the iphone 13 pro max is finally here and just like last year there is no charging brick in
the box you get a cable some pamphlets a single sticker and the phone and that's it
i managed to get my hands on the sierra blue color variants of the device the blue this year
doesn't quite stand out as much as last year's pacific blue where the color truly popped and
even though it looks more like grey than blue i actually prefer the more subtle aesthetic the
frame is still super glossy stainless steel which i still don't quite understand since the aluminum
frames on the standard 13s are not only lighter but come in a matte finish which not only looks
and feels better but prevents fingerprint smudges the good news is that the gloss backplate is still
a fingerprint free matte finish but the camera module is now absolutely enormous it's not quite
as big as the mi 11 ultra or vivo x70 pro plus is camera bump but it protrudes by an insane amount
however those cameras are one of the few upgrades the new iphone has and takes slightly brighter
ultra wide picks more detailed main photos a further zoom telephoto camera at three times
instead of last year's 2.5 times optical zoom the max digital zoom this time round is now
15 times instead of last year's 12 times and yes we still have lidar for great portrait shots we
now have something called cinematic video which is pretty much a bokeh or portrait video we've
seen on plenty android phones for a while now and yes just like those android devices it too
is capped at 1080p resolution and 30 frames per second of course regular video recording can go
up to 4k 60fps and just like all iphones before it records better video than any other smartphone on
the planet the selfie camera has remained the same but still takes some of the best pictures around
and the 4k 60fps selfie video recording option is once again class leading which also now supports
cinematic video of course that selfie sensor sits in apple's signature notch which is now 20
smaller but unfortunately is still part of the package and as much as i'd like apple to ditch
the notch i can't help but feel that the notch is one of those things that makes an iphone
an iphone inside that notch is of course a 3d face unlock sensor which works great but still
requires a swipe up after use and there is still a lack of a fingerprint sensor unfortunately apple
haven't utilized the extra space next to the notch for things such as a battery percentage icon but
the new iphones do ship with ios 15 which isn't quite the upgrade we wanted but there are a few
noteworthy features such as focus do not disturb profiles scheduled notification summaries scanning
live text from photos group tabs in safari as well as some added security and extra privacy features
all of which are available on last year's 12 pro max once you update it to the latest ios
15. powering all of these tasks is apple's new a15 bionic chipset which increases performance
thanks to a higher 3.23 gigahertz core clock speed and beefed up apple gpu now offering
5 core graphics instead of last year's 4. the results of antutu version 9 geekbench version 5
and 3dmark wildlife showcase this quite well but you really don't notice much of a
difference in average day-to-day tasks what has also improved this year are the battery
capacities which has the 13 pro max sitting at a whopping 4 373 milliamp hours over last year's
3687 milliamp hour battery in the 12 pro max the 12 pro max always hits over 9 hours of screen on
time in my detailed battery drain test so i'm extremely excited to test out the latest iphone
the bad news is that apple have kept the charging speed the same which means that in theory the 13
pro max will take longer to charge than its predecessor due to the larger battery size
that larger battery cell is needed though because while the display has remained largely the same
apple have finally introduced a 120 hertz refresh rate which they like to call pro motion you would
think that rocking a 120 hertz refresh rate panel is extremely battery taxing hence the increased
battery capacity but apple have included low temperature polycrystalline oxide technology
also known as ltpo in their pro displays this time around which allows for dynamic refresh rates
between 10 and 120 hertz which theoretically makes the new pro models even more battery efficient
the higher refresh rate isn't exactly noticeable when looking at it here and doesn't yet support
120 fps animations like on the ipad pros but the feel of scrolling and gaming is worlds apart when
comparing it to last year's 60hz iphone 12 pro max you are seeing and feeling twice as many frames
on your screen which is honestly the absolute best thing about the new iphone 13 pro models
unfortunately this new 120hz pro motion display is not available in the cheaper iphone 13 and 13
minis which leads me to say that upgrading from a 12 or 12 mini isn't exactly worth
it but it is certainly a massive upgrade if you are planning to get a 13 pro or pro max
for this feature alone i would even go as far as to say that android users finally
have a reason to purchase a new iphone this is tech neck and i'll catch you in the next one
you