DECEMBER 2021 MACWORLD 41mmmmh
iPhone 13 Pro Max
PROS- Epic battery life.
- ProMotion finally on
iPhone. - Great camera system.
CONS - No USB-C.
- No always-on display.
- It’s time for a selfie camera
upgrade.
PRICE
$1,049
COMPANY
Apple
Compared to the iPhone
13, the 13 Pro Max
captures incredible detail
at close range. By
comparison, the iPhone
13’s photo looks blurry
and muddy.
BATTERY LIFE
Apple put bigger batteries in the iPhone 13
line–the battery in the iPhone 13 Pro Max
has about 18 percent higher capacity than
the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Combined with
the more energy-efficient OLED display,
the more efficient wireless radios, and the
ability of the ProMotion display to turn the
refresh rate down, you get some really
fantastic battery life.
We run our battery benchmark at a
constant 200 nits brightness, with no True
Tone or adaptive brightness.
Then we run the Geekbench 4
battery test, which puts a
significant strain on the entire
processor, CPU, and GPU. We
record how long the battery lasts
(in minutes) from a full charge
until the phone dies. It’s a
reasonable representation of
how much screen-on time you
can expect in mixed use.
The results are impressive, to
say the least. The iPhone 13 Pro
Max ran for 11 hours, 41 minutes,
three hours longer than the iPhone 12
Pro’s time (and that was already good).
The iPhone 13 Pro Max lasts a
whopping 34% longer than the iPhone
12 Pro Max and 26 percent longer than
the iPhone 13 Pro. It’s really incredible
how much Apple has done to improve
battery life in recent years. Consider
that the iPhone XS Max is only three
years old, and Apple has more than
doubled battery life while dramatically
improving both performance
and display quality.
This is what you buy the
iPhone 13 Pro Max for. It costs
$100 more than the iPhone 13
Pro, already a very expensive
phone. But if you want a big
huge display and a big huge
battery, it’s well worth the
premium. Be sure to read our
iPhone 13 Pro review (fave.
co/3w59OgJ) for details on
every other aspect of this phone,
as they’re otherwise identical. ■The iPhone 13 Pro Max has impressive battery life.