Apple iPhone XS Max review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

Apple's "S" year phones typically emphasise performance over new style points or markedly new features, and it's very clear with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max that this is exactly what Apple has done this year.

They new phones are the iPhone X on a dose of steroids, with improved performance, upgraded camera features and new size formats, but the way Apple has not-so-subtly crept up the prices for handsets is a serious issue that any smartphone buyer will have to resolve before buying.

Design

• It's the iPhone X, but bigger
• More antenna points around the body
• Slippery, which is scary on a phone this pricey

The iPhone XS Max is a big phone, but you'd expect that for anything bearing that kind of suffix.

Measuring in at 157.5x77.4x7.7mm with a carrying weight of 208g, it's one of the largest smartphones you can buy right now, although it's not technically Apple's largest phone.

• Read our full review of the iPhone XS Max's design

  That's the Apple iPhone 8 Plus, which measures in at 158.4x78.1x7.5mm and 202g. The difference between the two is in screen size, of course, with the bezels on the iPhone 8 Plus leaving it just 5.5 inches of display space against the iPhone XS Max's 6.5 inches.

  To put it up against a phone with a similar sized screen, the 6.4-inch screened Samsung Galaxy Note9 measures in at 161.9x76.4x8.8 with a carrying weight of 201g.

  The iPhone XS Max is big, and right up until you put a case on it, it's also noticeably slippery, thanks to the rounded sides and sheer glass back. More than once during testing I've seen it slide off an uneven surface, and every single time it has given me a near heart attack given its asking price. To Apple's credit, it's yet to shatter. Without a case, that just feels like a matter of time, so you absolutely should invest in a case if you buy an iPhone XS Max.

  While the design is clearly a super-sized iPhone X, there are a few new variations. Apple's upped the antenna bands on the exterior of the iPhone XS Max (and iPhone XS) with an additional two for added reception, which results in less potential for your hands to get in the way of a signal coming through.

  Apple produced the iPhone X in just two colour variants, but for the iPhone XS Max, you get the choice of three, with gold joining the traditional silver and space grey finishes. If you want more colour than that, you'll have to wait for the less expensive iPhone XR or slap on a colourful case.

  Yes, I'm telling you to get a case for your iPhone XS Max again. Drop and break the screen, and unless you've also spent money on AppleCare, it'll set you back a rather painful $518.95. To put it another way, Apple thinks the glass on the front or back of the iPhone XS Max is worth the same as many mid-range smartphones today.

  Like its predecessors, the iPhone XS Max has no headphone jack, but what you'll also find missing this year is the Lightning-to-headphone-jack adaptor that Apple used to supply.

  Apple still sells them at $15 apiece, but on a smartphone that quite literally costs thousands of dollars, it feels very cheap on Apple's part to have skipped out on the adaptor. I get that Apple wants to recoup its Beats investment with as many wireless headphones and Airpods as possible, but it's still a miserly step.

Camera

• Smart HDR gives pleasing image results
• A very guided camera experience
• Video stabilisation is excellent

Apple's taken the slightly unusual step of offering the exact same camera array on the iPhone XS Max as it does on the iPhone XS.

Typically – and this was the case last year between the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X – the "bigger" (and certainly more costly) phone gets a slight boost in camera optics. Stare at the back of an iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, and what you'll be looking at are dual 12MP lenses. The wide angle 12MP lens has an f/1.8 aperture, while the 2x optical telephoto lens has an f/2.4 aperture.

• See sample photos and read our full review of the iPhone XS Max's camera

  Around the front, you'll find the 7MP "TrueDepth" selfie camera that's used for both portrait selfies and Face ID. Like last year's iPhone X, there's no fingerprint sensor at all, with facial biometrics used instead for unlocking and authorising payments via Apple Pay.

  It's a recipe that on the surface seems awfully similar to the camera array found on the iPhone X, and possibly a step behind the kinds of variable aperture or triple-lens cameras we're seeing emerging on some Android handsets.

  Apple's contention is that the larger pixel size on the iPhone XS/iPhone XS Max camera array working in concert with the image signal processing abilities of the A12 Bionic chip at the heart of its new phones give them a significant step up in performance terms. It's even got a funky marketing term for it, dubbing it "Smart HDR".

  Smart HDR is auto-enabled by default, working on every image you take with the iPhone XS Max, and it's symptomatic of Apple's entire approach to smart phone photography. At the premium end, we're seeing a number of manufacturers adopt pro-style approaches to photography, putting you in charge of exposure, aperture and shutter speeds with specific in-app functions for pro-level snappers.

  Apple targets the other, larger part of the smartphone photography world: people who just want nice photos, but don't want to worry about the details. It's a very hand-held, guided approach that may not appeal to everyone, but will most likely please most using them to take photos of people, landmarks, pets or anything else that they can see. While it's true you can buy apps that give you more pro-level controls on iPhones, most users won't bother, and there's always the spectre of Apple deciding to flex its muscles and remove apps it doesn't want to compete against.

  The practical reality is that smartphone photography at the premium end is already very good, and Apple had its work cut out for it given that 2018 has seen such exceptional camera phones as the Huawei P20 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note9, HTC U12 and many more.

  So how does it compare? To find out, I took the Apple iPhone XS Max out on a little comparative shooting expedition, alongside last year's iPhone X, Google's Pixel 2 XL and Samsung's Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy Note9.

  Indoor shots
  Low-light shots
  Portrait shooting
  Video recording

  ---

  Compare indoor shots

  First up, I took a shot to test out just how good the iPhone XS Max's Smart HDR was at picking up fine detail in shots with quite varied lighting. Here's how it compared:

  

  

  

  

  All four phones present quite decent images, but the iPhone XS Max does deliver more detail in the highlight areas, and the Pixel 2 XL falls behind in terms of light pick-up, a theme that continued throughout comparative testing.

  Compare low-light shots

  Low light is a key differentiator for premium phones over their mid-range counterparts, so it was time for some night-time shooting. First, I used a local fountain with a variety of side lighting. What was interesting here was how each camera, which was set to automatic shooting so it was choosing its own settings, interpreted the scene:

  

  

  

  

  Finally, a more brutal test, shooting a darkened field nearby to see just how much light each camera could pick up. Here, there was a clear loser in the Pixel 2 XL, which really struggled, and a very close run battle between the iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy S9+:

  

  

  

  

  The iPhone XS Max picks up more foreground detail, but ends up washing out the clouds in an almost impressionistic way compared to the Galaxy S9+. Given that the Galaxy S9+ is one of the absolute best phones for low-light photography in 2018, it ultimately means that the iPhone XS Max is a serious contender.

  Compare portrait shots

  Portrait lighting, as first seen in last year's iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, makes its return in the iPhone XS Max, with the added ability to adjust aperture after taking a photo. The actual effect of this can be rather subtle, and it's precisely what (for example) Samsung already does with the "live focus" feature found on the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9/S9+ and Galaxy Note9, but it does give you a level of photographic flexibility.

  For example, here's a portrait photo shot with aperture adjusted to f/1.4 (left) and f/16 (right):

  

  You can also combine that with the differing portrait lighting effects, although not all of them work all that elegantly. Here's the same shot with the mono studio lighting effect applied, showing how it sometimes fails to get the cut out quite right. It's an interesting effect, but probably not what you'd want in most cases:

  

  Compare video recording

  The iPhone XS Max can also handle video recording at up to 4K with stereo recording, and here it compares very well indeed. Apple utilises the same HDR effects in its video recording as well as some impressive stabilisation if you're shooting handheld rather than with a tripod.

  Here's some footage shot from a Sydney train crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. As regular Sydney commuters will know, Sydney trains aren't exactly the most stable of vehicles in the first place, but this doesn't faze the iPhone XS Max at all:

  

Performance

• Apple's A12 Bionic is the processor that other processors fear
• Lacks split screen or a key reason for such a large display.
• IP68 water resistance, but no change to official Apple warranty
• Gigabit LTE, but not the fastest
• Technically Dual SIM, but not in Australia
• No expandable memory (again), and higher storage choices are expensive.

If 2017's A11 Bionic threw down the gauntlet to competing processors, then 2018's A12 Bionic processor, the heart of the Apple iPhone XS Max, has clearly picked it up, added a few shiny gems and is grinning while it ponders snapping its fingers.

• View test results and read our full review of the iPhone XS Max's performance

  The A12 Bionic is Apple's first processor built on a 7nm process with, as per Apple's claims, up to a 50% power usage boost over the A11 Fusion, along with up to a 15% increase in performance and 50% better GPU performance. Those are heady claims, and for the most part, the iPhone XS Max as tested backs them up. Here's how it compares using Geekbench 4's CPU test against a range of premium handsets.

  The A12 Fusion running the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR is the best processor at a benchmark level we've ever tested.

  It's not quite the same story for graphics benchmarking, where the iPhone XS Max sits well, but not at the top of the premium smartphone space:

  While Apple supports OpenGL, which is what the 3DMark Slingshot Extreme test evaluates, its own Metal API is fast becoming the preferred (at least by Apple) way to measure graphics performance. There's little doubt in my mind that this is where that 50% GPU boost figure is from. In any case, within the direct iOS hierarchy, the iPhone XS Max is still king.

  A phone is more than just benchmarks, however. The iPhone XS Max is suitably slick in real-world use with actual iOS apps, but you absolutely should expect that.

  There's plenty of headroom for developers to push the iPhone XS Max to its limits in the future, but right now you're doing the equivalent of buying a Bugatti Veyron and running it on city streets in peak hour.

  What I'm struck by is that while it's clearly a powerful system in a class of its own, much of that power feels like it's rather untapped. An iPhone X (or 8 Plus) from 2017 is still a quick handset, and the observable differences with app launching or running between the two are largely negligible, if they're not outright invisible!

  There's plenty of headroom for developers to push the iPhone XS Max to its limits in the future, but right now you're doing the equivalent of buying a Bugatti Veyron and running it on city streets in peak hour.

  The iPhone XS Max and its 2018 siblings are Apple's first phones capable of gigabit LTE speeds, as long as you're in an area where that's supported.

  You're most likely to get those speeds around the CBDs of Australia's capital cities, rather than in regional areas. iFixit's teardown suggests that Apple has indeed switched over to the Intel modem camp, and away from Qualcomm. That leaves some speed improvements out of its grasp, it seems, with competing handsets like the Huawei P20 Pro or Galaxy Note9 managing Category 18 1.2Gbps speed potentials.

  The Apple iPhone XS Max ups the water resistance ratings for iPhones with IP68 water resistance, up from IP67 on previous models. Apple even went to the extent of claiming that it had tested the iPhone XS/Max in a variety of fluids, from water to milk and even beer at its iPhone XS launch event.

  That's a fascinating admission to me, partly because IP-rated water resistance is meant to be in pure lab water only, but mostly because while it's upped the stated water resistance on this year's iPhones, there's no change in Apple's official Australian warranties. They state explicitly that it doesn't cover damage caused by "accident, abuse, misuse, fire, liquid contact, earthquake or other external cause".

  So in other words, while Apple has more faith in the water resistance of its new phones, that faith doesn't actually extend to what happens if it gets wet and something actually goes wrong.

  There could be a fascinating case pitting Australian consumer law against Apple given its statements about testing in beer there, but I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not about to put an iPhone XS Max in a keg to find out. You can go first on that score.

  

  The iPhone XS Max has a 6.5-inch display with what Apple calls the "Super Retina" display. It's the highest density display Apple's ever put into a phone, with 458ppi, but the size of the iPhone XS Max screen means that stretches out to a resolution of only 2688 x 1242, below those of comparable Android flagships.

  Apple does a lot of work on colour accuracy and display technologies, which is why the Apple iPhone XS Max boasts Dolby Vision and HDR10 compatibility despite that relatively low resolution. There's certainly not a major issue with overall display on the iPhone XS Max, and Apple does have a few inbuilt tweaks for easier keyboard operation and overall app reachability if you are using the iPhone XS Max single-handed.

  At the same time, though, we've seen plenty of Android handsets that make use of much larger screens for proper split-screen multi-tasking.

  That's not an impossibility in iOS because it's what the 2018 iPad and all iPad Pro models can manage, but despite the extra screen real estate, you can't do this on the iPhone XS Max. Likewise, there's no slide-out or edge type capability in iOS 12, so the nicely rounded sides of the iPhone XS Max aren't hiding any additional features either.

  Apple's also shifted into the Dual SIM space with the new iPhone XS Max, although it's only in the Chinese market that it's shipping an iPhone with two actual SIM card slots. In Australia (and the rest of the word), you get a single regular nano-SIM, along with Apple's eSIM solution, something it's used previously on iPad tablets.

  Dual SIM adds flexibility to your telco spend, but there's a huge catch for Australian iPhone buyers.

  No Australian networks support Apple's eSIM, or for that matter, provide dual SIM phones. The latter issue is a long-held stance, with the carrier-provided model of any given smartphone – not just iPhones – coming in single-SIM if you get it from them.

  eSIM is supported by Australian telcos on the Apple Watch Series 3 and Apple Watch Series 4 watches at an additional cost to your existing phone plan, but you can't sign up for eSIM services on an iPhone XS Max at all.

  You may be able to use that eSIM for global roaming if you can find an international carrier willing to sign up tourists to an eSIM service, but for practical purposes, the Australian iPhone XS Max is a single SIM phone only.

  you could import a Chinese iPhone XS Max or iPhone XR with proper dual SIM support, but you shouldn't.

  If you're pondering it, you could import a Chinese iPhone XS Max or iPhone XR with proper dual SIM support, but you shouldn't. Chinese iPhones lack support for the 700Mhz frequencies used by Optus and Telstra for their higher-speed 4G networks. You'd gain in dual SIM support, but lose out in real-world speeds, which feels like a very poor trade-off for such a premium phone.

  Apple's never offered storage expansion options on iOS devices beyond paying Apple more money – and in the case of the iPhone XS Max quite a lot more money – and while some Android makers, such as Oppo with the Find X, or Google with its Pixel 2 phones, have followed suit, it's still not something I'm in favour of because you end up having to spend a lot on a higher capacity phone or cloud storage.

Battery life

• Best battery life on an iPhone to date
• Wired or wireless charging
• Still lags behind premium Android phones for battery life

The Apple iPhone XS Max's physical size has allowed Apple to throw in what it's calling "the biggest battery in an iPhone ever", although as always it's notably reticent to cite actual battery capacity figures. Here iFixit comes to the rescue, noting that it's actually a split L-shaped 3,179 mAh power pack. That's decent, but well below what we're seeing in Android flagships where 4,000mAh is becoming common.

However, battery life isn't just a numbers game because with larger screens comes the prospect of lower battery life. The more you need to glow, the faster the battery will go, basically.

• View test results and read our full review of the iPhone XS Max's battery life

  Here's how the Apple iPhone XS Max compares against a range of premium Android handsets using Geekbench 4's linear battery test with screen dimming enabled:

  On one hand, the Apple iPhone XS Max has the best battery life of any iPhone we've ever tested. Geekbench's linear battery test is quite direct, and I've no hesitation in saying that the iPhone XS Max should be able to last a full day's usage for almost all users, unless you're constantly using it.

  At the same time, it can't be ignored that Apple is still lagging far behind its competition when it comes to battery life. Samsung's Galaxy Note9 managed more than three hours more battery life in the same test with a higher resolution, albeit with a marginally smaller display than the iPhone XS Max. Apple's chipping away at the iPhone battery curse, but it's still very much an issue compared against Android's best.

  The iPhone XS Max can technically support fast charging with Apple's 12W power adaptor, but again Apple plays the annoyingly cheap card, only supplying a 5W charger in the box. If you want faster wired charging, you'll have to pay extra for it. As with previous generations, wireless charging is supported via the Qi standard, but we're still left waiting to see if Apple ever releases its own Airpower charger.

Verdict

I'm genuinely torn on the iPhone XS Max. It's Apple's best iPhone to date, it has the best processor in the industry, the camera is good and iOS is easy to use.

It's also very slippery, the battery life doesn't come close to the benchmark of the best Android handsets and, of course, it's super expensive.

• Read our full our verdict on the iPhone XS Max

  That's the biggest sticking point, really, because the top-tier Apple iPhone XS Max as tested will set you back a wallet-busting $2369 outright. Even the entry level 64GB model will cost you $1,799. That's the same price that Samsung charges for the 512GB model of the Galaxy Note9, and we noted in our review of it that it felt pricey.

  The iPhone XS Max takes that pricing argument to the extreme. Apple is well known for being hard bargainers when it comes to component costs, so it's pretty ridiculous to suggest that the additional 448GB of the top-end model over the base 64GB model is really costing it anywhere near $570.

  Naturally, Apple's pricing that way because it feels that consumers will pay while still attaching a "premium" brand image along the way. It feels like way too much to pay for the privilege, however.

  The pricing on the iPhone XS Max also makes the iPhone XS a somewhat attractive proposition. I have yet to test it out fully, but it should behave identically to the iPhone XS Max with the possible exception of battery life, thanks to its smaller body and display size.

  

  The iPhone XR is even more "affordable" (while still retaining that Apple premium pricing), but we won't see it on these shores for a month. It's not as well equipped at a camera level as the iPhone XS Max, but it's much less expensive.

  If you picked up an iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X last year and you're the type who absolutely must have Apple's latest and greatest, then...

  I don't know what you're doing reading this review because you clearly already have an iPhone XS Max, right?

  If you're on the fence and have one of last year's phones, stay there. The iPhone X and 8 Plus (and even the iPhone 8) have a good few more years of life in them, and you've already spent your money.

  If you're coming from earlier iPhone generations, the iPhone XS Max will make the most sense if you pick it up on contract and bust out a lot of that painful asking price. I've analysed the outright versus contract pricing here if you're keen. You'll see a significant jump in performance against anything older than an iPhone 8, plus of course the use of that much larger display.

  But equally, for older iPhone owners, there's some sense in picking up the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus outright instead. They're much cheaper, and while the A12 Bionic is a better processor than the A11 Bionic, there's little so far that's pushing the newer chip in real ways. Maybe that will come, but by then, the iPhone XS Max will be an older and hopefully more affordable handset.

  If you're platform agnostic, you should definitely look at your Android alternatives. There are outliers, like Oppo's Find X Automobili Lamborghini Edition, that inch up towards the $2,000 mark but nothing regular that punches through it like the Apple iPhone XS Max.

  It's Apple's best iPhone ever, but absolutely at its worst price.

Pricing and availability

Apple iPhone XS Max

The cream of the crop

If you want the very best smartphone money can buy, Apple's iPhone XS Max won't leave you wanting.

Buy Now

• You can purchase the iPhone XS Max directly from Apple as well as retailers like JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Catch.
• The iPhone XS Max is also available on contract through Telstra, Vodafone and Optus.