The iPhone 13 Pro Max is without a doubt the best iPhone in history, just as the iPhone 12 Pro Max was the best of its time. But this year, we are seeing progress beyond a midlife upgrade; Developments that have a direct impact on your smartphone experience. The iPhone 13 Pro Max has the biggest changes in the field of photography and video recording, is equipped with a 120 Hz promotion display, and even in terms of charging, it can compete with the best in the Android world. You can see the specifications of iPhone 13 Pro Max below.
Specifications of iPhone 13 Pro Max
- Glass body with steel frame
- Weight 240 grams
- 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
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- Maximum refresh rate 120 Hz
- Maximum brightness 1200 nits
- Apple A15 Bionic chip
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- 6-core main processor
- 5-core GPU
- 6 GB of RAM
- 128 GB to 1 terabyte of internal memory
- IOS 15 operating system
- Triple main camera
- 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with 1.9-micron pixels and Shift sensor shake
- 12-megapixel ultraviolet camera with autofocus
- 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization
- 12 megapixel selfie camera
- 4352 mAh battery with 27-watt fast charge support
- Price $ 1,100 to $ 1,600
- The price of the 256 GB model is about 50 million Tomans
As you can see, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a collection of the best in the mobile world, but I think the most important thing about the iPhone 13 family is that the Pro and Pro Max models are not much different from each other. Last year the Pro cameras had the best cameras, but this year the smaller Pro has all the key features of the Pro Max. The difference between the prices of Apple products in Iran and the world prices has also become a common issue. The 256 GB iPhone 13 Pro Max with a world price of $ 1,200 is currently sold for $ 42,000.
Design and build quality
Apple is not a company that changes the design of its phones every year, after the modern and beautiful design of last year's iPhones was widely praised by users and critics. So the iPhone 13 Pro Max has the same overall design as the previous generation, albeit with very minor changes. One of these changes is the 20% reduction in notch at the top of the screen, which is now narrower, but does not change your user experience. The protrusion of the camera module is also slightly higher, which is perfectly normal, as better cameras require more physical space.
These minor changes are not at all enough to make a significant difference in appearance between the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the previous generation. So recognizing the new iPhone will not be easy at first glance. Even Apple's new color, Sierra Blue, is not much different from the previous generation's Pacific Blue and is only slightly lighter and bluer. Of course, I have graphite or gray, which is the first choice of many users and is nothing short of beautiful.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is about 0.3 mm thick and weighs 12 grams more than the iPhone 12 Pro Max. If you worked with last year's model, you know very well how tedious it is to use a phone of this size and weight for a long time. Although my phone, the Poco F2 Pro, is not a light phone and weighs 219 grams, the 21 grams of extra weight of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is quite noticeable in everyday use, especially when taking photos, videos and games. So before buying this phone, it is better to think about strengthening your wrist
The protective cover on the screen of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the same ceramic shield of the previous generation that has a high resistance, but any name you put on the glass does not reduce its fragility. In my experience, this glass also scratches easily. So I suggest you do not forget the glass and protective frame. This phone also has IP68 standard. According to this standard, the phone should last for 30 minutes in 1.5 meters of water, but Apple has gone beyond this and tested the new iPhone to a depth of 6 meters.
In the front view, the speakerphone is slightly higher and closer to the phone frame, so that the wide notch width of the iPhone 13 Pro Max is slightly less than the previous generation. The edges around the screen are the same as before, meaning they are by no means narrow by 2021 standards.
Display
Apple is no stranger to displays with high refresh rates. About the same time as the first Android phone with a 120 Hz display (Razer Phone) was introduced, Apple also introduced the first iPad Pro with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. But it took the tech giant four years to bring the technology to the iPhone, and now, with low-cost Android midrangers running at 90 or 120 Hz, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is using the technology for the first time.
Apple entered the game late but came out with a full hand. The iPhone 13 Pro Max has the smartest display in the mobile world in terms of refresh rate. On simple Android phones, you can set the refresh rate to one of two modes, 60 or 120 Hz. With Samsung or Xiaomi flagships, things get a little better, and the phone smartly changes the refresh rate based on the content being displayed. The new iPhone adjusts the refresh rate not only based on the content being displayed, but also based on the speed at which your fingers move.
Promotion technology on iPhone 13 Pro Max makes a significant difference in your user experience. Although iOS has always had the smoothest and most beautiful animations in the mobile world, now with high refresh rates, the animations look more eye-catching than before. Apple also allows you to disable this feature. Just go to the settings menu, Accessibility option and Motion option and select Limit Frame Rate. In this case, the refresh rate is limited to 60.
Let's talk a little about the general features of the display. The iPhone 13 Pro Max's 6.7-inch display with a resolution of 2778 x 1284 pixels displays images at a density of 458 pixels per inch. According to Apple, the maximum brightness of this display normally reaches 1000 nits and when playing HDR content reaches 1200 nits, which is a 25% increase compared to the previous generation. Interestingly, for the first time, the maximum brightness of the iPhone display varies manually and automatically. If you adjust the brightness manually, it will eventually reach around 850 nits, but in automatic mode, this figure increases to over 1000 nits.
The screen quality of this phone is also excellent, but with the naked eye you can not see a significant difference between the screen quality of this phone, the previous generation or other flagship Android market. It is interesting to know that the display of iPhone 13 Pro Max received the highest score from the DXOMark expert review site and is at the top of the table with a difference of 8 points compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Software and user interface
I received the iPhone 13 Pro Max with the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 15, which is not significantly different from the previous version, iOS 14. Apple also recently released the iOS 15.0.1 update to fix a few minor bugs. This version of iOS focuses on minor icon changes, face-to-face and messaging apps, notification management, Safari browser enhancements, and Maps apps. Photos and Spotlight apps are smarter than ever, and the camera app can detect text in the camera frame and convert it to editable text.
Overall, iOS 15 is a mid-generation update, but since we have to have a new version of the operating system every year, Apple has released it as a full version. Most importantly, iOS now runs much smoother and more attractive on a 120Hz display. Of course, as we have said before, the number of iOS features that do not work properly in Iran is also increasing every year.
Hardware and efficiency
The iPhone 13 Pro Max comes with Apple's new A15 Bionic chip, which is the company's second 5-nanometer chip, with the second generation of 5-nanometer technology from Taiwanese company TSMC. The number of transistors embedded in this chip reaches an incredible 15 billion, which is about 27% more than the previous generation. Everything on this chip is new; From two high-powered 3.23 GHz Avalanche cores to four low-power 1.82 GHz Blizzard cores. Apple's new GPU also has 5 cores. Next to this chip is 6 GB of RAM and the internal memory varies from 128 GB to 1 TB. 1TB of internal storage may seem like too much for a smartphone, but if you are interested in the highest quality professional photography and videography, you will admire Apple.
There is no better tool than benchmarking apps to know where the iPhone 13 Pro Max stands compared to the previous generation and the current flagships of the Android world. The following are the results obtained and their explanation.
- Antoto 9: iPhone 13 Pro Max gets 830,000 points in this test. The best result we had previously obtained in SoftGozar for this test was assigned to Xiaomi May 11 with 785 thousand points. Of course, Android gaming flagships like the Nubia Red Magic 6s Pro or Rogue Phone 5s Pro with the Snapdragon 888 Plus chip are currently scoring higher than the new iPhone and are considered Antoto's record holder.
- Geekbunch 5: In this test, the iPhone 13 Pro Max with a score of 1735 in single-core mode and about 4700 in multi-core mode is significantly different from Android competitors. The best Android phones have scored around 1175 in single-core mode and around 3729 in multi-core mode.
- Trady Mark: The iPhone 13 Pro Max scored 11,600 points in the Wildlife Unlimited test, a 30 percent increase over the previous generation. The best Android phones in this test will not even compete with the iPhone 11 and will hardly get 6,000 points.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max gets very hot during the above tests. The results of the stability test with the TradiMark app also show that the phone lowers the performance level just a few minutes after the test and due to the increase in chip temperature. The stability test result was also 70%, which is almost the same as the result we got for the iPhone 12 Pro, which is not a good number.
The body of the phone does not feel very hot during public use. Even after about 30 minutes of 4K / 60 shooting, the heat of the body was still not enough to worry me. The phone does not warm up at all when running simple games such as Mario Card, Kennedy Crash and Subway Surf. Call of Duty Mobile with the highest graphics settings does not put any pressure on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and runs as smoothly as possible.
The only title that can challenge the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the popular and very heavy Ganshin Impact game. If you want to run this game with the highest graphics settings and a frame rate of 60, in less than 10 minutes the temperature of the phone will rise sharply and you will experience a noticeable drop in frame. Interestingly, even by lowering the graphic settings, we still see occasional logs in the game, but the heat of the phone reaches normal.
Another strange thing when using this phone is running asphalt 9 at a frame rate of 30. In my experience, previous iPhones ran the game easily at 60 frames without lag, but the iPhone 13 Pro Max lags even when running at 30 frames per second, and we see a drop in frames in crowded scenes. This could be due to iOS 15 or an app incompatibility with the variable display frame rate, and may be fixed with a software update.
Overall, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has the most powerful hardware in the mobile world, but it seems that various applications, especially games, have not yet been optimized for the promotion display. Most graphic benchmark programs are locked at 60 frames, and games do not reach high frame rates. It will probably take some time for these problems to resolve.
Camera
Apple says the iPhone 13 Pro Max (and Pro model) cameras are the biggest improvement in the company's history, and it really is. Leaving aside the selfie camera, the other three cameras in this phone have each been changed and improved. Along with hardware upgrades, new software capabilities have been added to this phone to take your photography experience to a whole new level. You can see the specifications of the cameras of this phone below.
- 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, F-1.5 factor, 1.9-micron pixel size, PDAF dual-pixel autofocus, Shift sensor shake.
- 12-megapixel telephoto camera, F-2.8, PDAF autofocus, optical image stabilization, 3x optical zoom
- 12-megapixel ultraviolet camera, F-1.8, PDAF autofocus
- 12-megapixel front-facing camera, F 2.2
Apple does not usually talk about the size of the sensors, but the size of the pixels can be guessed from the size of the pixels. The wide-angle camera of this phone has the largest pixels in the mobile world right now, which is even bigger than the 1.8 micron pixels of the third generation Sony Xperia One. So the sensor of this phone is slightly larger than the 1.1-inch sensor of Sony's new flagship, but it does not reach other flagships of the Android world such as May 11 Ultra or Galaxy S21 Ultra. This large sensor, along with a very high aperture (1.5 / f), promises outstanding performance in all lighting conditions.
The optical zoom of the telephoto camera has increased slightly, from 2.5 to 3 times, but along with this positive change, we see a significant reduction in aperture (2.8 / f vs. 2.2 / f). So it will probably be a problem in the dark.
The UltraVide camera also comes with a wider aperture (1.8 / f vs. 2.4 / f), while for the first time in the history of the iPhone, it has autofocus and can capture macro images. I first experienced this feature on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, which was introduced three years ago with a 3x telephoto camera. So in these two areas, Apple is three years behind Huawei.
Camera interface
Not so long ago, the iPhone's camera interface was so simple that all users of all skill levels could take the best photos with the phone. Now, thanks to the multiplicity of cameras, increased capabilities and a high level of competition, Apple also provides you with a more advanced user interface so that you can apply the settings you need to the photos. Of course, the camera settings menu is still outside the camera app, and to access it you must enter the phone settings menu.
One of the newest intricacies of the camera app user interface is the different color profiles that are selected from the top bar or settings menu. For the first time, Apple offers the ability to manually adjust the temperature and color concentration in 4 different profiles. It's entirely up to you to decide which of these profiles you like. I chose the same original mode for photography. Below you can see some examples of photos with different profiles.
There are no other options for manual settings other than setting color profiles. One of the weird features of the iPhone 13 Pro Max camera app is that it automatically changes the camera you use, depending on your distance from the subject. For example, when you select the telephoto camera but get a little closer to the subject, the main camera is activated, or when you select the main camera and are less than 10 cm away from the subject, the telephoto camera is activated to capture macro images. This seemingly intelligent behavior will be a little annoying in the long run. Of course, Apple has promised to at least add the possibility of manually activating macro mode to the camera app. With these preliminaries, we go to review the camera photos of this phone.
Main camera
The main camera of the iPhone 13 Pro is the best 12-megapixel camera in the mobile world. With this camera, you can take the most beautiful photos with the least effort. Everything in these images is balanced, from the contrast of the image to the concentration and temperature of the color. There is no sign of noise in the photos, and like all previous iPhones, there is no exaggerated color or HDR. Focusing is very fast and accurate and you will never need to touch the screen again to change the focus. Below you can see some examples of photos from the main camera of this phone in good lighting conditions.
Of course, when you zoom in on photos, you see that some details are missing. Recording details such as grass or dense textures requires a sensor with a resolution of more than 12 megapixels, and increasing the size of the sensor or pixels has no effect on them. So if you want to crop images or print them in large size, the iPhone 13 Pro Max may not meet your expectations.
As the light decreases, the overall quality of the photos also decreases, but with proper processing, this phone delivers a really beautiful photo. Everything looks great as long as you do not zoom in on the photos. The photos of this phone do not have much noise in low light and they are at an acceptable level in terms of color density and contrast. After enlarging the images, you will see that the details are recorded in watercolor.
Ultraviolet camera
The iPhone 13 Pro Max's ultraviolet camera takes great photos in ideal lighting conditions, which are not much different from the other two cameras in terms of color, light and contrast. The details also look good enough in general, but the corners of the photos are slightly distorted and blurred.
You should not expect much from this ultraviolet camera in the dark. Of course, this camera takes much better photos than other iPhones with more aperture, but it does not work miracles. In almost all situations, you have to use Nightmode for night photography with this camera, but in the end, the output image will be significantly different from the main camera.
Ultraviolet autofocus capability gives you one of the best macro cameras and you can shoot even from a distance of 2 cm. Macro photos of this camera look absolutely beautiful in ideal lighting conditions. The result will be much better if Apple adds the ability to manually activate macro mode and manually adjust the focus to the camera app.
Macro photography requires enough light, and unfortunately Apple has not made it possible to use the flash as a light source. Using the flash for this mode usually does not give you the right focus. Therefore, for macro photography, you must be thinking about providing enough light.
Telephoto camera
The iPhone 13 Pro Max telephoto camera takes great photos like the main camera in good lighting conditions. One of the attractive features of the iPhone, which is the balance of light and color between different cameras, can also be seen here, and telephoto photos are no different from the main camera in this respect. Of course, it is clear that these photos do not reach the main camera in terms of overall quality, especially if you enlarge them a bit.
Selfie camera
The only camera Apple's favorite is the iPhone 13 Pro Max's 12-megapixel selfie camera. This camera is no different from the previous generation and takes very good photos in ideal lighting conditions. Thanks to the excellent image processing, the details and color of the skin usually come out of the water very well and no color error is seen. This camera does not have enough capability for night photography. Selfies in the dark are by no means of good quality, and even using the monitor as a light source or activating the night mode will not affect the result.
This camera does not have enough capability for night photography. Selfies in the dark are by no means of good quality, and even using the monitor as a light source or activating the night mode will not affect the result.
One of the attractive features of the iPhone 13 family of software is the cinematic video recording mode that gives a beautiful effect to your videos. This feature can be considered similar to portrait mode for videos, but it has become a little smarter. Other companies, including Samsung, have taken a similar approach with the live video focus feature, but Apple is performing better than ever. Of course, cinematic filming mode is not without its problems.
Battery and charger
The iPhone 13 Pro Max with 4352 mAh battery is the best iPhone in terms of battery charging. Of course, do not expect a record in the mobile world, because iPhones have never had a high-capacity battery, and an iPhone that can last until the second day without the need for a charger is exceptional.
In my experience, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the first iPhone to easily reach its second day. In fact, even if you try, you can not drain the battery of this phone in one day (unless you play 5 hours of Impact). With relatively heavy usage, including running various apps, web browsing, photography and video recording, and even an hour or two of gaming, the phone's battery reaches about 25% at the end of the day, which is a really good figure.
Conclusion
The iPhone 13 Pro Max has a set of small but important changes, the combination of which has resulted in an extraordinary result. However, these changes may not be equally important for all users, especially those who already have an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Let's review the changes in a few sections: display, camera, processing power and battery.
The display of the new iPhone now has a higher refresh rate, which is intelligently adjusted and plays animations more smoothly than before. However, I have not yet seen anyone dissatisfied with the 60Hz display of previous iPhones. The iOS operating system is smooth enough to run smoothly even on a 60 Hz screen. The higher color accuracy and brightness of the screen of this phone is not felt in general use compared to the previous generation.
IPhones have always had good cameras. If macro photography isn't appealing to you, and a 3x zoom to 2.5x doesn't make a difference in your photography experience, the new iPhone camera enhancements won't work for you. You can only enjoy the better quality of the main camera, especially in low light.
The A15 chip in the iPhone 13 Pro Max is extremely powerful and can even be called the most powerful chip in the mobile world, but the iPhone 12 Pro Max does not diminish under any circumstances and has enough power to run all apps and games for at least another 2 years.
Better battery charging can be the main difference between this phone and the previous generation. The iPhone 12 Pro Max had a very good charge, but the new generation with 2 to 3 hours more screen time, introduces iPhone users to a new world.
So in my opinion, if you have a member of the iPhone 12 family, the corresponding member in the iPhone 13 family can not change your user experience enough. I suggest you move to the iPhone 13 only if you either have older iPhone models in hand, or are taking a moment to move on to the edge of technology and experience the latest models.
Finally, I must mention the problems of buying and using the iPhone in Iran. These problems start with the very high price of these products, continue with the limitations of iOS and apps, and may lead to unrepairable. With Apple's new strictness in replacing parts, it will be possible to repair this phone only in the Apple Store, and the number of Iranian users who have access to the Apple Store is not very large.