All iPhone XS colors. Apple iPhone XS Max Review

Apple iPhone XS Max Review

Is the iPhone XS Max Apple‘s best iPhone yet? Or does its huge screen and weighty build make it a bit too difficult to use?

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The iPhone XS Max was Apple’s biggest and most expensive iPhone ever. Launched alongside the XS in September 2018, the XS Max was lauded above all else just for having a massive screen. While the XS Max is a very impressive and imposing phone, it offers precious little improvement over the XS – or even 2017’s iPhone X – beyond its bigger screen.

So, is the XS Max worth buying in 2020? And was it ever worth buying in the first place?

In this review:

• Design – The iPhone XS Max doesn’t use its extra bulk well
• Cameras – The same excellent cameras from the iPhone XS
• Battery Life – Solid, if unspectacular
• Performance – Top-notch A12 processor makes it speedy
• Cost and Value for Money – At 1,100, can the XS Max ever be worth it?
• iPhone XS Max vs iPhone XS vs iPhone XR – Which is the right iPhone for you?
• iPhone XS Max Verdict – Should you go large on the new iPhone?

iPhone XS Max Design

The iPhone XS Max follows the same design language as the iPhone XS, the XR, and the X before it.

The front is nearly all-screen, with only the notch and a little chin getting in the way of the OLED display. The glass rear is available in three distinctly iPhone colors: Silver, Space Gray and Gold. You get the same large capsule-shaped camera bump as the XS, and some light-touch Apple and iPhone branding.

Both glass panels are flanked by a curved stainless steel Band, which also houses a single lightning port and no headphone jack. So far, so iPhone.

The most noticable difference between the XS Max and other iPhones is simply the size of the device. It stands at 157.5mm tall (6.2-inches) and features a 6.5-inch screen on the diagonal. For reference, that makes the XS Max 4 mm smaller than the Samsung Note 9 and 1 mm smaller than Google’s Pixel 3 XL, while packing a screen that is 0.1-inch and 0.2-inches bigger than those phones, respectively.

The XS Max is 7g heavier than the Note 9 and 24g heavier than the Pixel 3 XL. That might not sound like much, but in hand, you definitely notice the XS Max’s extra heft. This extra weight largely comes from the stainless steel clasp that holds the front and rear glass together, and this extra heft lends the XS Max a more solid, well-built feel.

One area where the XS Max does fall down is in its width. It’s a full millimeter wider than the Note 9 and 0.7mm wider than the Pixel 3 XL. Again, that might not sound like a lot, but it makes the iPhone feel slightly more ungainly. The extra width makes one-handed holding, let alone one-handed use, significantly more challenging.

iPhone XS Max Display

The XS Max’s beefed-up body gives it almost an inch of extra screen size compared to the regular XS.

Having a phone screen this large definitely has its advantages. Firstly, it makes productivity tasks easier, such as reviewing documents or reading and writing emails. Secondly, it makes watching videos or playing games even more enjoyable.

However, the extra screen size afforded to the XS Max generally feels, well, wasted. The Samsung Note 9, for example, has great multitasking functionality, which allows you to display two apps in an over-and-under arrangement for easier on-the-go work.

Everything on the XS Max is, simply, bigger. The extra screen isn’t utilized to its fullest, and as a result, it makes the XS Max feel a bit lumpen. It’s taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The under-utilization of the extra screen feels even more disappointing when split-screen functionality is already available in the iOS operating system – Apple uses it extensively on iPads to help pitch them as laptop replacements, for example.

iPhone XS Max Cameras

The iPhone XS Max uses exactly the same cameras that you’d find on the smaller, cheaper iPhone XS. And that’s a very good thing.

The rear cameras are two 12Mp shooters with one wide angle lens and one telephoto lens, and they take pretty great pictures.

Thanks to some Smart software, you get daytime shots with lots of color, good detail, and a relative absence of noise. There is a tendency for some images to look overexposed, and the XS Max’s camera software occasionally ramp up color saturation unnecessarily.

This is largely down to the Smart HDR feature, which has been added to the XS and XS Max. By capturing multiple frames of the same image at different exposure levels and stitching them together, the tech is supposed to deepen shadows, and enhance color and light. On the whole, the Smart HDR feature works brilliantly, but sometimes it can’t live up to its own hype.

The rear cameras on the iPhone XS Max are great, but they’re not quite as good as Google’s all-conquering Pixel 3 XL.

Round the front, you have the same 7Mp TrueDepth face-sensing camera from the iPhone X and iPhone XS. Again, it’s a pretty good selfie-snapper, but can’t match the images from the Pixel 3 XL.

The front camera captures colors pretty well, and maintains a good level of accuracy. It does have a tendency to smooth out textures, though. It’s a criticism that has been levelled at iPhones before, but on the XS Max, with all that extra screen, you’ll notice the smoothing even more than usual.

On the whole, the XS Max’s cameras are great. They deal with light well, capture colors nicely, and have some pretty decent party tricks in Smart HDR and Portrait Mode.

iPhone XS Max Battery Life

Despite having the largest battery of all current iPhone models, the XS Max delivers perfectly normal battery life. You should get around a day-and-a-half of regular use, while frugal usage could stretch this to maybe two days. The battery takes a slight hit when gaming or watching videos, but this is largely to be expected.

iPhone XS Max Performance

The iPhone XS Max uses Apple’s latest A12 Bionic processor, which is easily one of, if not the fastest mobile processor on the market at the moment. As a result, the XS Max is a veritable powerhouse, despite only having 4GB Ram. You’ll easily be able to run the most demanding mobile games, such as PUBG Mobile and Fortnite, and multitask without any significant slowdowns. What’s more, the A12’s improved neural engine and machine learning should lend you some significant improvements in the most cutting-edge areas of iOS. For example, AR games and apps will load faster and become more accurate over time, and you should experience battery life improvements and optimizations with Siri. If you’re after a phone that can handle everything you could possibly throw at it, you can’t go wrong with the XS Max.

iPhone XS Max Cost and Value for Money

Hope you’re sitting down… The iPhone XS Max, as we’ve already discussed, takes the regular iPhone XS and makes it bigger. Including the price tag. The XS Max starts – starts – at 1,099 unlocked, with 64GB of unexpandable storage. The 256GB and 512GB versions start from 1,249 and 1,449, respectively. That’s 100 more than the already expensive XS. So, is it worth that price? Frankly, it’s hard to justify that price in isolation, or even in relation to the XS and other flagship phones. Paying an extra 100 for essentially 0.7 more inches of screen isn’t a particularly good deal.

iPhone XS Max vs iPhone XS vs iPhone XR

So when it comes to picking an iPhone, which one is right for you?

The XS Max, while its extra screen is a nice-to-have, it’s hardly a need-to-have. There’s no real, tangible reason why you’d buy the XS Max over the XS.

The XR, on the other hand, represents some good value, with a 250 saving over the regular XS. However, its single rear camera and LCD screen are noticeable let downs compared to the XS. It’s still powerful, though, and a nice looking phone to boot.

The XS, even though it costs 1,000, is probably the best option in the current iPhone range. It has a great display, fantastic cameras, and a powerful processor; it’s easier to use one-handed, and it isn’t too big.

Of course, if price is a concern, you could always try to find a refurbished iPhone X for less than the price of an iPhone XR.

Apple iPhone XS Max Review – The Verdict

The iPhone XS Max is a device that confounds. It’s a fantastic selection of components, squeezed into one very nice package. However, in practice, it’s too big, too heavy, too expensive, and far too similar to the iPhone XS for us to wholeheartedly recommend. It’s not bad, but we’d buy the regular XS.

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Apple iPhone XS unboxing: Beautiful gold color!

It’s now mid-September and if you’ve been following technology news, you’d know that means one thing: new iPhones from Apple. And if you’ve been following GadgetMatch closely the last few years, you’d expect us to be brewing content by now.

This year, we got them early. What we are unboxing is the 5.8-inch model, dubbed the iPhone XS, and the bigger variant, the iPhone XS Max. There’s also a more affordable 6.1-inch iPhone XR coming later in October.

The box has not changed much — it’s still the same minimalist white box with the image of the phone you’re getting. Inside are a packet with manuals and stickers, USB-A charging brick, Lightning cable, and a pair of Lightning EarPods (not Airpods, they just look alike).

It’s worth noting that the bundled charger is the regular adapter and cable from yesteryears, even if the new iPhones already support fast charging. To get fast charging on the iPhone XS and XS Max, you need to spend an additional US 75 for a Lightning to USB-C Cable and a 29W USB-C adapter.

Since omitting the 3.5mm headphone jack, these new iPhones are also the first ones to not include a headphone jack to Lightning dongle — an extra US 9 purchase if you ever need one.

Unlike previous years where you need to get the bigger model to have the best features iPhones have to offer, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are essentially the same phones — the latter just has a bigger display and battery capacity.

The iPhone XS and XS Max also come in a new beautiful gold color, something similar to our favorite iPhone 8 and 8 Plus color from last year — a subtle, non-tacky shade of gold. A slightly darker gold but shiny stainless steel Band also highlights the edges of the phones. Button and port placements have not changed, and the notch housing Apple’s TrueDepth Camera technology lives on.

We have more iPhone content coming in the next few days so make sure to stay tuned for that. Our unboxing video is also coming wherein we unbox a new case color as well. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t yet.

Apple iPhone XS Review: A great choice for a select few

An incremental upgrade that costs too much

The iPhone XS, Apple’s new top-of-the-line iPhone for 2018, is supposedly an improved version of last year’s game-changing model. Its supersized version, the iPhone XS Max, is everything you love about the iPhone taken to the extreme.

There’s a lot to like about the new iPhones: They come in this fresh new gold color and are powered by what Apple claims is the most powerful processor ever put on a smartphone. They take better photos and have faster, more secure Face ID.

But when it comes down to it, are these upgrades significant enough? Should you ride the hype train all the way to the Apple store? With a more affordable iPhone XR also available, which model should you get? We’ll answer these questions in the review.

Same design, supersized

2018 is an S year — every other year in the iPhone’s history wherein updates are more incremental. If last year brought us a major shake up to the iPhone as we know it, this year is all about refining and improving the iPhone X, Apple’s most important product since the original iPhone.

On the outside it’s pretty much the same phone — all glass with a stainless steel frame. Apple says it’s made of a tougher kind of glass that’s more scratch resistant. If you’re looking for something fresh, get the beautiful new gold color. It’s a subdued more subtle kind of gold — almost bronze-like — compared to previous releases.

There are a couple of new antenna bands on both the top and bottom edges of the phone. We’re sure this is supposed to make cell reception better, but we’re a bit bothered by how it breaks the perfect symmetry that Apple is always such a sucker for.

The bigger model, the iPhone XS Max, is something a lot of people have been waiting for. It’s about the same size as the Plus-sized iPhones of years past but it has a 6.5-inch Super Retina AMOLED display, the biggest we’ve seen on an iPhone. But is bigger better?

That’s the thing: Bigger isn’t necessarily better this time around, and it’s some of the best news we’ve heard so far. We’ve never really appreciated the fact that when two phones came in two sizes, the bigger one was always better, and with more features. Sometimes it was more powerful; sometimes it had two cameras instead of one.

We celebrate the fact that when it comes to these new iPhones, whether you choose small or big, you’re getting the same phone. Sure, the display and the battery may be larger because it’s a bigger phone, but everything else is equal.

So if you’re torn between both models, just ask yourself which size you prefer and if you’ll benefit from the extra screen real estate.

When you use the Max model in horizontal mode, some apps will show you more. Take the calendar app, for example: You get a second column with more information. And if you’re on sites like GadgetMatch.com, you’ll get a different kind of view.

Some people immediately turn to a smaller phone because maybe they have small hands, or they worry about one-handed operation. On iPhones, user experience has always been a priority.

Your thumb can’t reach the very top of the screen on most phones these days, but on any iPhone, you can dive into settings and turn on reachability. Swipe down in the area where the home button used to be to bring the top of the interface down.

Unlike other phones wherein the whole display becomes smaller, typing with one hand is also easier on iOS. You can move your keyboard to either side while still getting that big-screen experience you paid for. If it’s your cup of tea, AssistiveTouch is still there.

Most powerful iPhone

Powering these new iPhones is an all-new processor called the A12 Bionic Chip. This system on a chip is faster, smarter, and also more power-efficient. For everyday users, this means your phone should feel snappier, processor-hungry tasks like gaming and augmented reality breezier, and your battery longer-lasting.

A lot goes on under the hood that makes new features possible, and old features better. Face ID for example is a tad bit faster and more secure, both in the dark and under bright sunlight. With data that Apple’s collected, it’s smarter too so it can better identify face shapes, even ethnicities. The latter is something that resonates with us.

Often the first time we pick up our phones in the morning, half asleep, the older iPhone X assumes our eyes are still closed since our already-small eyes are even smaller, so Face ID will often fail. In the time that we’ve used the iPhone XS and XS Max, we ran into those problems less often.

Day-to-day use isn’t necessarily faster than on last year’s iPhone since it’s always been snappy to begin with. It’s worth mentioning that PUBG runs on high settings by default and gameplay is as smooth and lag-free as can be expected. The same goes for Fortnite.

Coupled with software improvements, the new hardware is also improving the way AR performs. For example, the time it takes for plane detection — basically when the iPhone searches for a flat surface on which to overlay the augmented reality world over — is now faster than before. With multiplayer AR games on the App Store, you can imagine how all that extra power makes the experience much more seamless, as well.

Reliable cameras

Beyond all the processing power that it delivers, the A12 Bionic also has a neural engine and a new image signal processor which work together with the phone’s camera, as well as updated software to produce better photos.

Like on the iPhone X, you get dual 12MP cameras on both models, one with a telephoto 2x zoom which you probably already know that a lot of us at GadgetMatch are a fan of. Apple doesn’t hype it as much, but this year, these new iPhones have bigger sensors. A large image sensor on any kind of digital camera is what you’ll want since it produces better photos in low light, among other things.

One new feature is called Smart HDR, not to be confused with Auto HDR on the iPhone X. You know how you’re always advised not to shoot against the light? With Smart HDR, you can shoot away. Smart HDR works even if you’re on other shooting modes, so whether you’re shooting a portrait or a panorama, it works well. It also functions while shooting Full HD and 4K video as long as you’re shooting at 30fps. See the examples below:

It seems that one of the hallmarks of great, professional-looking photos is depth of field. We’re fans of bokeh, and full-frame cameras like our trusty Sony a7S II with super-fast lenses are great at this. Apple seems to agree, as depth mapping is a big word being thrown around.

When it comes to digital bokeh, most phones keep a subject in FOCUS and apply Gaussian blur to the entire background. Apple takes this a step further, such that objects farther away are less in FOCUS than those closer to the subject, just like on a professional camera.

Take this photo, for example. Chay is in FOCUS as well as the elements that are the same distance away from the camera, while elements farther away get a creamier blur.

Apple also gives you the option to change the amount of blur after taking the shot with Depth Control, a similar feature found on Samsung and Huawei phones for years now. On the iPhone, you tap edit and get a slider underneath. From the middle point f/4.5, you can get more blur all the way to f/1.4 — or no blur at all at f/16.

Using the iPhone’s True Depth sensor, the front-facing camera performs almost as good as the main camera. In this example, Michael Josh plunged into a bed of white flowers, and as was in our first examples, the amount of blur depends on how far the flowers were from the camera, although software also seems to apply some sort of radial blur around the face, so Josh’s t-shirt is a little blurry.

It needs to be said that the cutouts on portraits taken with the rear cameras are nowhere near perfect. It would be better if processing feathered the edges around the subject so you don’t get those harsh crooked cutouts around your hair.

Take a look at other photos we snapped around Singapore:

The iPhone XS and XS Max should have improved video stabilization, as well. The clips we took on a bike still have some shake, but those shot while walking and from a moving car came out smoother.

The little things

Water resistance should come standard on all phones, especially if it’s always raining where you live. The new iPhones now have a higher IP68 water and dust resistance rating, which means they can be submerged up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. Apple still doesn’t include water damage under its warranty program, so it’s best to avoid submerging the iPhone under water.

Apple says it tested spills not just from water but also from coffee, tea, soda, and beer. In the event that happens, rinse your phone, pat dry, and leave to dry for a few hours before using again. Apple says the display knows when your fingers or the display is wet, and will still respond to touch.

The new iPhones come with wider stereo sound. Since a few generations ago, stereo speakers have been located at the bottom and at the top where the earpiece is found. Sound coming from the bottom speaker is now significantly louder and clearer for improved Netflix and chill sessions. Studio recording is also now supported while shooting video.

Dual SIM, finally

Dual SIM has come to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max but not in the usual way. You still have one physical SIM card slot but there’s also an embedded SIM card. Essentially, if supported by your carrier, you can have two numbers on one iPhone. I f you buy your iPhone in mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau, you’ll have two physical nano-SIM card slots.

It’s a little strange that Apple did not roll out dual-SIM models to countries in Southeast Asia, where dual-SIM phones are a part of everyday life. Countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and even India are just some of the largest dual-SIM-using countries in the world.

Not made for the heavy user

While it’s difficult to say for sure that these new iPhones last up to 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone X as Apple claims, we can say that the iPhone XS Max gets a solid five and a half hours of screen-on time with heavy use. That’s pretty good, considering that includes more than three hours of non-stop Pokémon Go, with the phone at full brightness, and LTE and GPS turned on, in the Singapore heat.

While it still may not be a powerhouse in terms of long-lasting usage, you can get through a full day with moderate use. It really will boil down to how heavy of a smartphone user you are. We dream of the day wherein we no longer have to lug around a power bank, but with the iPhone XS and XS Max as our new daily driver, we still have to.

These phones support fast charging. You can go from zero to 42 percent in just under half an hour, if you are willing to shell out money for the optional fast charger. Fingers crossed Apple will bundle one next year, without a price increase. Wireless charging speeds have also been slightly improved, which is great news if you’ve already invested in one.

Are the iPhone XS and XS Max your GadgetMatch?

Any way you look at it, these are some of the best smartphones you can buy today. While this year’s update is incremental, these improvements are not gimmicks to sell more phones. Instead, when you add it all up, they help make last year’s already-solid phone even better.

The iPhone XS and XS Max are beautiful phones made more powerful, with even better cameras. For that, they both deserve the GadgetMatch seal of approval.

That’s not to say the iPhone XS and XS Max are perfect. There’s still more we’d love to see Apple deliver next year. We’d love for Apple to drop the Lightning port and migrate to USB-C just like on this year’s iPad Pro. For its price, we’d also love a fast charging solution bundled in the box. For all its improvements, we still want a battery that will last a whole day and then some with heavy use.

Should you upgrade? If you own an iPhone X, it’s most prudent to skip this year’s model and wait for next year. Hold on to last year’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus too if you have them.

If you have an older iPhone and are due for an upgrade but think US 1,000 is XS-sive, we don’t blame you. Apple’s more affordable iPhone XR is a better buy and we highly recommend it. That phone starts at US 749, and minus a few bells and whistles, is still a very solid phone that has the best of what Apple has to offer.

If US 749 is still too much, Apple is selling the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, and 8 Plus and those start at about US 450. We still recommend the iPhone 7 Plus, it’s a great phone even if it’s already two years old.

Some will say iPhones are overpriced and we can see why, but part of the appeal of any iPhone, apart from them being a status symbol, is that they’re well thought out, work well as they should, and do so for a long time.

You’ve also probably heard about intangibles, like how if you buy into the Apple ecosystem and use Apple products, everything just works seamlessly. Things like AirDrop, easy setup, sharing Wi-Fi passwords with a prompt, or pairing a new set of Airpods — these are just some things you have to personally experience to fully understand and appreciate.

Apple iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR: All the hands-on photos you could ever need

Apple has taken the wraps off its next-generation iPhones and they come in the form of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. While they all have very similar titles, each iPhone brings along its own set of features, aesthetic, and price point.

We were on the ground at Apple’s hardware event in Cupertino, California, where we got to see the highly anticipated iPhones in person. Below, are some hands-on photos to give you an up-close look of each device.

iPhone XS and XS Max

The iPhone XS is the successor to last year’s iPhone X. It comes complete with a nearly bezel-less 5.8-inch, Super Retina OLED display and a notch at the top. Meanwhile, with the iPhone XS Max, Apple did things a little differently this time with the iPhone XS Max. Rather than releasing a ‘Plus’ size version as it normally would, the company went even bigger — with a 6.5-inch Retina OLED display instead of the usual 5.5-inch as seen on the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus.

Both models come in a variety of colors — gold, space grey, and silver. The XS and XS Max are also made of glass, but has a higher durability rating and has an IP68 rating for water-resistance.

Physical size aside, the iPhone XS and XS Max also have most of their specs in common. On the back, you will find two new cameras — one 12-megapixel, wide-angle sensor with an f/1,8 aperture and a second telephoto lens with 12 megapixels, optical image stabilization, 2x optical zoom, and an f/2.2 aperture. With a TrueDepth camera system, you can also take advantage of features like Face ID and Animojis.

Under the hood is Apple’s next-generation A-series processor, the A12 Bionic trip. Apple says it works 15 percent faster and has 40 percent lower power consumption in comparison to the previous generation. While Apple hasn’t announced the size of the batteries, the iPhone XS has 30 minutes more time on the iPhone XS in comparison to the iPhone X while the XS Max has 90 more minutes.

For more in-depth information on the iPhone XS and XS Max, check out our news post here. You can check our iPhone XS review and iPhone XS Max review for our impressions on the new phones.

iPhone XR

With the iPhone XS and XS Max priced both priced at over 1,000, Apple also released what it considers a “budget-friendly” iPhone X alternative called the iPhone XR — for 749. In terms of design, the iPhone has a 6.1-inch LCD display (bigger than the iPhone XS) that Apple calls a Liquid Display. As with the entire iPhone X lineup, the XR also includes a notch at the top. On the back, you will find a single-lens camera that comes in at 12 megapixels with an aperture of f/1.8 and support for Portrait Mode via machine learning. As with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, the XR also has a TrueDepth camera system.

The XR comes with the same A12 Bionic processor, and comes in 64GB, 128Gb, and 256Gb storage options. The battery for this iPhone has yet to be disclosed, but Apple says it lasts an hour and a half more than the iPhone 8 Plus.

Perhaps the most interesting part about the iPhone XR are the color variants it comes in. Apple is taking it back to those iPhone 5C days by offering the XR in some fun, vibrant colors. Aside from white or black, customers will get to choose from blue, coral, red, and yellow.

You can learn more about the iPhone XR here, and read our impressions in our iPhone XR hands-on review.

Editors’ Recommendations

When Steve Jobs took the stage on January 9, 2007, to unveil the original iPhone, everyone was amazed at the little piece of technology he held in his hand. Then in June 2007, people could buy and get their hands on the very first iPhone — and the scope of the cell phone industry changed forever.

I personally didn’t get the original iPhone on launch day, believe it or not. Instead, I received it as a birthday present in 2008 (my very first Apple product), but my clumsy self eventually dropped it on cement four months later, and the screen shattered. But instead of getting it fixed, I figured I might as well just get the iPhone 3G since it was just a few weeks away from release.

When the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro launched last year, one of the hallmark features was their integrated satellite connectivity — enabling you to call for help or share your location with loved ones using satellites. Now, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is launching in North America, allowing you to send satellite messages from your existing smartphone.

Announced at MWC 2023, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is a small, key fob-like device that pairs with your iPhone or Android phone via Bluetooth and, in doing so, connects your smartphone to satellites orbiting Earth 22,300 miles away in space.

Apple announced a slew of features coming to your iPhone with iOS 17. The most prominent ones include changes to the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps. You can now create beautiful contact cards, share contacts with gorgeous animations, create your own stickers, see practical information through StandBy when the iPhone is charging, and much more.

But that’s not all. Some of the most useful features come in the form of unannounced ones that can only be found when you actually use the latest version of the iPhone’s operating system — and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

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Here’s a first look at all three of the new iPhones

Apple announced three new iPhones during its fall event in Cupertino on Wednesday, including the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR. I just had a chance to play with all three of them, and here’s what I think.

iPhone XS

The iPhone XS is basically the iPhone X with a few enhancements. The screen is better (more colorful), and it has improved camera processing thanks to the new and more powerful processor, the A12 Bionic, under the hood. It also has louder stereo speakers.

Holding it, though, it felt so much like the iPhone X that I already own that I’m not sure I’d upgrade. It will probably appeal to people who missed out on last year’s iPhone X, which Apple will stop selling, and it starts at the same price: 999. It’s a gorgeous phone, and I think people will love it, but it’s just an S incremental sort of upgrade from the iPhone X.

iPhone XS Max

The iPhone XS Max has caught my eye. I love big screens, and the 6.5-inch display on the iPhone XS Max is the largest Apple has ever included in an iPhone.

The internals are the same as the iPhone XS, but there’s one major reason other than the huge screen why you might want the Max instead: battery life. Apple says it will last 1.5 hours longer than the already-impressive iPhone X. The iPhone XS will last just 30 minutes longer, Apple said.

Both phones feel really fast, noticeably so over my iPhone X. I’m running the iOS 12 public preview, which also speeds things up, but the A12 Bionic chip offers another 30 percent performance boost.

I like the cameras, too. Portrait Mode on the iPhone X is stellar, but with the new phones you can adjust the bokeh or the amount of blur in the background. That’s something we haven’t seen on an iPhone before, either, and it adjusted immediately when I tried it during a quick demo.

Finally, I’m not a fan of gold phones, but these look pretty awesome. The gold-colored steel running around the edges really shines, much more than the black does on my iPhone X. It’s a little gaudy, but some people like that extra bling.

The Max will start at 1,099, the highest starting price ever for an iPhone. The most expensive version, which comes with 512 GB of storage, costs a whopping 1,449 — that’s more than some Macbooks.

iPhone XR

Lastly, Apple also introduced the iPhone XR. It’s the cheapest of the three new iPhones announced on Wednesday, starting at 749.

The iPhone XR makes some trade-offs: It doesn’t have the fancy dual-camera setup on the back, so while you can still take portrait shots they probably won’t be as good as those on the better iPhones. Also, while it has the same powerful A12 Bionic processor as the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, it has an LCD screen that’s noticeably not as colorful and bright as the OLED used in the flagship devices. You can tell right away that it’s not as good, but the price difference might attract people to this model.

One feature that helps it stand out: It will ship in five colors, like blue and red and yellow. They look nice, but not as fancy as the XS models.

I’m hoping to spend some more time with the new iPhones soon, after which we’ll publish a review. Right now, though, my eye is on the iPhone XS Max.

iPhone Colors: All The Models, All The Color Options

Apple’s iPhone 13 is now official, bringing with it a host of new features and updates. The iPhone 13’s release hasn’t gone well, however, with massive shipping delays – upwards of 4 weeks for all models.

This year’s iPhones come in new color options, including a pink iPhone 13 option, as well as one new color for Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro models. But how has Apple’s choice of colors for its iPhones changed over the years?

In order to find out, we decided to take a look at all the colors that Apple’s iPhone 8 has been available in, going all the way back to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Let’s do this…

iPhone Colors Over The Years – iPhone 8 to iPhone 13

Why is this? No one really knows, to be honest. But it is likely down to the fact that Apple’s more expensive phones are designed and pitched towards more professional users. And professional users, at least in Apple’s eyes, probably want more conservative colors.

That’s the operating theory, anyway. Personally, I’d love to see Apple’s iPhones available in a whole gamut of color options. Apple is very conservative with its color choices. This is why we’ve only seen pink models twice – with the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 13.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone Pro Max Updates List

Average Price of iPhone 13 at UK’s Biggest Phone Networks