Thoughts on the iPhone 13 Pro Max


This is from the perspective of improvements over the iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's not practical to upgrade phones every year, so saying the iPhone 13 Pro Max is a modest incremental upgrade doesn't take away from the fact it's a great device. It is certainly a worthy upgrade from older devices, but it is a luxury upgrade from the most recent model. Practically speaking, this is true most years, but this year's upgrades appear more modest than past upgrades.

As with every iPhone, the fit and finish are the industry's benchmark. As well are the performance and battery life. Even new features like the Promotion screen are executed well, even if Apple isn't the first to bring it to smartphones.

For me, the top 3 features of the new phone are the improved camera array, improved battery life, and improved display. There are many other improvements, but that would be my top three.

The camera is always my most important feature when considering an upgrade. I'll spend most of my comments around the cameras. My photo album is a living history of iPhone cameras from the original iPhone to the current model, minus the iPhone 3G. I've watched my family grow through the progression of iPhone camera improvements, and I appreciate each step along the way. This year, Apple seems to be promoting video heavily, but photos are getting a significant benefit. All three lenses are noticeably physically larger, and the specs indicate they all capture more light. Using the standard wide lens in good lighting, I don't notice much difference. The new cameras show their stuff, however, in lower lighting. It seems I can take photos with less light before triggering Night Mode. Furthermore, when Night Mode is activated, it seems to go quicker. Additionally, Night Mode isn't just for the wide lens, as the telephoto lens gains that capability.

Other improvements see a slightly better optical zoom with the telephoto lens. That's an increase of 0.5x to 3.0x optical. The ultra-wide lens now includes auto-focus, which brings with it a new macro mode. Macro mode works well when getting the phone right up against an object.

On the video side, the Cinematic Mode is getting heavy marketing play. Cinematic Mode allows depth of focus between foreground and background subjects. The feature digitally simulates a rack focus. Apple AI will automatically switch the focus based on facial recognition. That's neat. You can also go in and change the focus after the fact in Photos. That's pretty cool too. The effect is OK, especially on smaller screens, but it seems generous that Apple suggests filmmakers give up their cameras and jump on this feature. It will appeal to video enthusiasts, but the standard video mode will probably give better results for most users once the novelty wears off. A bit similarly, Apple is adding the ProRes video codec to the iPhone. ProRes will be attractive if you do video work, and ProRes is your workflow. This should also make incorporating mobile video easier into projects. Otherwise, I suspect most will be content with the default video formats. Note that Apple is hobbling the 128 GB version of the phone to 1080p. 4K requires at least the 256 GB model.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max does improve the battery life. The Pro Max iPhones are big phones with big batteries, and I had no complaints with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The new battery performance is icing on the cake.

The new Promotion display features a 120 Hz refresh rate and is brighter. 120 Hz is not an innovation to mobile phones, but it is now available on iPhones. The display dynamically changes refresh based on the content. This is intended to provide smoother motion, especially for scrolling. The added benefit is it should improve battery life as the screen will refresh less frequently when content is static. It seems flawless, although I wouldn't consider it essential. It's a nice-to-have feature that makes the already responsive device feel even more responsive. I might miss it if I go back to a regular screen, but gaining it didn't change my world. The display is also slightly brighter. I had no real complaints with the 12 Pro Max, but the improved brightness helps while in direct sunlight.

A new 1TB storage option is now available. This storage seems geared towards those Prores video users and perhaps people who want to carry every digital scrap of their life locally on their device. Personally, 128 GB with iCloud meets all of my needs.

Device performance is unnoticed. During the announcement, Apple notably compared the new iPhones to the competition and not previous iPhones. Apparently, it's about 10 percent faster. While that's a slight incremental gain, the iPhone 12 was hardly wanting in the performance department.

The sensor/camera notch is slightly smaller for people who have lost sleep over it. The notch never bothered me, although while it's narrower, we still don't get back the battery life percentage indicator.

The device is slightly heavier. It is noticeable when switching devices, but the size and weight shouldn't be the primary concern if you choose the Pro Max model of iPhones.

Similarly, the device is slightly thicker, and the camera array section is larger, presumably to accommodate the larger lens. This slight change requires new cases for a device that otherwise is the same design and size. A pet peeve is Apple's cases come in slightly different colors, and the new blue cases no longer match my dark navy watch band. Apple will sell you a new watch band in the new iPhone case colors, of course.

In summary, the upgrade advice is similar to most years but a little stronger. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is the flagship iPhone that is impressive across the board. But it's only a worthy upgrade for those looking to stay on pace with the latest greatest or are at least two or three iterations behind. Whether to choose another model is largely dependent on your budget and preference for size/weight. While some features are exclusive to the Pro Max, it depends on whether the added cost is worth it.