iPhone 13 Pro Max is the ‘best of the best’ from Apple

New iPhones always launch with hype, but the latest model from Apple has some seriously nifty features that sets it apart from the rest.

iPhone 13 Pro Max: Elly Awesome reviews camera, display and battery life.

The iPhone 13 Pro is the best and most feature-packed iPhone that you can buy right now. With a new Super Retina XDR display, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, improved battery life and powerful A15 chip, not only is it a seriously powerful phone, but an incredible camera system that you can fit in your pocket.

Next, imagine all of these enhancements experienced on a 6.7” display – well now, you’ve got the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Unboxing

Simply put, I had to get my hands on this device. It’s an iPhone experience like no other and excitingly it’s also available in a new colour – Sierra Blue. The other colourway options are Graphite, Gold and Silver (which we’ve seen previously and are also available on the 6.1” iPhone 13 Pro).

The Sierra Blue colour is very much a shade of baby blue but also has a matte glass back, and gorgeous reflective stainless steel edges that offer a sophisticated look which could definitely suit anyone.

Elly Awesome couldn’t wait to get her hands on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

There’s not much inside the box besides the iPhone 13 Pro Max itself, a USB-C to Apple Lightning charging cable and some documentation (including an Apple sticker).

No included wall charger, which is becoming the norm for more and more mobile brands.

Display and specs

When it comes to the display, it’s definitely improved from the previous models.

Now, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max’s display can run up to 120Hz, thanks to their new feature called ProMotion.

This feature adapts the iPhone’s refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz to suit how the phone is being used in the moment, which as a bonus, can also help preserve battery life.

For more context, you’ll often hear gamers going on about “high refresh rates” as they’re extremely helpful to reduce lag between a command being input and the action being played out on screen. And it’s the same deal with phones, ie if you’re gaming on an iPhone and the game supports a high refresh rate, you’ll have much better performance, more fluid motion and less lag. And for general use the display feels a lot smoother and more fluid than an iPhone without ProMotion.

The iPhone Pro Max has less lag than previous models without ProMotion.

Aside from this feature, the new Super Retina XDR display now supports up to 1000 nits peak outdoor brightness, which improves readability outdoors.

The iPhone 13 Pro also has native support for Dolby vision, making HDR content look excellent on the device.

The screen is made of Apple’s tough Ceramic Shield, which has saved me countless times from cracking my phone’s screen and the phone is also splash, water and dust resistant (maximum depth of six metres up to 30 minutes).

Cameras

It’s the cameras that make the iPhone 13 Pro particularly elite though. The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max both have new cameras including a Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto lens.

One of my favourite features is how the new Ultra Wide camera offers incredible Macro photography. You can absolutely get a lot closer to objects than you could on the iPhone 12 Pro (with its new 2cm minimum focus distance). It looks incredible in photo and video modes.

The cameras also simply look bigger on the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. No doubt this assists in the new and improved low light photography capabilities (aside from Apple’s software enhancements).

The iPhone 13 Pro Max has sophisticated cameras.

Additionally, there’s a new Cinematic mode on iPhone that allows you to shoot videos with a “rack focus” effect, which is usually unachievable on a mobile camera. You’ll almost always see this effect in TV series or movies where the focus shifts from the foreground to the background or from person to person, offering rich depth-of-field. This is a game changer for mobile technology.

The iPhone 13 Pro also offers the ability to shoot in ProRes in up to 4K resolution at 30fps and the ability to edit in ProRes, which is crazy impressive.

For those who don’t think they need these features, they’re still welcome for school or work projects and family videos, which can now look like they’ve been shot on a professional camera with no professional experience required. The front 12MP selfie camera also supports Cinematic mode.

Battery life

When it comes to battery life there are awesome improvements here, especially on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The phone easily lasts at least all day and then some, depending on your usage.

Apple also boasts the iPhone 13 Pro Max lasts 2.5 hours more than the iPhone 12 Pro Max and says the iPhone 13 Pro Max features the longest ever battery life in an iPhone – by my usage that’s very impressive.

Should you buy it?

If you’re an Apple fan and you want the best of the best, the iPhone 13 Pro is definitely for you.

The iPhone 13 Pro baseline model, that fits easily in your pocket, starts at $1699 for a 128GB model.

However, if you want more screen real estate and battery life for work, to be more creative with the likes of graphic design or video editing or just want to consume a lot of video content the bigger screen – the 13 Pro Max will be worth it.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max starts at $1849, and both Pro models offer up to 1TB of internal storage.

Elly Awesome is an Aussie tech and lifestyle vlogger | @ellyawwesome | YouTube