iPhone 11 Pro Max review: The professional choice with a price tag to match
irstly, it’s important to note the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are identical in all respects except display sizing (the former is 5.8-inches measured diagonally, while the latter is 6.5-inches) and corresponding resolutions.
The smaller 11 Pro display resolution is 1125 x 2436, while the larger 11 Pro Max’s is 1242 x 2688 - the same resolutions as both the XS and XS Max - and pixels-per-inch (ppi) density is 458 for both devices. For the intents of this review, I’ll be focusing on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
iPhone 11 Pro Max specs
- 6.5-inch Super Retina OLED XDR display
- Triple 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto rear-facing cameras, 12MP front-facing lens
- 64GB / 256GB / 512GB
- 4GB RAM
- Runs Apple’s iOS 13 software
- Dual SIM (nano-SIM and eSIM)
- A13 Bionic chip
- Dimensions: 158mm x 77.8mm x 8.1mm
- Weighs 226g
- Water resistant IP68, up to four metres for 30 minutes
- Four finishes: Space Grey, Gold, Silver, Midnight Green
Starts from £1,149 for 64GB, £1,299 for 256GB or £1,499 for 512GBOn sale from 20 September
What does the iPhone 11 Pro Max look like
As you’d expect by now, the iPhone 11 Pro Max sticks pretty closely to Apple’s tried and tested design conventions. The power button is on the right-hand edge, the volume rockers and silencer are on the left and the lightning charger port (still no USB-C) is located at the bottom.
Apple isn’t a company given to radical design departures, and while the 11 Pro series is no exception to the rule, the handsets feature enough subtle aesthetic tweaks to mark them out as new.
The first and most obvious change is in the handset’s material: after years of focusing on a mirror-like shine, the 11 Pro’s glass back has been buffed to a matte finish. The slightly raised bump around the cameras is the only part polished to a shiny finish, while the stainless steel enclosure is colour-matched to the device’s shade.
There are four colours to choose from this year: the silver and space grey finishes which are standard across all Apple products, the buttery-pink hue Apple calls gold and new shade "midnight green", a deep foresty-khaki. All the shades are muted and velvet soft, appearing particularly grown-up in comparison to the Instagram-friendly pastel iPhone 11 range.
I suspect this is part of Apple’s strategy to make a clear distinction between the (even more) expensive Pro iPhone range with the full stable of features and abilities, and the non-Pros with fewer features but a more pocket-friendly price tag and fun, pretty colours. The Pro series is clearly intended to look more sophisticated, more, well, professional.
Other aesthetic changes consist of the relocation of the colour-matched Apple logo from the upper third of the phone’s back to its centre and the removal of the "iPhone" lettering from the phone’s lower-third. The result is sleeker-looking, more streamlined device back where the protruding camera system is the main focal point, which is unlikely to be an accident.