Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max 64GB  +2 variations

Design

• Beautiful, premium Apple design, clad in a single piece of milled glass with a matte finish that covers everything except the Apple logo and the phones' three cameras - it's a little more premium looking and sophisticated than the iPhone 11
• Packs a more premium stainless steel frame (instead of the aluminium frame on the iPhone 11)
• The matte finish also means it's more fingerprint resistant compared to the iPhone 11's glossy back
• IP68 water resistance, and more durable glass, compared to last year's iPhones - in fact Apple claims the glass used on iPhone Pros is the "most durable glass used on a smartphone"
• Face ID is now slightly faster, and supports more face angles too - which means you can lean over your iPhone resting on your coffee table, and it will unlock
• The large display notch is still there

Display

• Beautiful, high resolution OLED display - one of the best on any smartphone - and even brighter than the excellent OLED displays on last year's iPhone XS and XS Max
• The iOS dark mode which is finally here looks great on the iPhone 11 Pros' OLED screen
• It's also the largest display of the 2019 iPhones - so if you really enjoy your movies, this is the premium iPhone to get

Software

• Apple knows how to do software well, and iOS continues to be an intuitive, and smooth experience - plus of course, you get regular, and timely updates
• Siri has generally fallen behind Google Assistant now, in terms of usefulness and intelligence, so iPhones are not the best 'smart assistant' experiences now

Performance

• Break-neck speeds with the new A13 processor - it's a bit faster in single tasking, and a bigger leap in multitasking, compared to the A12, which already was the fastest mobile chipset around - in simple terms this is the fastest smartphone out there now (along with the iPhone 11 Pro models), and of course runs butter smooth

Camera

• iPhones have always been among the top camera phones each year (along with the Pixels, Galaxy Notes, Galaxy S, and Huawei flagships in recent times), and the iPhone 11 Pro Max continues that tradition bringing in some serious camera improvements to bring at par with the best of the pack
• The 2 key camera upgrades are - a new ultrawide-angle camera and a Night Mode for low-light photography - and all 3 work quite well
• The ultrawide-angle camera can make for dramatic shots - you get an expanded-view viewfinder that now previews what's outside the shot, which can help you know when to use the ultrawide lens
• Apple's version of Night mode too is excellent - it works automatically, taking an extra 1 to 3 seconds to capture more light and assemble a picture that ends up almost surreal and richly colored (you will be wowed) - it's as good as the excellent Night modes on the Pixel 3 and the Huawei P30 Pro - the 2 phones that have so far been champions of night photography
• The telephoto camera with 2x zoom has a wider aperture this time, which means it's better than last year's iPhones at providing bright photos when it's dark out
• Later this year, the iPhone 11 Pro Max will also offer a new Deep Fusion feature to perform pixel-by-pixel photo processing to deliver even more detail and better textures along with less noise - again, you won't need to activate a separate mode; it will just kick in when you're indoors and there's a decent amount of light
• iPhone video cameras have always been fantastic, arguably the best on any smartphone - in the iPhone 11 Pro Max they have even better stabilization for smoother video, and look better in darker spaces (though the video camera doesn't use Night mode)
• Front camera is very good too, and is wider-angled this time - it can digitally zoom in or out to accommodate a wider view that includes more people and background
• The front camera also get a new "slow motion selfie video" feature ("Slofies") - it's a fun feature, to add some drama to selfies
• Overall, the excellent cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro Max bring it in the top bracket, on par with the other 2 top camera phones - the Pixel 3 and the Huawei P30 Pro
• The ultrawide-angle camera doesn’t have Night Mode or OIS

Audio

• Excellent audio capabilities - Apple has introduced a feature called spatial audio to the iPhone 11 models, which creates a virtual sound stage to make you believe that the sound is coming out of the screen rather than just at the end of the phone and it's actually quite impressive in action - plus, you also get Dolby Atmos support - again, this is one of the best audio setups on any smartphone

Connectivity

• The new U1 positioning chip inside all of Apple's new iPhones will allow iPhone 11/Pro/Max owners to more easily AirDrop files to each other by pointing their phones at specific people - and many other interesting location based applications could follow soon

Battery

• Excellent battery life - improved very significantly over the iPhone XS Max - by as much as 30% - with moderate usage, you should comfortably get 1.5+ days of use - overall battery life is the best of the 2019 iPhones
• Fast charging support, and the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max also are the first iPhones to ship with a bundled fast charger (finally!)

Verdict

• This year's iPhone 11 Pro Max is a well executed refinement over the iPhone XS Max - it's more durable, faster, has better cameras, better battery life - there might not be any stand-out wow upgrade here but it's a very meaningful upgrade in all key areas
• It's the premium iPhone to get this year, if you are looking for a combination of premium, and large screen for watching content
• Having said that, it remains ridiculously expensive - so it's only worth splurging on if you have a lot to splurge
• And, if you are not wedded to the iOS ecosystem, there are a number of Android flagships from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, Huawei, Asus, and Xiaomi - that are more than worthy competitors
• If you are wedded to the iOS ecosystem, the significantly cheaper iPhone 11, that is almost as good in all key areas, will provide you much better bang for your buck