All-Round Review After Using iPhone 12 Pro Max for Half a Year

The iPhone 12 series has been released for half a year, and I have used the iPhone 12 Pro Max for nearly 5 months. As the largest and most powerful model in the iPhone 12 series, how does it perform? Let's check it out!

With a 6.7-inch display, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the largest display on the iPhone ever. However, the iPhone 12 Pro Max (starting at $1,099) is well-known in other respects. Its camera is more advanced than the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro and has a longer battery life. The iPhone 12 Pro Max does not come with a charger. The fast 20W charger is priced at $19, and Apple’s MagSafe charger is priced at $39. It is not very friendly for users who have bought an Apple phone for the first time.

Design

Compared with iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro Max is more likely a beast. It weighs 226g, and the size is 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches, which is heavier than the previous product. iPhone 12 Pro Max is more tough this year. You will get a ceramic shield front cover with four times drop resistance performance. And the IP68 water-and-dust resistance performance is better, down to 6 meters instead of 4 meters. The iPhone 12 Pro Max looks more upscale than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. That's because the edges of the new phone are sharp and flat. The polished and shiny golden stainless steel is particularly eye-catching. However, the surface treatment will pick up fingerprints quickly.

Display

With a 6.7-inch OLED display, the OLED panel of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is smaller than the 6.9-inch Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, but brighter. The iPhone 12 Pro Max's display has an average brightness of 654 nits, while the Note 20 Ultra has an average brightness of 662 nits. Compared to 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max's pixel density is about the same, and you still get great OLED contrast, color, and HDR with typical brightness up to 800 nits for standard content and 1,200 nits for HDR content. And we also found that the iPhone’s screen is easier to read in direct sunlight. The only thing the iPhone 12 Pro Max lacks is a 120Hz refresh rate display, which will make scrolling smoother.

Cameras

Compared with the iPhone 12 Pro, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a larger main sensor, which is designed to be 87% better than the iPhone 11 Pro Max in low light conditions. The main lens of the iPhone 12 Pro Max also has a fast f/1.6 aperture and LiDAR sensor for faster autofocus. The remaining two lenses are a 12MP f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle lens with a 120-degree field of view and a 12MP telephoto lens with a 2.5 optical zoom, which is better than 2x zoom lens in iPhone 12 Pro. Although it doesn’t sound as impressive as other phones that offer up to 10x optical zoom, it’s still a great feature. These three lenses will provide you with more ways of composing and capturing the moment of your imagination. If you want to view more camera samples, you can go to the previous blog we compared with Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Camera Test

Performance

In terms of performance, the use of the A14 Bionic processor in the iPhone 12 Pro Max with 6GB of RAM is unparalleled. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also beats the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in the 3D Mark Wild Life graphics benchmark test. Apple's mobile phone can record 41 frames per second, while the Galaxy has only 24 fps. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 12 Pro Max also defeated all Android competitors on Geekbench 5. Apple's mobile phone reached 4,111 in the multi-core test and 1,603 in the single-core test. In contrast, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s Snapdragon 865 Plus chip scores only 3294 and 985.

5G

iPhone 12 Pro Max supports various 5G styles, including mmWave. I tested the phone on T-Mobile's network and saw a steady speed in central California. Using the Speedtest.net application, the download speed of the iPhone 12 Pro Max reached 271 Mbps and the upload speed reached 57.2 Mbps. Like other iPhone 12 models, iPhone 12 Pro Max can automatically switch to 4G through its smart data mode. This function is usually very convenient when the screen is off, such as when streaming music.

Battery Life

The iPhone 12 Pro Max’s 3687 mAh battery lasted 10 hours and 53 minutes on 5G, which is very impressive. This is nearly two hours better than the iPhone 12 Pro. The Galaxy S20 Ultra with a larger 5,000 mAh battery can be used for 12 hours and 3 minutes, but down to 9:13 in 120Hz display mode. Of course, our web surfing test is just a way to measure battery life. And we know that no one will go online for 10 to 11 hours in a row. But this does provide us with a way to compare the battery life of multiple mobile phones, even if this is a heavy test.

Bottom Words

The iPhone 12 Pro Max lives up to its name in some key aspects. Compared with the normal iPhone 12 Pro, you can get a larger display and longer battery life. Personally, I did not find that the larger camera sensor of the Max can produce better images than other iPhone 12 models, but I am happy to get a more powerful zoom. All in all, if you are proficient in photography and videography, and want the best iPhone Apple currently offers, or just want a big Apple phone for daily use and gaming, then the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be your ideal choice. If you are looking for a smaller and cheaper one, then the other 3 models will be better choices. Before you change to a new iPhone, you may wish to back up your iPhone, or use iTransfer to directly transfer files between iPhones, which will be easier to operate than on iTunes.