Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max after a month of use: Didn’t a miracle happen?

 

The release of each new generation of Apple devices is accompanied in the world by a large number of expectations, rumors, and, for some time now, unfulfilled hopes. No, the iPhone is still good. This is the best smartphone with a perfect ecosystem serving the user. It’s just that in the new generation you expect something more than smaller bangs and a better camera.

 

 

In our report about Apple presentation We have already mentioned the main innovations of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, and now we will tell you more about the details after a month of using the new device.

 

Let us remind you that the prefix “Max” has been found in the iPhone lineup for several years now. Last year’s Pro variants had differences not only in displays and batteries, but also in the camera unit. This year, the Max model again differs only in body dimensions, screen diagonal and battery capacity. The case colors for the iPhone 13 Pro Max are the same as the smaller variant: Graphite, Silver, Gold and Sierra Blue, like ours.

 

The upper “bangs” became a little narrower. She freed up some space on the sides for content. The interface looks a little neater. A really noticeable improvement was support for ProMotion – dynamically changing the image refresh rate from 10 to 120 Hz.

 

 

While the large display is still good for almost all tasks, the body for it is not the most convenient in most situations. It’s only convenient to type text on it with both hands. For one hand, the iPhone 13 Pro Max body is large, slippery, with awkward edges and a lot of weight. What’s big? The smartphone weighs almost a quarter of a kilogram (238 g)! If you fall asleep with it in bed, holding it in front of you, be prepared for bruises after falling on your face. And in addition to the huge dimensions, you will have to add a cover in order to somehow level out the slipperiness.

 

 

At the heart of all iPhone 13s is the Apple A15 Bionic chip. It’s strange that it’s not M1, because that’s what’s in the new iPad Pro. And there has been talk for a long time about a unified architecture and software for the entire fleet of devices. Everyday tasks, like most games, are difficult to load this processor with. Peak performance will only be achieved during video processing, camera operation, augmented reality applications and the like.

 

The camera block on the rear wall turned out to be larger and more protruding. And it was they and their capabilities that underwent the most radical changes. The telephoto zoom has become 3x versus 2.5x in the previous generation. A “Macro” mode has appeared, which works automatically. You simply bring the camera to your subject and the “magic” happens. You can shoot almost closely – up to 20 mm. This is really cool!

 

The entire setup of the main camera modules looks like this:

• wide-angle with a resolution of 12 megapixels and an aperture value of ƒ/1.5;
• ultra-wide-angle – also 12 megapixels with a 120° capture angle and ƒ/1.8 aperture;
• telephoto – 12 megapixels, ƒ/2.8 and 3x optical zoom.

 

It’s a pity that shooting in RAW remained just as neutered. The camera still applies software processing along with the profile, so there is not much left for professional refinements.

 

Separately, it is worth mentioning the video mode called “Cinema Effect”. When there are multiple people in the frame, iPhone automatically shifts focus to the one who is most active. For example, you have several people in the foreground having a conversation, and another person standing in the background. At the beginning of shooting, the focus will be on the talking couple, and when the distant character begins to move, the iPhone will automatically switch focus to him. It looks really impressive and adds a touch of professional production to the videos 🙂

 

 

Well, that’s the icing on the cake. iPhone 13 Pro Max has a higher capacity battery. Apple claims it should last up to 2.5 hours longer than the 12 Pro Max. In practice, the result is even better. With my usage pattern, the 12th generation iPhone made it to the end of the day with 10-15% charge. While the iPhone 13 showed such a balance by lunchtime the next day.

 

Sadness, sadness, which was explained to us by concern for the environment, but in fact, the whole point, as always, is about money – a skimpy package. Since last year, regardless of the size of the iPhone, the contents of the box have not changed. With the device, the user will receive a USB-Type C to Lightning cable, a paper clip, and an apple sticker. No power supplies.

 

As a result, there seem to be changes, but they are somehow niche or something. Very reminiscent of the transition from iPhone X to iPhone Xs. But then no one called it a new generation.

 

Rating:

+ cameras

+ adaptive display frequency

+ performance

- dimensions

- price