If you're looking for the finest iPhone Apple has ever created by a long shot, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is it, thanks to a really long-lasting battery. You'll need deep wallets to possess this phone, both literally and metaphorically, as it's large and pricey - but you'll get a lot for your money. Some improvements appear to be minor - we didn't get much out of the new 120Hz ProMotion display, and Cinematic mode will be quickly forgotten - but the low-light camera is excellent, the onboard power outstrips any phone on the market for heavy tasks, and it's all tied together by a unified user interface and app experience. This is the iPhone for you if you want a large iPhone that you can use for years.
The new ProMotion display is the largest enhancement to the display on the iPhone 13 Pro Max — and the biggest upgrade overall. The refresh rate on this 6.7-inch panel can be dynamically scaled from 10Hz to 120Hz, resulting in smoother overall performance and animations. When reading through The New York Times site on both the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I found that the text on Apple's newest phone was easier to see when scrolling swiftly on both displays. It simply has a more responsive feel about it. Swiping between applications and returning to the home screen benefit from these features as well. Apps that use ProMotion, though, thrill me even more. This includes Catalyst Black, a fast-paced online fighting game in which I transformed into monsters and shot in all directions. And the whole thing was so smooth.
The primary camera contains a new sensor, which is the biggest ever installed in an iPhone. It sports a faster f1.5 aperture lens, which means more light is collected. The ultrawide features a new auto focus sensor and lens that optimizes light gathering as well. Last but not least, the telephoto camera receives a new sensor and lens with a 3x optical zoom. The Pro iPhones did produce brighter photographs, but the difference wasn't always noticeable. I also discovered that images with rapid shutter speeds frozen activity better, such as when I photographed people riding motorcycles.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max also excels in terms of battery life, offering real multi-day battery life for the first time in iPhone history. When compared to the Android competitors, it's still slow to charge, but at 27W, it's decent. Is it, however, the iPhone we'd recommend to the majority of people? Most likely not. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is a large phone, with more thickness and heaviness than the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and a rather wide (by Android standards) 19.5:9 aspect ratio that makes it more difficult to operate one-handed than the iPhone 13 Pro. That, along with the fact that the iPhone 13 Pro delivers the same basic enhancements as the Pro Max at a £100/$100 reduction, makes it difficult to recommend the iPhone 13 Pro Max. However, if you're like me and enjoy a large screen and good battery life, this is one to consider.