims, but it's also inconvenient, especially if you want to charge your phone quickly.

A $19 20W fast charger will recharge a completely depleted iPhone 12 Pro Max to just under 50% in 30 minutes. MagSafe, on the other hand, is gaining popularity because it works with the magnets on the back of the iPhone 12 Pro Max to easily attach a charger. This $39 charger is 15W, which is slower than previous iPhone wireless chargers, but it is twice as fast.

Remember that you'll need a power brick and a MagSafe adapter, which are sold separately.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is also compatible with a growing number of MagSafe accessories, such as attachable cases and wallets, as well as Apple's $129 MagSafe Duo charger, which charges both your iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time. However, you will need to purchase a 20W charger for this accessory to function.