Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
The Good Stuff
- 120Hz refresh rate
- Outstanding performance
- Great design & durability
- Good storage options
- Good sound output
- Takes excellent pictures & videos
- Awesome battery life
The Bad Stuff
- Expensive
- Heaviest top range smartphone
- Looks similar to previous iPhone models
The top-of-the-range smartphone in the iPhone 13 series, the iPhone 13 Pro Max, comes with the best features to compete for the top spot in this year’s best smartphone of 2021. It’s called a Pro Max for a reason. It has a bigger battery, a better camera, a faster chip, bigger storage, the list goes on. Compared to other top flagship phones is it better or worse off? Let’s check the iPhone 13 Pro Max review.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Specifications
Display
6.70″ Super Retina XDR OLED, 120Hz, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 1000 nits (typ), 1200 nits (peak), 1284 x 2778px resolution, 19.47:9 aspect ratio, 458ppi; Wide color gamut, True-tone.
Chipset, GPU
Apple A15 Bionic (5 nm), Hexa-core | Apple GPU (5-core graphics).
Storage
128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Memory
6GB RAM
OS
iOS 15
Battery
4352mAh | Fast charging 27W, 50% in 30 min, USB Power Delivery 2.0, MagSafe wireless charging 15W, Qi magnetic fast wireless charging 7.5W
Camera, Video
Triple camera system | 12MP (wide), f/1.5, 26mm, 1.9µm, dual pixel PDAF, sensor-shift OIS | 12MP (telephoto), f/2.8, 77mm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom | 12MP (ultrawide), f/1.8, 13mm, 120˚, PDAF | Depth sensor, TOF 3D LiDAR scanner. Video: 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 10‑bit HDR, Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60fps), ProRes, Cinematic mode, stereo sound rec
Selfie, Video
12MP (wide), f/2.2, 23mm, 1/3.6″; Depth sensor, SL 3D. Video: 4K@24/25/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS
Other Features
160.8×78.1×7.7mm | 240g | Glass front (Gorilla Glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass), stainless steel frame | IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 6m for 30 mins) | Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) | Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | NFC; Siri natural language commands and dictation, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) support.
REASON TO BUY
REASON NOT AVOID
Overview
I’m sure you know what an iPhone is. Everybody does. But this is no ordinary iPhone. No. This is the iPhone 13 Pro Max! The elite. The headliner. The top-range iPhone with all the premium features in the iPhone 13 series. These great features include:
All of these are encased in a stainless steel frame, with a strong glass front and back. Did I mention that it’s water and dust-resistant?
What’s to Like
With the overview out of the way let’s dig deep and see what this amazing iPhone has in store.
1) High refresh rate
The iPhone 13 Pro Max comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling through the iOS that much smoother. In addition, it also has a large 6.7-inch display, with a screen resolution of 1284 x 2778 pixels. Check out the display specs of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and you’ll see that they are pretty much the same.
The only difference is that it’s got better brightness and smoother iOS scrolling. The display still looks stunning, producing sharp, clear, and colorful content. In short. You get a large, bright, and gorgeous display, with a high refresh rate for smooth scrolling.
2) Outstanding performance
Before we get into it, each of the four iPhone 13 smartphones in the series is powered by the new A15 Bionic 6-core chip. This chip is fast. Really fast. So fast it’s one of the faster processing chips around. Combined with the 6GB memory, you get outstanding performance. A great performer for normal daily use. If you’re gaming, then the iPhone 13 Pro Max has the power.
It beats other top-range smartphones by over 30% in GPU benchmark scores. Making it the one phone to handle gaming. And with a 120Hz display, it can handle demanding games capped at 60fps. Overall. Great performance for normal use and for gaming as well.
3) Great durability and design
The iPhone 13 Pro Max comes in a stainless steel frame built with strong glass front and back. It comes with an IP68 rating meaning that it has water and dust protection. To me, this means that this phone can survive almost anything. And it’s pretty strong too. That’s great durability.
Main view of the Gold iPhone 13 Pro Max
It also comes available with a choice of four: Blue, Silver, Gold, and Graphite (dark grey). Nothing to go crazy about. The design just looks good.
4) Great camera features
The 13 Pro Max comes with a three-lens camera at the back. It includes a 12MP wide, a 12MP telephoto with 3 times optical zoom, and a 12MP ultra-wide sensor. The selfie camera in front comes with a teardrop 12MP wide lens that also works as a face scanner. If recording videos is more your thing, you can record up to 4K quality videos at 60fps with the rear camera. Same for the front camera as well.
For a 12MP camera, from all three lenses, the pictures look excellent. They are sharp and detailed with a good color presentation. Taking pictures at night is no issue either as they come out just as detailed.
With videos, the quality is very good. 4K videos look smooth and detailed. Careful though. Unless you have the 1TB model, your storage will fill up very quickly. Overall. Great camera setup. 12MP of excellent and detailed pictures and videos.
5) Awesome battery life
With the 13 Pro Max, you are not going to run out of power anytime soon. This phone comes with a big 4352mAh battery that supports fast charging and wireless charging.
Triple-lens camera of the iPhone 13 Pro Max
Now with calls, you can get a good 27 hours. For web browsing, it comes down to 20 hours and if you like watching videos, you can get a good 24 hours. This is from testing with a 60Hz refresh rate. If you increase the refresh rate to 120Hz then the phone will use more power from the battery.
Suffice it to say, if you use the 13 Pro Max moderately, it will last up to 5 days of battery life. With charging speed, note that the iPhone 13 Pro Max ships without a charger. If you can get your hands on a 20W charger, you’re safe… relatively.
Because with the 20W charger, you can get a good 42% charge in 30 minutes. If you can a better charger, 65W for example, you can get a better charging speed. In this instance, 55% in 30 minutes. Lastly, in terms of charging speed, wireless charging is not the best option. It’s a 15W device, so the phone charges slower and takes over 2 hours to get to full charge. In short, the 13 Pro Max supports fast charging and wireless charging. It’s better to charge it using a 65W charger as it’s will reach full charge faster.
What’s not to Like
1) Expensive
Starting at over US$ 1000 for the 128GB model, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is an expensive smartphone. What can you expect? It’s the top-range smartphone in the iPhone 13 series. But it’s a great phone. You get what you pay for here. So if there is a bonus coming your way and you looking out for this one, I suggest you get it.
2) Heavy
The iPhone 13 Pro Max smartphone weighs 240 g (8.46 oz). The iPhone 12 Pro Max weighs 228 g (8.04 oz). The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra weighs 229 g (8.07 oz). Comparing it with these two top-range giants, you can see that it’s gonna put weight in your pocket.
3) Similar design
If you put the two iPhones together, the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, you don’t really see a difference.
All colors of the iPhone 13 Pro Max
The camera lenses at the back are positioned exactly the same way. The four edges of both phones are all rounded corners. So there are no major changes to the design. But if it works… it works. That’s not a major issue as other top brands are doing the same thing.
Verdict
I don’t like the iPhone 13 Pro Max. It’s heavy. It’s expensive and most of its features are from the previous iPhone 12 Pro Max. But I’m truly impressed with it. The overall performance is excellent. It looks great. Takes excellent pictures and videos and the battery life is awesome. That’s why I recommend the iPhone 13 Pro Max. If you have the 12 Pro Max then I suggest not upgrading to this one. So what’s left for you to do, is up to you.
I say check out the iPhone 13 Pro Max, get more info, and buy it if you so desire. Tell me how you find this review. Is it informative? Did you learn anything new? Do you own the iPhone 13 Pro Max? If not, do you want to upgrade? Any questions or comments, you’re more than happy to leave them here below. I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for checking out my review. Stay safe. Take care. Cheers!