The iPhone 12 Pro Max ( ) follows in the footsteps of the 7 Plus and gets camera upgrades that none of the early iPhone 12 models have. At its core the iPhone 12 Pro Max, like all the phones in the iPhone 12 class ( the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Mini ), has a bunch together of things going for it like a new flat-sided design evocative of the iPhone 5 and iPad Pro. It has support for 5G, an OLED screen with confirm for HDR, a ceramic carapace covering, an A14 Bionic processor, defend for MagSafe radio charging and it can be submerged to a astuteness of 6 meters ( just under 20 feet ) for up to 30 minutes. If you want a deeper assessment of any of these features, take a search at my iPhone 12 and 12 Pro recapitulation .
9.2
iPhone 12 Pro Max
Like
- Premium plan and build
- Outstanding cameras
- capital battery biography
- 5G subscribe
Don’t Like
- The large camera blow
- The lack of iPadOS-like features
But at a start price of $ 1,099 ( £1,099, AU $ 1,849 ), or a hundred dollars more than the iPhone 12 Pro, this is the question : Are television camera upgrades on the 12 Pro Max worth the supernumerary money ? The shortstop answer is yes, but not just because of the camera. If you want the largest screen on any iPhone ever made, the 12 Pro Max is worth the price. If you respect having the longest battery life on any iPhone 12, the 12 Pro Max seems like an obvious choice. And yes, if you want to get every last drop of picture quality out of your photos and videos, then the iPhone 12 Pro Max is decidedly deserving it and has earned CNET ‘s Editors ‘ Choice .
Watch this:
iPhone 12 Pro Max review : Filled to the brim
The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a gigantic screen
Despite being alone 2 grams heavier than last class ‘s 11 Pro Max, the iPhone 12 Pro Max feels even more hearty and well-built. The flat edges, the matte-etched glaze back and stainless steel sides are another flush of bounty fit and finish. The revue unit I tested was gold, and the polished sides looked like C-3PO on his best day. But make no mistake, this is a big telephone. If you dropped it on person there ‘s a prospect they ‘d sustain a good injury. Defining all this premium largeness is a 6.7-inch OLED screen, which is larger than the 6.5-inch one establish on the 11 Pro Max and XS Max ( ). The modern screen makes the 12 Pro Max a sliver tall and, along with those flat edges, gives the colossus iPhone a fast full-bodied look. On the back of this chonky telephone is a camera bulge that ‘s thicker than an SD menu. When the 12 Pro Max is on its back, there ‘s a noticeable break between the earphone and the surface it ‘s on. I realize most people are going to put a case on it, which will level things out .
The 12 Pro Max has the longest telephoto lens found on any iPhone
When Apple announced the iPhone 12 batting order there was a little confusion about which phones had which television camera. But hera ‘s how it all breaks down. All four phones have the lapp ultrawide angle and selfie cameras. All four phones have a faster f1.6 aperture lens on the independent wide lean camera. That said, the fisheye camera on the 12 Pro Max is unlike, which I ‘ll get to in a moment. The 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max besides have a lidar detector, which helps with autofocus in low-light for photograph, video and dense apparent motion vitamin a well as AR apps. last, both the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have a third rear camera with a telephotograph lens, but the lens on the 12 Pro Max is longer than the one on the 12 Pro. At a 65-millimeter equivalent, the new telephotograph lens on the 12 Pro Max has a 2.5x ocular rapid climb. Compare that to the 52-millimeter equivalent telephotograph lens on the 12 Pro, which has a 2x ocular zoom. And that 0.5x extra goes a hanker way. It ‘s decidedly nowhere close to the 5x ocular zoom on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, but I was glad to have a small more pass on the iPhone . Patrick Holland/CNET Taking photograph where there is n’t a draw of light is a failing of any television camera. And the smaller the television camera ( like the ones on a call ) the more this weakness is amplified. The cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro Max seem built around the singular goal of taking outstanding photos and videos in medium and low-light situations. One way Apple has addressed this is to give the chief fisheye camera on the 12 Pro Max a larger detector. Combined with an f1.6 lens, the new detector gets an 87 % improvement in low-light capability, according to Apple. On wallpaper that ‘s impressive. To help things further, the 12 Pro Max has sensor-based ocular picture stabilization alternatively of the lens-based OIS found on the 12, 12 Mini and 12 Pro. By stabilizing the detector, Apple claims you gain the equivalent of a arrest of light, which again, on paper is impressive. For the most contribution, all these claims seem true. The Pro Max takes bang-up photos in low light, but when compared to photos from the regular 12 Pro, the differences do n’t jump out at you right off. And that ‘s less of a hit against the 12 Pro Max, and more of an indication of how good the cameras are on the iPhone 12 Pro. We ‘ll be going much more in-depth on photos and television from both phones in an approaching camera comparison.
Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET If you ‘re on the fence between the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max cameras, ask yourself if the extra size and heft of the Max is worth the benefits you gain in photography ? For most people, they ‘re credibly not and that ‘s largely because the 12 Pro besides has a great all-around television camera system. But for people like me, who want the best visualize choice out of a photograph or video taken on a telephone, then the 12 Pro Max is deserving having in your pocket… if it fits. One feature I ‘m stimulate about is Apple ‘s new ProRAW photograph file, which provides the flexibility of a raw photograph file but with the smarts of computational photography. deplorably, this feature does n’t come out until late this class .
Watch this:
Unboxing the iPhone 12 Pro Max and its bang-up MagSafe …
MagSafe, iOS 14 and the Apple Pencil
Like the rest of the iPhone 12 syndicate, the 12 Pro Max can take advantage of Apple ‘s MagSafe charge and accessories. Thanks to magnets and NFC, the call can get the most effective radio charge when attached to a MagSafe charger. When the telephone and charger plug in, there is a satisfy slap .
Apple besides makes the MagSafe Duo Charger, which can charge a phone and an Apple Watch at the same clock. It costs $ 129, and folds up into a handy travel size. And yes, that seems expensive for a charger even though it was cool to use. The Apple Watch charging fortune can be angled up. But why diaphragm at cases and chargers ? What if you could connect an Apple Pencil to an iPhone 12 Pro Max ? technically, thanks to those magnets, you can. But sticking it to the back of the phone is about vitamin a much use as you ‘ll get from it since the 12 Pro Max, like all iPhones, does n’t support the Apple Pencil. If there was always an iPhone to use an Apple Pencil on, it ‘s this one . Patrick Holland/CNET I wished Apple took more advantage of the 12 Pro Max ‘s 6.7-inch screen. iPadOS optimizes io for the larger screens of the iPad ( ) batting order. What about an “ io Max ” that would allow me to use iPad software features such as Split View on the 12 Pro Max ? Or support the use of an Apple Pencil ? An io that took fully advantage of the Max ‘s size would be another benefit to set it aside from the early iPhones Apple sells. And, seriously, a MagSafe Apple Pencil would be a killer accessory .
The 12 Pro Max has big battery energy
The sleeper feature on the 12 Pro Max is its large battery. Apple does n’t say how big the battery is, but during the week I had the telephone, it made it through a day and a half without a problem. Over the weekend, it made it all the way through Friday, and by Saturday good afternoon at 1:30 post meridiem it placid had 40 % leave. I ran a battery test where the earphone plays a loop video recording in airplane mode. Apple ‘s web site says that the 12 Pro Max should stopping point 20 hours doing this. In my test, it lasted 19 hours, 52 minutes. then basically as expected. We ‘ll be running more battery tests over the derive weeks, thus bookmark this inspection for updates.
Read more: The Best All-in-One Computers for 2021
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is powered by the A14 Bionic chip. And it ‘s bouncing and fast. The A14 chip is ampere much about giving you bang-up performance now as it is about giving you bang-up performance through years of io updates. In benchmark tests for performance the 12 Pro Max was on equality with ( not amazingly ) the iPhone 12, 12 Mini and 12 Pro. All of the new iPhones hold the distinction of having the most potent processors in the phones we ‘ve tested .
iPhone 12 spectacles compared to iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
Apple iPhone 12
Apple iPhone 12 Mini
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
Display size, resolution
6.1-inch OLED; 2,532×1,170 pixels
5.4-inch OLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels
6.1-inch OLED; 2,532×1,170 pixels
6.7-inch OLED; 2,778×1,284 pixels
Pixel density
460ppi
476ppi
460ppi
458ppi
Dimensions (inches)
5.78×2.82×0.29 inches
5.18×2.53×0.29 inches
5.78×2.82×0.29 inches
6.33×3.07×0.29 inches
Dimensions (millimeters)
146.7×71.5×7.4mm
131.5×64.2×7.4mm
146.7×71.5×7.4mm
160.8×78.1×7.4mm
Weight (ounces, grams)
5.78 oz.; 164g
4.76 oz.; 135g
6.66 oz.; 189g
8.03 oz.; 228g
Mobile software
iOS 14
iOS 14
iOS 14
iOS 14
Camera
12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide)
12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide)
12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide), 12-megapixel (telephoto)
12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultra-wide), 12-megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing camera
12-megapixel
12-megapixel
12-megapixel
12-megapixel
Video capture
4K
4K
4K
4K
Processor
Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 Bionic
Storage
64GB, 128GB, 256GB
64GB, 128GB, 256GB
128GB, 256GB, 512GB
128GB, 256GB, 512GB
RAM
Undisclosed
Undisclosed
Undisclosed
Undisclosed
Expandable storage
No
No
No
No
Battery
Undisclosed; Apple lists 15 hours of video playback
Undisclosed; Apple lists 15 hours of video playback
Undisclosed; Apple lists 17 hours of video playback
Undisclosed; Apple lists 17 hours of video playback
Fingerprint sensor
No (Face ID)
No (Face ID)
No (Face ID)
No (Face ID)
Connector
Lightning
Lightning
Lightning
Lightning
Headphone jack
No
No
No
No
Special features
5G enabled; MagSafe; water resistant (IP68); wireless charging; dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM)
5G enabled; MagSafe; water resistant (IP68); wireless charging; dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM)
Lidar scanner; 5G enabled; MagSafe; water resistant (IP68); wireless charging; dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM)
Lidar scanner; 5G enabled; MagSafe; water resistant (IP68); wireless charging; dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM)
Price off-contract (USD)
$829 (64GB), $879 (128GB), $979 (256GB)
$729 (64GB), $779 (128GB), $879 (256GB)
$999 (128GB), $1,099 (256GB), $1,299 (512GB)
$1,099 (128GB), $1,199 (256GB), $1,399 (512GB)
Price (GBP)
£799 (64GB), £849 (128GB), £949 (256GB)
£699 (64GB), £749 (128GB), £849 (256GB)
£999 (128GB), £1,099 (256GB), £1,299 (512GB)
£1,099 (128GB), £1,199 (256GB), £1,399 (512GB)
Price (AUD)
AU$1,349 (64GB), AU$1,429 (128GB), AU$1,599 (256GB)
AU$1,199 (64GB), AU$1,279 (128GB), AU$1,449 (256GB)
AU$1,699 (128GB), AU$1,869 (256GB), AU$2,219 (512GB)
AU$1,849 (128GB), AU$2,019 (256GB), AU$2,369 (512GB)
first published Nov. 9 .