Welcome to another GThentic Review, today we’re taking a look at the iPhone 12 Pro Max vs the iPhone 11 Pro Max. We”ll be comparing the design, size, weight, features, and cameras to see if it’s worth upgrading or not.

I will start off by looking at the design. The iPhone 11 Pro Max features rounded edges whereas the iPhone 12 Pro Max features squared off edges, which I find more comfortable to hold and less slippery. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also features Apple’s ceramic shield front glass which Apple says offers four times better drop performance, however, the back glass remains the same. Both phones feature surgical grade stainless steel around the edges and both phones are also water resistant, however, on the iPhone 12 Pro series the water resistance is increased from 4 m to 6 m for up to 30 minutes.

Another huge difference is in cellular connectivity, the iPhone 11 Pro Max supports 4G LTE cellular data whereas the iPhone 12 series supports 5G with mmWave and sub 6 GHz in the US and sub 6 GHz in other regions. Keep in mind that using 5G will affect battery life. Speaking of battery life, both are rated for the same 20 hours of video playback even though the battery in the 12 Pro Max is smaller. This is largely in part due to the new processor the A14 bionic versus the A13 bionic chip in the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The new chip brings increased performance and efficiency.

The display is also slightly larger at 6.7 inches versus 6.5 inches on the 11 Pro Max but with the same 458 ppi pixel density and 1200 nits peak brightness for HDR playback. In terms of overall size, the 12 Pro Max is a little taller and slightly heavier, but the difference in weight is basically imperceptible to me.

In terms of cameras, both phones feature an ultra wide,wide, and telephoto camera, however, the telephoto camera on the iPhone 12 Pro Max now goes up to 2.5 X optical zoom instead of 2X on the 11 Pro Max. The camera sensor is also larger by up to 47% and the iPhone 12 Pro Max now features sensor shift optical image stabilization and the ability to capture images using Apple’s computational photography in Apple ProRAW format. Additionally, the 12 Pro series now supports night portrait, with the aid of the LiDAR scanner for focusing, and night mode now works on all three cameras. HDR for photos has also been updated and scene detection was added to the cameras. Besides the optical zoom range differences, the iPhone 12 series is capable of recording video in Dolby Vision HDR with greater brightness and color. So videos will pop more and overall look more vibrant and colorful.

Without further delay, let’s take a look at the camera quality for both photos and videos.

So if we have a look at the first set of photos here, we have the 11 Pro Max on the left and the 12 Pro Max on the right.  One of the first things you will notice is that the image on the left, is a lot cooler than the image on the right.

At first glance, the image on the left looks a little bit cleaner,however, the colours are actually not very true to life. The image on the right from the iPhone 12 Pro Max is actually how the scene looked on the day I was taking the picture.

In the next image I’ll compare the details captured by both cameras. So if we zoom in a little bit here, you’ll notice that the image from the iPhone 12 Pro Max on the right shows the trees in a little more detail than the image on the left.

Another feature of the iPhone 12 Pro series is the ability to capture images using the Apple ProRaw format.  If you noticed the image was dark just now, but as soon as I click the “auto” button, the photo looks normal. Additionally, I now have the ability to adjust the exposure after the fact, or to reduce the sharpness, or bring out more details in the shadows. And that’s the power of the ProRaw format. If I adjust the highlights for example, you can see the dramatic difference it makes. You pretty much have full control over the final image once you take a picture using the ProRaw format.

On a point of clarity, when you take the picture using the Apple ProRAW format and you view it on your iPhone the image is not dark, that is only in Adobe Lightroom where it basically resets everything. When you capture the image on your phone, it will look similar to a normal compressed image.

Another area we can see improvements, is the image quality in terms of HDR recording on the front facing camera. If you look at these two images with the 12 Pro Max on the left and the 11 Pro Max on the right, you will notice that the foreground detail is present in both, but if you look at the background on the 11 Pro Max image, you will notice that the highlights are blown out with no details in the clouds.

The difference between the 2X telephoto zoom on the iPhone 11 Pro Max (shown on the left) and the 2.5X zoom on the iPhone 12 Pro Max (shown on the right), can be seen here.

Something else I noticed after reviewing the pictures taken with the telephoto camera on these two phones, is that the iPhone 11 Pro Max would sometimes use a faster shutter speed whereas the iPhone 12 Pro Max would capture the image with a slightly slower shutter speed. The difference was 1/1400th of a second versus 1/1800th of a second. I’m not sure why this occurs but the difference is not noticeable in day-to-day usage. If anyone knows why, please leave a comment to let us know.

In the daytime there isn’t much difference between the two cameras, other than the better details, colour accuracy and improved HDR on the 12 Pro Max. In lowlight, however, the sensor size difference shows. Night mode is now available on all cameras, including the front facing camera and night portrait is available on the 12 Pro series. In the first image comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro Max could not take the photo because it needed more light, whereas the iPhone 12 Pro Max took a photo in which you could see colours and shapes, even though I could barely see anything with my eyes. All images were taken handheld as most persons don’t walk around with a tripod.

Here is an example of a photo taken with night mode on the main lens of the 12 Pro Max (right) and the 11 Pro Max (left). I’ll just show a few more examples of photos taken at night using both phones.  Generally, what I’ve noticed is that the 11 Pro Max has a lot more noise in night photos and it doesn’t capture as much detail as the 12 Pro Max.

Now unto the video comparison. In the first clip,  we’ll look at the zoom range differences between both phones. The maximum optical zoom is 2.5X on the 12 Pro Max and 2X on the 11 Pro Max. The maximum digital zoom for video is 7X and 6X respectively.

Next up, let’s take a look at the stabilisation differences between the two. This clip was recorded handheld, while walking with each phone.

In this clip we will take a look at the focussing speed differences. The iPhone 12 Pro Max (right) focuses a lot faster with the aid of the LiDAR scanner.

Something else you would’ve noticed is that the video from the iPhone 11 Pro Max is much darker, and that’s because the iPhone 12 series now supports Dolby Vision HDR recording which captures more light and colours. If I boost the brightness on the 11 Pro Max footage to match the brightness of the 12 Pro Max you will notice that the colours appear washed out. And that’s because the iPhone 12 series records in 10 bit color versus 8 bit from the previous generation.

The difference continues at night where you could see a lot more detail in the dark areas on the 12 Pro Max versus the 11 Pro Max.

So in conclusion, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is an improvement over the 11 Pro Max with the addition of the LiDAR scanner, which aids with faster focusing and better depth perception for portrait mode, 10 bit Dolby Vision recording with more vibrant colors and dynamic range, and better night mode.

So will I be keeping the 11 Pro Max or upgrading to the 12 Pro Max? For producing content and long battery life, I’ll definitely be upgrading, but for normal day to day usage, I would recommend the iPhone 11 or 12, 12 mini, or even the iPhone SE. For best battery life, the iPhone 11 Pro Max or 12 Pro Max are my recommended picks.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below or send me a message on social media or though my website. If you enjoyed this video feel free to leave a like and share it. If you haven’t already subscribed, please go ahead and subscribe. Thanks for watching, see you in the next one.