iPhone XS Max Review

I’ve spent a few months with the iPhone XS Max and I finally have conclusive thoughts. Here they are:

(You can read my iPhone X review from earlier this year here.)

The Screen

The first thing I noticed immediately I held the iPhone XS Max is how large the screen is. The phone itself is big, but not too big (for me) especially since I’d already gotten used to a Plus iPhone.

The XS Max is the size of a 7/8 Plus but it has the largest screen I’d ever seen on a phone (6.5 inches).

The OLED screen is as crisp as I’d gotten used to with the X and the added real estate just made me feel more like I was holding iOS right in my hand. It’s very immersive, just like the X before it (and the XS) but more so.

As a result of this humongous beautiful screen that I didn’t know I needed, I now do way more things on my iPhone than ever; I used to reach for my iPad to watch videos on YouTube; I reply way more email on the go. In fact, I sometimes sign into GitHub to review small pull-requests if they’re time sensitive enough and I’m away from a computer.

Watching videos (on YouTube) is something that’s a particularly enjoyable experience. The speakers are loud and sound surprisingly good. When you zoom to fill the screen in landscape (at the cost of losing some pixels due to the notch), it looks and feels as though one is literally holding a video.

Gaming is also something that looks & feels better, I’ve played a ton of Thumper since I got this phone.

The Camera

I think this is the only other thing (besides the screen) that was immediately noticeably better on the XS (Max) coming from the X.

I’m not a photography buff (yet) so I can’t describe it being better in terms of saturation, exposure etc. But what I do know is that it consistently takes better looking pictures (than the X).

Portrait mode also seems dramatically improved. But this is a combination of the XS having a better camera & the fact that Portrait mode has gotten progressively better due to software updates.

I don’t use the front-facing camera much, but when I do, the ratio of hits to misses is greater than it’s ever been.

The design

There’s nothing to see here. It looks like a bigger iPhone X. Which isn’t a bad thing. Just saying that that there’s no real change. It still looks really good. And it’s still slippery.

The notch is still the notch. Like with it’s predecessor, one stops noticing it after a while. I still wish it wasn’t there but I’ll take this over those iPhone 8 (and earlier) bezels any day.

I said in my iPhone X review that I thought the camera bump to be huge & ugly. I’m not sure I still think that. I don’t even notice the bump anymore. It has failed to detract from how beautiful the back of the gold variant looks. It’s just so sexy. At least it was, before someone smashed mine. But that’s a story for another day.

iOS

As is expected, everything is extra snappy on this bad boy. Which is the exact same way I felt with the iPhone X and my 7 Plus before it. As someone who gets new iPhones pretty frequently, it’s easy to take these speed bumps for granted. But every now and then I get a hold of some other relatively recent phone from another OEM and it just feels ever so slightly laggy.

FaceID is faster too. It’s not even something I think about. It just works. Software updates and the fact that my brain has been rewired to positioning optimally for FaceID are obviously factors, but it’s still always noticeably faster than my X’s.

iOS 12 has generally been a delight but there are still some apps that aren’t properly optimized for the XS Max screen.

Battery

Battery is pretty impressive. Definitely better than the X (as it’s a bigger battery). The XS Max never fails to last a full day. I haven’t tested the XS’s battery life but I suspect it won’t be markedly different from the X.

Dual (e)SIM

The iPhone XS & XS Max launched with the ability to use two carriers at the same time. One as a physical SIM and the other as an eSIM. I’ve not gotten around to testing that yet, because T-Mobile isn’t making it easy for me. As soon as I do however, I’ll update this section with my experience.

Summary

The XS Max is great! I absolutely love mine. It improves on the already successful formula of the X and adds the biggest screen ever on an iPhone.

Should you buy it though?

Honestly, more often than not, the answer to that is no.

For one, my phone is a 256GB version and that cost $1249 or ~NGN500,000.

That’s just too expensive. If you’re coming from an iPhone X, then this is probably completely unnecessary except you absolutely need the bigger screen and even then…it’s just hard to justify that price tag.

If you’re coming from an older iPhone and you want the new look and some of the latest features; No home button, FaceID etc, the iPhone XR (though still expensive, starting at $749/~NGN270,000) might be a better deal.

I don’t know that the OLED screen, dual camera and all the other differences between the iPhone XS and the XR are worth $250 or more.

BUT, if you have your priorities all screwed up like I do and must have the latest, greatest iPhone despite the steep cost, the XS Max will not disappoint.

It’s a sexy beast of a smartphone.