The iPhone 11 Pro has been out for about 4 months now, and it’s clear that a lot of
people are happy with it. Even a lot of those who were initially disappointed with it, have
now changed their minds, and a lot of Android users have actually gained a newfound respect
for this years’ iPhones.
So in this video, I’m gonna talk about what caused the iPhone 11 Pro & Pro Max to gain
so much traction after people started to get their hands on it. And I’ll also mention
my personal thoughts after using the 11 Pro Max for 4 months, including the features that
matter the most to me, and a couple of disappointments as well.
There’s actually one feature that I honestly didn’t care much for before I received my
Pro Max, but quickly became the most important feature, hands-down, of the iPhone 11 Pro.
I’ll talk about that feature in a moment, but let’s get into what makes this year’s
Apple flagship so special.
First off, the most controversial change was the design. From the front, you honestly can’t
tell the difference between last year’s iPhone and the 11 Pro, but the back is where
we got some huge changes.
The biggest one is of course, the new glass square camera bump that’s fitted with three
large camera bumps in an array that’s never been seen before on any smartphone. And even
if you think it looks ugly, you’ve gotta admit that it stands out from the crowd.
If you see this triple camera bump, you know it’s the iPhone 11 Pro, and honestly, that’s
a big reason why it’s doing so well.
I personally loved the design as soon as I got it in my hands and saw it in person. To
me, it just looks very solid and premium.
Another change is the new matte glass, which after four months, I’m extremely happy about.
My previous iPhone XS Max started developing micro scratches on the back from regular use,
and so far, it seems like the matte finish has actually been protecting my 11 Pro Max
from those same scratches, which is very surprising!
I also thought that the matte finish would feel very slick in my hands and make it easier
to drop, but thanks to the glossy stainless steel frame, I haven’t dropped it once.
This is actually the midnight green color, which is honestly the best color I’ve had
on any iPhone. The green tint is very subtle but it really helps it stand out from the
space gray.
So whether you believe it or not, the rear of this new iPhone 11 Pro has actually helped
sell more of them because it looks and feels different from other iPhones, and that’s
what matters to people.
Now let’s talk about the internal features that I believe have made the iPhone 11 Pro
so successful.
The absolute most important feature of all is the battery life. Apple did say that we
get a couple more hours of battery life with the 11 Pro, but I think they underestimated
it, I’m getting so much more battery life now that I don’t know how I was able to
get through the day with my previous iPhone XS Max.
It’s kind of ironic that we get a new 18 watt fast-charger in the box, which I’ll
talk about in a minute, because I’m honestly only using it every other day now.
With my old iPhone, I would 100% have to plug it in every single night to make sure I would
get through the next day.
But now, with the 11 Pro Max, the battery seriously gets me well into the next day,
and there have been many occasions where it would last me two full days if I turned on
battery saving mode towards the end of the second day.
This was literally impossible on the XS Max, and that actually have pretty decent battery
life.
And that’s why I think it’s the most important feature of the 11 Pro Max. It’s the first
iPhone ever that allows you to do anything all day without worrying about your battery
life.
Yes, the body itself did have to get a bit thicker and a bit heavier to fit the larger
battery, but the extra weight really does make it feel more solid and premium.
The second piece of this battery life puzzle is the fast-charger, and although I don’t
use it as often, it’s actually super important.
Now that it charges so quickly, like 50% in only half an hour, I know that I don’t have
to be as careful with battery life anymore. I can use my 11 Pro for 2 days and get it
down to 5% battery life, and simple throw it on the fast charger for half an hour and
be good to go.
The old 5W charger with my XS Max would charge so slow that I’d basically only charge it
overnight, so that forced me to be very careful with my cell phone usage to make sure the
battery would last me to the end of the night.
With the new fast-charger, all of that extra care is gone, and with the 11 Pro Max, I feel
perfectly comfortable going to bed with only 50% battery life without having to plug in.
Now before I mention a few things that I’m a bit disappointed with, let me talk about
two more features that I think made the 11 Pro succeed.
The first one is performance, which you honestly don’t notice much with regular usage, but
it actually makes a huge difference behind the scenes.
Because the performance of the 11 Pro is overkill, every single task, including playing high-end
games and streaming video, is very easy for the processor to handle.
So because of that, it actually heats up a lot less because it’s using less watts to
get the job done, and that ends up giving us better efficiency and battery life.
My old iPhone XS Max would get really hot while playing games, and I’d constantly
have to check on the battery life because it would drain so quickly. And now, with the
11 Pro Max, it doesn’t get nearly as hot and I don’t have to check the battery life
at all.
The extra performance also gives me a lot of peace of mind, knowing that it will easily
be able to handle anything I throw at it without any issues.
And there’s one last thing the awesome performance does that not a lot of people realize, it
allows for the best cameras on any smartphone.
The 11 Pro is able to shoot 4K 60 fps on any of the four cameras, including the selfie
camera, which can also record 1080P at 120 frames per second.
There is literally no other phone on the market that can record video this good at frame rates
this high, and that’s because they don’t have the same processor and sensor performance
as the 11 Pro.
Something that really impressed me was the video stabilization. There was a massive difference
compared to the XS Max, and you can see it in action if you check out our iphone x vs
xs vs 11 pro camera comparison video.
The 11 Pro has also done an excellent job in photography as well, with huge improvements
to Smart HDR and the new Deep Fusion mode, which are heavily processor dependant.
I’ve personally noticed a huge difference in white balance accuracy, which was the main
thing I complained about with my XS Max.
Now the 11 Pro might not take the best photos out there, but they’re very consistent,
which matters a lot to me, and combined with the best video recording out there, I honestly
think it’s the best choice for overall camera performance.
So those three things, the battery life, the performance and the excellent camera quality
have been the most important features to me since I got my hands on my 11 Pro Max 4 months
ago.
Some honorable mentions would be the difference in display brightness and improvements in
speaker quality.
Even though I didn’t really notice the color accuracy or contrast improving on the 11 Pro,
I’ve definitely noticed that it can get much brighter than the XS Max.
Viewing the screen is a lot easier while out in the sun, and it’s impressive that it
doesn’t really get as hot as before while maxing it out.
I’m also very thankful to Apple that they’ve continued to work on speaker quality and volume
every single year, and it’s much improved with the 11 Pro, especially thanks to the
new spatial audio feature which helps stereo music and videos sound a lot more balanced
than before.
With that, I also want to get into the things that I’m a bit disappointed about.
I’m glad we have the fast charger this year, but I’m honestly getting sick of the lightning
port, especially since Apple is moving more and more devices over to USB-C like their
MacBooks and iPad Pro.
I’m also a bit disappointed with Apple for giving us only 64GB of storage on a flagship
smartphone that costs over a thousand dollars. It’s simply not enough, especially since
I’m racking up more and more photos on iCloud.
While the iPhone 11 Pro’s display is amazing, I would have really liked to see it get upgraded
to a high refresh rate display, at least 90hz instead of the same old 60. This would help
make it feel more snappy and smooth.
Seeing as Apple considers this a “Pro” iPhone, it was disappointing to get the same
4GB of RAM as the cheaper iPhone 11 and even last year’s XS, so hopefully the 2020 iPhones
get at least 6GB.
The Apple Watch Series 5 has a new always-on display, which is a feature I’ve been wanting
on this iPhone for years, and yet, we still don’t have one.
And finally, the biggest thing I’m not happy about is the Face ID notch. It’s been 3
years of updates and we still have the exact same notch, while a ton of other Android phones
have slimmed it down or even gotten rid of it completely.
But, even with all of those shortcomings, a lot of people are loving the iPhone 11 Pro,
and it’s honestly a huge upgrade coming from the XS Max, mostly for the massive battery
life difference alone.
So there you guys have it, those are my thoughts on why the 11 Pro succeeded and my personal
experience with my 11 Pro Max after 4 months. If you enjoyed the video, go ahead and click
the circle above to subscribe, and check out our iPhone X vs XS vs 11 Pro camera comparison
video right over there. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you in the next one!