The iPhone 13 Pro Max not only towers above the other Apple smartphones in terms of size, it also outclasses the high-end competition in the test with a battery life of more than 17 hours. At the same time, together with the iPhone 13 Pro, it sets a performance record that should still be a long way off for Android smartphones with current hardware.
The display delivers excellent measurement results and the equipment is also very good. The camera takes good photos – but it is only slightly better than that of the predecessor and does not quite come close to the class of the best competitors. New features such as “Cinema Mode”, the high adaptive refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, but above all the extremely long battery life speak for the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
We categorized every aspect of the phone and gave a star rating based on general price/ performance of the phone in this review.
Current Best Price on Amazon: $1099.00
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Enormous battery life
- top camera
- 120 Hertz display
- Inductive charging
Cons
- Big and unwieldy
- Slow loading
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Design
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Our Rating for Design 8.1/10
The iPhone 13 Pro Max speaks the design language of the iPhone 13 Pro – just with a much larger display. And so it is difficult at first glance to see the difference between the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the previous model. Only on closer inspection can you see that the lenses of the triple camera are slightly larger than on the predecessor and the notch on the front is slightly smaller.
In the Pro Max version, too, the OLED panel is embedded in a stainless steel frame, while the back is covered in frosted glass. The display is protected by Apple’s own “Ceramic Shield”. The workmanship is excellent, but in a direct comparison with the Samsung S21 Ultra , the difference between the angular iPhone design and the design is noticeable.
The S21 Ultra, which at 6.8 inches is even a bit larger than the 6.7 inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, is much more comfortable to hold thanks to its rounded display, while even with large hands you have some problems Good to embrace iPhone 13 Pro Max. You can sometimes even feel uncomfortable edges that press into the palm of your hand. Of course, there is a simple remedy here – because a case or protective cover provides better grip.
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Screen & Display
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Our Rating for Screen = 8.3/10
The test confirms: Thanks to OLED technology, the contrasts on all iPhone 13 models are outstanding. In addition, the natural color representation is convincing. In the Android camp, on the other hand, bright colors can often be seen.
Although this looks breathtaking at first glance, it delivers an overly saturated color impression, which makes it difficult to assess photos. In the test for the extended color space, the lab also determines whether the display correctly displays special colors such as a neon-orange T-shirt. The iPhone 13 Pro Max does this excellently in the so-called “sRGB color space”, but not yet in the photo display in the newer “DCI-P3” color space.
Brighter HDR
Brightness is important for anyone who wants to see enough on their iPhone display outside, for example when taking photos in the sunshine. There are clear differences here.
In extreme cases, the iPhone 13 Pro Max managed 1000 nits max brightness (typical); 1200 nits max brightness (HDR), similar to the other models. However, the maximum brightness is only reached when displaying HDR content such as photos and videos for individual, very bright image areas.
The brightness is lower during normal reading or surfing. This is where the hour of the 13 Pro models comes in. With a good 1,000 nits (13 Pro Max 1,050 cd; 13 Pro 1,065 cd), they are much more suitable for the sun than the iPhone 13 and 13 mini (around 800 nits). For comparison: The iPhone 12 and 12 mini only manage 600 nits.
Pro-Motion-Display creates 120 Hertz
The OLED display is a Super Retina XDR screen with ProMotion that offers a refresh rate of up to 120 Hertz. The latter continuously adapts to the requirements in order to save battery power – the frequency varies between 10 and 120 Hertz.
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Battery
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Our Rating for Battery = 9.5/10
The most spectacular thing about the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the battery life: Measured by the display size, there is “only” a 4,373 mAh battery in the glass and stainless steel housing. But this delivers an incredibly good battery life of 17 hours and 9 minutes. No other smartphone in this price range can even begin to do that. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with a 5,000 mAh battery only has a runtime of 12 hours and 37 minutes. This shows once again how perfectly Apple can adapt its own software to the in-house processor.
Since last year, Apple has not included a power adapter in the scope of delivery in order to reduce the CO2 footprint of the individual smartphone. If you do have to buy a power adapter, you’ll have to pay around 25 euros for the original power adapter with a charging capacity of 20 watts. For a full charge, the iPhone 13 Pro Max needs almost 2 hours and after 30 minutes the battery is at 42 percent of its capacity. These are not top values, but are still fast enough. Alternatively, the iPhone 13 Pro Max can also be supplied with energy wirelessly.
Ultimate iPhone 13 Battery Life Test
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Camera
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Our Rating for Camera = 8.3/10
Apple remains true to itself: The iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max again have three lenses on the back. Behind it is a system with ultra wide-angle, wide-angle and a telephoto lens with triple optical magnification built into both Pro models.
For comparison, the 12 Pro Max offers 2.5x zoom, the 12 Pro offers 2x magnification. The arrangement of the three lenses remains the same. Every camera supports night mode and offers impressive images even in low light conditions. The optical image stabilization with sensor shift is also back on board – against the shaking of photo and video recordings.
Macro photos with 13 Pro Max
The ultra-wide-angle lens is not only particularly bright but also has something new up its sleeve: macro photography. This allows you to take pictures of objects from a very short distance.
The video mode also benefits from this. Macro mode currently starts automatically when the iPhone camera gets closer than 14 centimeters to a subject. With a future update, Apple also wants to give the camera app a manually activated macro function.
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Processor & Performance
iPhone 13 Pro Max: Our Rating for Performance 9.3/10
It goes without saying that a fresh iPhone model also gets a new processor. Thanks to the Apple A15 Bionic, the new Pro models were actually the fastest smartphones in 2021.
Compared to the normal 13 variants, the A15 chip is even more powerful when it comes to graphics, as the A15 Bionic is only equipped with five GPU cores in the Pro models compared to four GPU cores in the normal iPhone 13. In normal CPU applications, however, the increase in speed compared to the iPhone 12 is small, between 10 and 25 percent, depending on use.
So speed is not a reason for switching from the iPhone 12 Pro Max to the iPhone 13 Pro Max. But there are special computing units for artificial intelligence and image processing, from which camera performance ultimately benefits.
Credit: geekbenchiPhone 13 Pro Max: Conclusion
If you get the iPhone 13 Pro Max, you’ll have to get used to it at first as it’s a bit thick and heavy. However . iPhone 13 Pro Max; It beats our test with a high score, with tremendous battery life, high speed, good camera (finally with a usable zoom) and the best hardware. Many of the mistakes that Apple made in previous phones are not present in this smartphone.
