The iPhone 12 Pro Max is Apple’s best iPhone yet – if you have large hands
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the biggest iPhone Apple has ever made, and it’s also the best – although you’re only likely to agree if you don’t mind spending the launch price of $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for the privilege of owning it, and don’t mind keeping a huge phone about your person day to day. The design of the 12 Pro Max mirrors that of the other handsets in 2020’s iPhone 12 family: there’s a new flat-sided frame, which looks more industrial, and is a little less comfortable to hold than last year’s model. It’s a whole new look that’s actually a bit old, given it debuted in the iPhone 4 a decade ago, but made a comeback in recent iPad Pro models. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has officially been replaced by the iPhone 13 Pro Max in Apple’s lineup. While Apple keeps around older basic models in its lineup, it typically quietly retires the larger versions, meaning you’ll be able to find the iPhone 12 Pro Max at other retailers, probably at a discount, but not directly from Apple. Given how incremental the upgrades are on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, though, we’d still recommend the iPhone 12 Pro Max as a top choice for fans of big Apple phones. The arrival of iOS 15 also adds plenty of new functionality, from improved Apple Maps to more nuanced Messages functionality to watching or listening to media with others via SharePlay. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is decked out in premium-looking, more muted colors though, and we’re fans of the shiny metal rim around the edge (despite the fact that it’s a real fingerprint magnet). It gives the big phone a modern and industrial look. While the iPhone 12 Pro Max is actually only a very small amount bigger than last year’s 11 Pro Max, the bezels around the OLED display have been shrunk to allow Apple to increase the screen size to 6.7 inches – and it’s a compelling reason to pick up the new larger iPhone. Images are clearer and more visible on the larger display, you can see more of a web page or image in daily use – and as a movie-watching machine it’s the best iPhone ever. It’s one of the best displays on the market, able to render both colorful scenes and more subtle tones with ease. The headline feature on the new iPhone 12 Pro Max is the camera array: there are three cameras, all upgraded with a better image processor. While the camera block protrudes from the rear of the phone more than on recent iPhones, the main 12MP sensor has been upgraded to capture a lot more light, and enhancements have been made to the image processing too – some of the photos we took were really impressive. However, the 12 Pro Max wasn’t that far ahead of the iPhone 12 Pro ‘s camera performance in our tests, which was surprising – images were, on the whole, clearer and brighter from the 12 Pro Max, but not by a huge amount. If you’re a budding movie-maker, we’d say it’s definitely worth looking at the 12 Pro Max – it’s packing Dolby Vision recording at 4K and 60 frames per second, so if you’re a content creator looking for a phone that can record high-quality footage, the 12 Pro Max can definitely do that. HDR will also make your movies look better, with improved brightness and color; however, it can look a little artificial, and clips will take up more storage space on your phone. It’s not a feature that most should look to upgrade for. The 12 Pro Max starts at 128GB of storage, which is the bare minimum we’d expect, as the cameras will fill it up quickly – and with 5G on board you’ll be able to download content faster, making it easier to fill up your phone with movies and music too. 5G is the future of mobile connectivity, but it’s not in itself a reason to buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max… yet. Many parts of the world still don’t have 5G coverage, so many users will find this feature redundant for now. In the next few years connectivity will become much more widespread though, so buying a 5G iPhone is more about future-proofing than enjoying next-gen speeds right now, unless you live in the heart of a major city. And 5G mostly just brings faster speeds (though it’s faster than even Wi-Fi for most), so you might not feel like that’s something that’s missing from your life right now. Apple has also added the innovative MagSafe tech to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which enables you to magnetically clip chargers, cases and accessories to your new iPhone. We like this addition, and more accessories are appearing all the time right now; MagSafe will only get better as time goes on, and getting the iPhone 12 Pro Max will future-proof you as more accessories appear on the market. Along with the larger display, one of the big reasons to go for the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the battery life – it has the biggest battery of all the new iPhone 12 range thanks to having the largest chassis. We easily crested a day of use in our testing, and even on days when we really pushed the battery hard we got to 7:30pm before we needed the charger – if you’ve read our iPhone 12 Pro review, and have concerns about whether it’ll last long enough, we advise moving up to the Max. If you want the best of all things in an Apple smartphone, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is it. The large and bright display, the enhanced camera, the longer battery life and awesome grunt inside make this a compelling smartphone. If your hands can cope with the extra heft (and your wallet with the heftier price), this is the model to go for. However, if the Pro Max feels a bit more than you need, or is beyond your budget, the iPhone 12 Pro offers a similar feature set and performance for less (although without the extended battery life) – and the difference between the cameras isn’t as marked as we expected. If you’re open to Android then there are also a few other top-flight phones to consider, most notably the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which at the time of writing tops our list of the best smartphones. You might also want to take a look at the OnePlus 9 Pro, which matches or beats the iPhone 12 Pro Max in many areas while coming in at a slightly lower price. Update: Apple has confirmed the iPhone 12 Pro Max will receive iOS 15 when it lands later this year, so you’ll get all the latest features on this handset. After an October 13,2020 announcement, Apple confirmed that the iPhone 12 Pro Max would be coming a few weeks after launch; while the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro were available on October 23, the company opted to release both the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max at a later date. iPhone 12 Pro Max pre-orders opened on November 6,2020, and you’re able to buy the phone now around the world. The iPhone 12 Pro Max price starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for 128GB of storage, rising to $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,019 for 256GB, and $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,369 for 512GB. Apple phones hold their prices well, so as of May 2021, you’ll still more or less be looking at those prices, even if you shop around. Though as the year progresses we wouldn’t be surprised if some stores start offering slight discounts, especially during sale events. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is big. It’s the biggest iPhone that Apple’s ever made, if only by a few millimeters. However, as it also has the new squared edges of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Max, aping the brutal, industrial design of the new iPad Pro range, it feels larger in the hand. That’s not to say this is a bad thing – if you’re not buying the 12 Pro Max because you want a massive iPhone, then you’re kind of missing the point. Those angular edges mean the phone isn’t as comfortable to hold as the more rounded iPhone 11 Pro Max, the curved sides on which folded more softly into the palm. One of the key characteristics of the Pro Max this year is the more ‘mature’ colors it comes in – the outside is a shiny stainless steel band, and this, the front accent and the rear of the phone now come in Graphite, Gold, Silver and Pacific Blue. That shiny outer rim looks fancy, but it’s also a magnet for fingerprints – get ready to polish it a fair bit if you want to keep it looking new and premium. Given the price tag, you’d expect an expensive-looking phone, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max definitely looks the part, especially in the Gold color we reviewed. Essentially, the design of the 12 Pro Max is just a larger version of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, and despite the size it still fits well in the hand, and it’s easy to hit the Siri / screen lock button on the left and the volume keys on the right. However, there’s one big difference: the three-camera setup on the rear of the 12 Pro Max protrudes much further than on the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, as there’s a larger sensor underneath to pull in more light (we’ll get to whether that’s worth it in the camera section, but – spoiler alert – it’s not bad at all). This means that when you’re putting the iPhone 12 Pro Max down on a table, it really rocks from side to side if you’re tapping away on the screen – it’s almost fun to play with absentmindedly, such is the protrusion. It’s really noticeable, and will make most people think about putting a case on the iPhone to just flatten off the bump. As mentioned, this is the largest iPhone Apple has ever made, with dimensions of 160.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.4mm, and despite being thinner than last year’s 11 Pro Max, it actually feels slightly larger in the hand, thanks to the square edges. Be ready for something that might annoy you before you buy: Apple has dropped the charging block and Earpods from the box. You’re now just getting a charging cable at purchase – and it’s USB-C to Lightning, rather than standard USB-A to Lightning cable that Apple’s been putting in boxes for years. The USB-C cable does charge the iPhone more quickly – but you’ll need to go out and buy a charging block at $19 / £19 / AU$29 from Apple to use it.
