JANUARY 2021 MACWORLD 39much better than the brightly colored
aluminum on the iPhone 13. I understand
why Apple would use a different material
for its higher-end phones, but I’m hoping
the rumors of titanium for next year’s Pro
models are true.
iOS SHOULD CATER TO
LARGER SCREENS
Obviously, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is
substantially bigger than the iPhone 12
mini, but other than the physical size of the
screen, you’re not giving up all that much
between the two phones. The usual
Pro-to-non-Pro differences apply—better
camera, better display, better battery—but
for normal tasks, the Max doesn’t really
offer all that much over the mini. Unlike the
Apple Watch Series 7, which offers
enhanced user interface elements to take
advantage of the larger screen, the iPhone
Max has exactly the same interface as the
iPhone mini.
That means to say you’re getting the
same icon grid, widgets, dock, and App
Library. The iPhone 13 Pro Max could
easily fit an extra row of icons, but Apple
instead has a large swatch of blank space
at the bottom of the Home Screen. The
same goes for the Dock, which could fit a
fifth icon if Apple wanted. So the only
things you’re giving up with the mini are
larger photos and a couple of extra lines of
text. Apple should take a page from the
Apple Watch Series 7
here and retool iOS
to take advantage of
the extra space.THE MAX
NEEDS APPLE
PENCIL
SUPPORT
You don’t need me to
tell you that the
iPhone 13 Pro Max is
an extremely large
phone. With a 6.7-
inch screen, its
display is only about
The iPhone 13 Pro Max should take some cues from iPadOS. an inch smaller than