Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max Review: the “best” smartphone in the world with the worst name

Some people cannot wait for summer to relax somewhere outside the city, while others wait for the beginning of winter to go skiing most of all. Well, we are waiting for September to watch the presentation of new iPhone models. This year everything happened incredibly fast: on September 10, the new products were introduced, and on the 20th it's started to be sold, including in Russia. It's time to get to know the iPhone 11 Pro Max better!

If anything remains truly stable in the modern world, then this is a reaction to the announcements of the iPhone. Each time, couch analysts bury the company, accuse it of being secondary (sometimes even copying itself), lagging behind the market, and at the same time other deadly sins. And the further course of things remains just as stable - the new iPhones are scattered like hotcakes. In Moscow, according to rumors, this year there were no queues on the day sales started, but this more likely suggests that Apple is increasingly focusing on online sales, and the problem with a shortage of devices is being gradually solved at first. This is just a very good sign, and not vice versa.

This year, the company introduced just three iPhone models. The most affordable will be the iPhone 11 - this is the default option for most people, the ideological follower of last year's iPhone Xr and just a well-balanced device. More expensive options are the 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro and the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max. We got used to the word Pro in the names of laptops, iPad Pro is also a completely meaningful phenomenon, but where is the iPhone? Smartphone for professionals? Really?

iPhone 11 Pro Max technical specifications, equipment

The most unexpected in the case of the iPhone 11 Pro Max was the availability of an adapter for quick charging. We did not get tired of criticizing Apple for “saving on matches” a year or two ago, but now everything is in order. Moreover, the bundled Lightning cable at the other end has a USB-C connector, which means that the new iPhone can be charged from the new MacBook without buying additional accessories. In general, this year Apple is not directly similar to itself. But by the way, no, it’s just very similar, because the adapter from Lightning to mini-jack is not included - finally and irrevocably it's time to use wireless headphones. So buy yourself AirPods, for example.

iPhone 11 Pro Max design and ergonomics

The most important news (good for someone, bad for someone) is that the iPhone has not changed in the face. Specifically, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is very similar to the iPhone Xs Max. He still has a “fringe”, it is “monobrow”, it is also a cutout for the front camera, speaker and Face ID facial recognition system. And although this is clearly not Apple's most successful solution, it performs one important function: the iPhone cannot be confused with anything, despite the huge number of imitators and obvious clones. When the back side of the case is in most cases covered by a cover, and the front is almost completely occupied by the screen, maintaining recognition can be very difficult. Now the iPhone has another very characteristic element - a square block with three large cameras on the back. It was he who welcomed visitors to the official Apple website, and it was he who became the most controversial design element of Apple since the rejection of Touch ID.

 Although something very similar in terms of the camera, if you remember, was the Huawei Mate 20 Pro last year. Then everyone took it normally, and jokes and numerous memes about the ugly camera climbed out of each iron only now. This once again brings us back to the understanding that the iPhone is not just a smartphone, but quite a cultural phenomenon. No matter how loud it sounds.

Since today we are talking about the iPhone 11 Pro Max, then we will compare it with last year's analogue - iPhone Xs Max. And the first thing you can notice is a significantly larger weight. Last year’s flagship Apple was not easy, to put it mildly - it weighed 208 grams, but now we have already 226. So wearing it in your shirt pocket is not recommended, and the comfort of carrying it in the front pocket of jeans and the inside pocket of a jacket or jacket is already on facets.

There are at least two reasons for this weight gain. Firstly, the back surface of the case is covered with a solid and rather thick piece of glass. If you look closely at the protruding square platform under the built-in cameras, you will notice that this is not an overlay - everything is cut out from a single piece of glass. With this approach, the iPhone should be better protected from falls, but we did not begin to check it in the battle with the freshly laid Moscow tiles. Apple has long been using Corning Gorilla Glass in the iPhone, iPad and Watch - and this is never indicated in the specifications - and even invests in Corning's new research and development. In theory, each subsequent Apple smartphone becomes stronger than the previous one, but the Web is already full of photos of the broken iPhone 11 Pro. By the way, the rear window has a rough matte texture, the case itself is not as slippery as before, so the iPhone 11 Pro is not so scary to use without a case.

If the younger iPhone 11 (which replaces last year's iPhone Xr) is available in a variety of different colors, the flagship iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are available in more familiar colors: a choice of dark (Space Gray), light (Silver), gold (Gold) and the new dark green (Midnight Green).

The latter will definitely be the most popular. Firstly, it looks very fresh and unusual for Apple, and secondly, only with this color you can immediately understand that it is in the hands of a new iPhone, and not some Xs or X.

All controls remain in place. Two buttons for volume control and a silent mode switch on the left, a Lightning connector on the bottom, a power button and a SIM card tray on the right. Home button and Touch ID sensor - in the junkyard of history. There will be no painful addiction when switching from iPhone X or iPhone Xs: I transferred the data, put a new iPhone in my pocket and went - nothing has changed in this regard for years. And this factor in many ways keeps people from switching to Android. However, the point here is not only in hardware, but also in software. I will tell you more about this later.

In the meantime, it’s worth mentioning separately about the improved case protection. Formally, the iPhone 11 Pro Max corresponds to the same protection class as the iPhone Xs Max - IP68, but now Apple claims to remain operational when immersed to a depth of 4 meters for half an hour.

iOS 13 interface and features

New iPhones initially come with a new version of the operating system, although it is becoming available for past iPhone models. So in iOS 13 there are a lot of new "chips" that significantly change the user experience. The most important - and the saddest thing for me personally - is the lack of 3D Touch. Now, instead of pressing hard, long hold is used again. Say, if you want to change the order of the icons on the desktop, you first need to call the context menu by long pressing on any icon, and then select the corresponding item in it. That is, one additional action appears, and this is not the only example.

The menu that allowed you to share pictures has changed - it has become more complex and confusing. Many of the interface changes seem to be designed to further encourage users to use iMessage. There is nothing wrong with this, after all, every manufacturer is interested in promoting their own applications and services. But in a world where people love Telegram, and also communicate with owners of other smartphones with other operating systems, all this makes life more difficult than easy. 

The most anticipated innovation in iOS 13, of course, was the dark screen theme. I’m not a big fan of light fonts on a dark background while reading, but with great trepidation I treated the night mode, in which the display acquires a yellowish tint and does not so much “press” on the eyes in the dark. So, the night mode in conjunction and the minimum brightness of the screen is still the best option for me to read at night. The dark topic does not cause me much enthusiasm, however, the fact that Apple makes it possible to set it to turn on automatically (from dusk to dawn, taking into account the current location or indicating the exact time period) is definitely pleasant. The same can still be done with the night mode, as well as with the “do not disturb” mode, which turns off all sounds and notifications. Purely theoretically with a dark theme, an OLED screen should consume less power, but in practice the difference can only be noticeable if you keep the dark theme active all the time. And even in this case, it will be small.

 The new photo editing interface seemed very unusual - I often had to use the crop function, change the orientation and align the horizon, in the standard gallery it was implemented more conveniently than in Instagram. In iOS 13, the layout of the icons of familiar actions has changed, but in general, this process remains convenient. By the way, a similar logic of changes can be traced in the camera application interface. Apple is in no hurry to transfer all the camera settings to the application (the choice of resolution, recording format and other important things are still in the main menu), but now you can change the aspect ratio and turn on or off the night mode, and the corresponding icon appears only then when you shoot in conditions of apparent lack of lighting.

 Now Apple is betting on services - first Apple Music by subscription, then Apple Arcade and Apple TV +, so the new operating system actually does not allow you to get around them. I have a long-standing dislike for the subscription payment model, but playing games in Apple Arcade looks like the game should look like in an ideal world. Without hard-coded in-app purchases and other modern vices - just play and have fun. And now Google is launching a similar service, it will be called Google Play Pass. So you don’t have to worry about the future of mobile gaming: it will include not only three-in-a-row and not only continuous microtransactions.

 I note two more small, but extremely important things. The first is the volume indicator, which now does not close the half-screen, but is displayed with a narrow bar on the side or top, depending on the context. It's hard to believe that comprehension of such an obvious thing took Apple so many years. And the second is the ability to log into third-party sites and services using an Apple ID account. Previously, for this I had to keep the Facebook application on my smartphone - heavy, clumsy and updated indecently often. The only thing for which it was needed was just logins to third-party services, it was clearly more convenient than through a browser. But now I’m happy to demolish it and use the same function of Apple itself. True, you have to wait a while until everyone fastens it to the login forms on their sites and services.

Display and sound

The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 6.5-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2688 × 1242. Purely in numbers, this display is very similar to the one used in the iPhone Xs Max - the same resolution, the same physical size and the same pixel density . However, Apple calls it in a new way - Super Retina XDR display.

Frankly speaking, I don’t recall the case when we would have to somehow criticize Apple for setting up screens - there was always a complete order with color rendering and other parameters. Naturally, the iPhone 11 Pro Max was no exception. The used OLED matrix displays the perfect picture from any angle, supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 technologies. The declared contrast is 2,000,000: 1, however, in the case of OLED, this figure will be very arbitrary - attempts to measure contrast in laboratory conditions give infinity.

But the measured brightness corresponds to a good level for OLED, - 487 cd / m2. The measurements were taken in the daytime, however, the iPhone 11 Pro Max can further increase the maximum brightness level in bright sunlight. You will have to come to terms with the fact that you do not have full manual control over this component.

iPhone 11 Pro Max, gamma. The yellow line is the indicators of the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the dotted line is the reference gamma, the green, red and blue lines are the curves for each of the primary colors in the iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone 11 Pro Max, color temperature. Blue line - iPhone 11 Pro Max indicators, dotted - reference temperature

iPhone 11 Pro Max, color gamut. Gray Triangle - sRGB Coverage, White Triangle - iPhone 11 Pro Max Coverage

All these results are obtained with True Tone disabled. By default, it is active, and its main task is to adjust the color temperature and a number of other color rendering parameters for the most comfortable perception in the current conditions of external lighting.

The average gamma at default settings is 2.25 - this is an excellent indicator close to the reference. The color temperature is slightly above normal - it roughly corresponds to the value of 6700 K. However, in my memory there was no device in which the screen would be much closer to the reference number of 6500 K, the iPhone is completely out of competition here. The color gamut almost perfectly matches the sRGB space. Finally, the average DeltaE deviation for the extended Color Checker palette (grayscale + a wide range of color shades) is 2.58, which is also very close to the optimal value - I remind you that 2.00 is considered to be the spherical norm for working with color, but the upper bound is 3.00.

In addition, it is worth bringing the results of testing the screen with the True Tone active mode. But here it is necessary to clarify that the results will be different depending on how the external lighting changes. In this case, it was a cloudy day, and measurements were taken indoors without artificial lighting.

iPhone 11 Pro Max gamma True Tone. The yellow line is the performance of the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the dotted line is the reference gamma, the color lines are the gamma curves for each of the primary colors of the iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone 11 Pro Max, True Tone color temperature. Blue line - iPhone 11 Pro Max indicators, dotted - reference temperature

 iPhone 11 Pro Max, True Tone color gamut. Gray Triangle - sRGB Coverage, White Triangle - iPhone 11 Pro Max Coverage

This is only necessary to demonstrate the effect of True Tone mode on the picture. To assess the quality of the display, we do not use them.

iPhone 11 Pro Max is also good in terms of sound. It has stereo speakers that are directed towards the user. One of the speakers is conversational, it sounds a little quieter than the system one, but the sound is tuned in such a way that it does not feel at all. Well, plus to everything, now Apple announces support for Dolby Atmos. There is still no mini-jack, and the wired headset connects directly to the Lightning port. However, if you wish, you can purchase other wired headphones with this jack, or finally switch to wireless.

iPhone 11 Pro Max hardware and performance

Once again, Apple launches the most powerful smartphone on the market. Here we have a new Apple A13 Bionic processor with six cores, a new Apple GPU accelerator and 4 GB of RAM. In megahertz and gigabytes, the iPhone is always noticeably inferior to the current flagships on Android, but the perfect optimization of all subsystems and software works wonders - from year to year, iPhones show excellent test results. However, this time not all test packages were ready for the new hardware and iOS 13. We are gradually changing the testing methodology, which in the future will include a number of new tests. In the meantime, we have to admit the fact that in the case of the iPhone 11 Pro Max there are some surprises.

 If everything converges in AnTuTu Benchmark, then browser WebXPRT showed the result at least twice lower than what it should have been. Attempts to conduct testing in various browsers did not change the situation - the results remained approximately the same, adjusted for the test error.

 The superiority of the iPhone 11 Pro Max is particularly evident in graphic tests. It has excellent results in GFXBenchmark, as well as in the obsolete 3DMark IceStorm Unlimited. But in the more modern 3DMark Sling Shot, the results are no less impressive.

The most accurate assessment has always been shown by Geeknench 4, however, recently it experienced another major update and the rating scale changed once again in it. Therefore, we can not yet compare the performance of the new iPhone and the flagships of Android.

Communication and wireless communications

Apple cheated on itself last year, with the first launch of an iPhone with dual SIM support. True, then the model with two physical SIM cards was available only in China and Hong Kong, and all other markets received a smartphone with the ability to use one physical operator card and one e-SIM. This phenomenon is still not supported by all operators, but the approach itself is interesting - for example, in different countries Apple offered local rates that could be bought directly on the device. In some cases, the prices were sky-high, but on the whole this made it possible to do without buying local SIM cards, as well as universal solutions like Drimsim.

There is no 5G support in the iPhone 11 Pro Max, just as it is not in other models of the eleventh generation iPhone - let it be an occasion for someone to opt for a Korean manufacturer on the smartphone. But in my opinion, Apple is acting very reasonably - until the next year the mass deployment of 5G is definitely not expected, and today not all operators are able to get the most out of LTE. So from the point of view of working on the Web, the owner of the iPhone 11 Pro Max will definitely not feel left out - the declared download speed is one and a half gigabits per second. In addition, all new iPhones boast Wi-Fi 6 support. There are no changes in the NFC module - it can still be used only for contactless payment of purchases using Apple Pay.

Well, apparently, Apple did something with antennas, since the iPhone 11 keeps the connection much better than the iPhone X or Xs. This was especially felt in hard-to-reach places and with a weak Wi-Fi signal, but now there are no noticeable problems, which cannot but rejoice.

Cameras and Shooting Modes

The camera has become the main point of the update program this year. Apple was criticized for the lack of a full night shooting mode (like the Pixel 3 and Huawei P30 Pro, for example), as well as for the noticeable lag in the quality of photos and videos. However, the iPhone 11 Pro Max cuts off all this criticism in the bud. So, now in the smartphone there are not two cameras, but three.

To a pair of a wide-angle lens with an equivalent focal length of 26 mm and a telephoto lens with a focal length equivalent to 52 mm, an ultra-wide-angle lens with an EGF of 13 mm was added. The viewing angle turns out to be very wide: Apple does not get tired of demonstrating this in its marketing materials - and every time it looks very powerful.

True, it is worth noting that in the ultra-wide-angle module there is no optical image stabilization, and there is also no autofocus. With such a wide viewing angle and such a large depth of field, this is not particularly necessary - the focus is fixed at infinity, but autofocus would make it possible to get sharp even objects close to the camera.

In the daytime, the photos come out absolutely gorgeous, you can’t find any fault with them. You can compare the detail in the light and dark parts of the frame with what the Android flagships give out, but we will do this separately, but for now look at examples of shots in real conditions.

The good news is that the long-awaited night shooting mode has appeared on the iPhone 11. In it, the camera takes several pictures with different exposures, and then combines them into one frame, in which all sections are well worked out, there are no obvious overexposures and dips in the shadows. When shooting in the dark, a special icon appears on the screen that indicates the maximum possible shutter speed - 1, 2 or 3 seconds, and during shooting, a countdown indicator appears near the shutter button. Apple managed to realize this surprisingly clearly and in the corporate minimalist style - in general, we again have one of the best standard shooting applications. However, the main thing is the result, and it is impressive. Removing this on an iPhone X or even an Xs would be impossible.

 Examples of shooting on the iPhone 11 Pro Max in night mode

Speaking about the application for shooting, I want to endlessly celebrate various little things. For example, if you are building a frame using a telephoto lens, then the iPhone has a standard camera and the picture from it is displayed outside the viewfinder window so that you can better see what does not fall into the frame, in the case of a telephoto lens and its narrow viewing angle is especially true.

Another plus of the three cameras is that you can instantly switch between them when shooting video. True, there is one caveat - when shooting in 4K with a frequency of 60 frames per second, you can only access a standard camera with an equivalent focal length of 26 mm, and you can switch to others only if you shoot in 4K at 30 frames per second or in Full HD The quality of video recording, as always, is very high - in a standard and a telephoto lens, optical stabilization works perfectly, the sound is recorded in stereo and sounds very solid.

The front camera got the opportunity to shoot slow-motion video, and Apple positions it as a new chip called Slofy, but this idea seemed to me too tense. Perhaps the fact is that I do not have long hair so that I can wave it in front of the camera and get interesting movement in the frame. However, the ability to shoot video with a high frame rate on the front camera can be useful in itself.

Another interesting feature is that the viewing angle of the front camera changes slightly when the orientation of the smartphone changes. Vertically - slightly narrower, horizontally - slightly wider. This may be relevant for shooting group selfies, but I like it when a little bit of surrounding space enters the frame - it looks somehow more natural, the face is not distorted so much.

Battery life and charging

Apple traditionally does not like to talk about battery capacity in numbers, convincing us only that the new iPhone lasts longer than last year. The company has never been noticed in juggling data, but in absolute numbers, autonomy always looks more visual than all of these “work 5 hours longer than the iPhone Xs Max.” Let me remind you that our standard test involves looping video playback at maximum screen brightness with an active Wi-Fi connection. But there is one small problem in that video - it is quite dark in itself, so OLED screens get some advantage over IPS-matrices. So now we are testing all smartphones twice - in the old and new way. At first, this allows you to see the difference in results, sometimes significant.

In general, the iPhone 11 Pro Max played our old video for 14 hours, which is an absolutely excellent indicator, and in the case of the new one, its battery was completely discharged in 10 hours with a small one. If you thought that something similar would be observed when comparing the dark theme of the screen with the light one, then you are right, but only partially. The fact is that the content in the social media feed (pictures, videos) does not become dark - this applies only to some interface elements and text fields, so in this case the difference in operating time will not be so significant.

The fact that now there is an adapter for quick charging in the package, I already said, with it the iPhone 11 Pro Max charges significantly faster. Perhaps it's worth saying thanks to Apple. But here it is worth noting that the younger smartphone in the iPhone 11 line still comes with an old 5W power adapter.

Conclusion

No matter what evil languages ​​say, the new iPhone is definitely a success. Of course, I can’t say that owners of models of the past generation urgently need to buy a new one, just in this case you can show some restraint. From the point of view of speed, screen, speed of work, Face ID and other models of the previous generation are still awesome. But everyone who is now in the hands of iPhone X and younger should upgrade in the necessary order.

Performance, as always, has grown - in this regard, you have enough iPhone for three years, if not more. The battery life has reached the level of Android flagships - the iPhone 11 Pro Max can be actively used all day, with games, social networks, constantly connected Apple Watch and AirPods, and at the end of the day the battery will not be discharged to zero. But the most important thing is, of course, the new camera system. Wide-angle lens greatly expands the photo and video capabilities. And in this sense, it is very commendable that in the dual camera on the younger model of the iPhone 11, Apple refused a telephoto lens, and not an ultra-wide-angle one. The only thing that does not stop upsetting is the prices in Russia: you and I get almost the most expensive iPhone in the world.

Advantages:

• this is the new iPhone
• highest performance
• gorgeous screen and sound
• great triple camera
• good moisture protection
• long working time

Disadvantages:

• no adapter for mini-jack included
• prices in Russia are just space

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