hi everyone Aaron here for ZolloTech and the iPhone XS Max has been out for
about a year and a half and many of you were asking me maybe I should do a year
and a half later video on the iPhone XS and XS max and so this is my iPhone
XS max I have a blue silicone case on it from Apple in a matching wallpaper of
course which will be linked in the description but also I wanted to talk
about what it's like to use as far as it's designed compared to say an iPhone
11 pro max and if you take a look at my 11 pro max next to it you really can't
tell the difference just looking directly at it other than that the XS
max has a case on it and so looking at them side-by-side there's not really a
difference until you flip them over and so if I take the case off the XS max of
course the camera module is a little bit different but also you have a matte
texture on the back of the 11 Pro Max and that makes a big difference if
you're not using a case with it it's got a very nice feel to it I think
it looks a little bit better it's not glossy and it doesn't really pick up
fingerprints like the XS Max does so depending on how you use your phone if
you're using a case of course this doesn't matter and then it just comes
down to whether or not you like the camera module on the 11 Pro max versus
the XS max but the 11 Pro max does have a little bit better camera module and
I'll talk a little bit more about the camera later now as far as the XS max
design everything else is very familiar of course you have a stainless steel
that's polished on this one around the outside edge it looks really good it's
got all the same buttons everywhere that you would expect and the display is the
same thing you would expect with all of the others it's got fast faced ID so if
I pick it up swipe up we're in right away
and speaking of speed this is still super fast today using this next to an
11 Pro Max for example the XS and XS max still have the Apple a 12 CPU in it
so basically Apple's still using this with an unlocked GPU core in the 20/20
iPad pro it has the same processor for the most part and you really won't
notice any difference so anything from going into music and just scrolling will
be super fast maybe we'll go over go into a game once it resumed here you'll
see that we can get right back into it nice and fast
there's no slowdowns there's not really anything here well I'm kind of stuck in
this but you get the idea it's nice and fast no problems with that whatsoever
and if we want to leave the game go back out use the phone to message maybe go to
Safari or even open the camera everything's nice and fast you're really
not going to notice any slowdowns compared with the 11pro max side by side
the difference is so slight most people would never notice it from day to day
and so using this in 2020 is not a problem so we'll talk more about if you
should upgrade from the XS max in a moment but everything from the speakers
were you've got the stereo facing speakers maybe they're a little bit
better and louder in the 11pro max but it's not really a reason to upgrade per
se and then also reception now the iPhone XS max does have a little bit
slower LTE / Wi-Fi because it doesn't have Wi-Fi 6 but I have a Wi-Fi 6 router
in my house and if you have one you still are not going to notice a
difference when you're just doing normal tasks so maybe you're watching youtube
video you're not going to notice a difference because it doesn't take a
tremendous amount of bandwidth to watch a YouTube video so going from say the
XS max to the 11pro max with Wi-Fi 6 when you're using that sort of setup
really does not make much of a difference in the everyday day-to-day
use of it I've noticed no difference as far as receptions when I'm using this to
make phone calls or using it just for Wi-Fi or browsing the internet using LTE
there's really not a difference between the two
some people may with different carriers but I've noticed no difference on my
carrier now one of the biggest differences in 2020 with the iPhone XS
max now that the XS max has been out for a year and a half the cameras are
still good but they're not up to the level of the 11pro max so that's
probably its biggest differentiating factor along with the battery which I'll
talk about in a moment so we do have a normal lens and a telephoto lens but we
don't have that wide angle lens or ultra wide angle on the 11pro max now that may
not be a big deal for some but for others it will be you still get portrait
mode and things like that so here's a little portrait I snapped and it does a
good job and then if we go back to the camera I'm in the camera go back to the
camera maybe go to a video it for k60 but for some reason Apple has
decided that we can't change it in the software here within the camera app
except for in the newest phone so even the iPhone 11 can do this and the iPhone
se but not the XS max so this is something that Apple really should add
it's sort of ridiculous that they didn't add it but we can't change between frame
rates here but the camera works great in fact I've used the XR camera as well as
the XS max camera in many videos when I'm using it outside and no one could
tell the difference between the footage of a normal camera that I would use such
as a Panasonic gh4 or a cinema camera that I've used in the
the iPhone many people preferred the footage of the iPhone as well and in a
recent video I just recorded with the iPhone se the new one to record the
whole video and many people appreciated that footage so this camera keeps up
with that it is not as good as the 11pro max camera and you don't have that extra
lens but it's close enough for most people that I'm not sure that it's worth
upgrading now on the XS max this is where it feels like the forward facing
camera or the true depth camera as Apple calls it is falling a little bit behind
because in 2020 the forward facing camera on the iPhone 11 Pro max is a 12
megapixel sensor whereas we only have a 7 megapixel forward facing camera on the
XS Max and for most people this isn't going to be much of an issue because you
can still do portrait modes in real time it will blur the background and
everything but you don't have higher resolution video so when we go over to
video on the iPhone 11 pro max we can go up to 4k 60 whereas on the XS max we
can go to 1080p and this is okay but if you're recording 4k for YouTube or
something else the 11 Pro max is just a leap ahead of it when it comes to that
you can also record slow motion selfies or slow fees as Apple calls it and with
the XS max you don't have that it's actually not a feature I've ever used
you'll see it just reverts to the rear camera when you go to slow motion but
you can keep it on the forward facing camera on the 11 Pro max so the cameras
in the front are not too much of a big deal when it comes to the forward facing
camera but the video is a very big difference when it comes to that so
they're fine but if that's your determining factor
yes you could upgrade to the 11 pearl max but if you don't care about that
you'll be happy with the XS max in 2020 even though it's a little bit behind
when it comes to that forward facing camera but one reason some people may
want to upgrade from the XS max to a newer phone is the battery and the
battery is okay in this device and it's fine for most people maybe 7 hours of
screen on time depending on how you're using it but with the 11pro max you're
going to get about 10 to 12 hours of screen on time so it is a big leap in
battery life but if we take a look at the battery this was used for six months
and then it was replaced and then used another six months and it's a hundred
percent battery health and so usually this will start to creep down after
about six months of use it's just normal for it to degrade over time and eighty
percent after two years is normal and it just depends on use and since I've been
using the 11pro max since it released and I haven't been using this it's just
stayed at a hundred so if you store these at about 50 percent battery life
they last quite well and so normally seven hours of screen on time some
people may get more some people may get less but six to seven hours with normal
use charge it at night take it off the charger that's kind of how I do things
put it on a wireless charger charge there's no problem here put it on a
wireless charger charge it and then take it off the charger in the morning and it
does fine it just lasts well for me and I have no problems with it
so really the battery life and maybe the camera are reason two reasons to upgrade
but nothing else is really a reason at this point until maybe iPhone 12 that
may change quite a few things now after using the XS max for a year it really
doesn't feel like a huge upgrade to go from this to the iPhone 11 pro max and
in 2020 if you can pick one of these up I would recommend it if you can get a
great deal on it the deal is that Apple doesn't sell these anymore new they
don't sell them from the Apple Store you have to buy them either left over or
maybe from a retailer that's getting rid of them because Apple just doesn't sell
them new on their website or in their stores so you'll have to pick them up
elsewhere or maybe picked one up used or refurbished so if you're going to do
that and you can get that get it for maybe half the price of an 11 pro max I
would say it's a good deal if you're still looking for one and you get it
close to new as far as its when it was brand-new over $1000 then I
would say skip it and just pick up the new ones so it really depends on what
you can find one of these for but I would highly recommend it if you can get
a deal on it and I think it looks great and feels modern compared to today's
phones of course it's not that old but when you put a case on it most people
aren't going to notice anyway because they're holding the phone this way and
so there won't be any issue you've got fast face unlock you've got fast
everything else you're just missing Wi-Fi six and a little bit of extra
battery so those couple of things I think maybe make it fall behind a little
bit in 2020 but overall it's definitely recommendable now if you have an iPhone
XS or XS Max and you're planning to upgrade I'd love to hear when you're
planning to upgrade are you planning to get an eleven soon maybe waiting for the
iPhone 12 I would love to hear what your thoughts are on it in the comments below
if you'd like to get your hands on this wallpaper of course I'll link it in the
description as I always do and I'll link this case as well if you'd like to check
them out I forget the name of it but I'll link it in the description so you
can check it out if you'd like if you haven't subscribed already please
subscribe and if you enjoyed the video please give it a like as always thanks
for watching this is Aaron I'll see you next time