A year with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The first 120Hz iPhone, the first f/1.5 main camera in an iPhone, the first time a Pro Max really felt like it earned the price.
ProMotion
Adaptive 120Hz changed how the OS feels. Scrolling Safari, Twitter, Instagram is the kind of upgrade you do not realise mattered until you go back to a 60Hz iPhone for an hour.
Battery cost is real but minor. iOS 15's adaptive engine kept the panel at 10Hz for static content, so the average refresh was much lower than 120Hz.
Cameras
The Wide camera went from f/1.6 to f/1.5 with bigger sensor pixels. Low light improved by an order of magnitude. The Ultra Wide got autofocus and could now do macro.
The 3x telephoto replaced the 2.5x. That extra reach is the practical change for portraits.
Battery
12 hours of mixed use, day one. The largest battery Apple had shipped at the time (4,352 mAh).
After 12 months, iOS Battery Health reports 92 percent. Normal wear. The phone still goes a full day for me with sustained heavy use.
What is not great
239 grams. The phone is heavy. After a year I have got used to it but a friend's iPhone 13 (regular) feels like a feather in comparison.
Lightning, in 2022, is a bottleneck. Charging at 27W and wired data transfer at USB 2.0 speeds is laughable for a flagship.
The camera bump is the largest yet. The phone does not sit flat on a desk.
Buying advice (Sept 2022)
The iPhone 14 Pro Max launched two weeks ago. The Dynamic Island and the always-on display are nice but not transformative. The 13 Pro Max is now £150 cheaper from Apple's refurb store and 95 percent of the experience.
I would buy the 13 Pro Max from refurb if I were buying today.
Looking forward
Next year (2023) Apple is rumoured to switch to titanium for the Pro Max. Lighter, more durable. That is the upgrade I would wait for.
If you want a current iPhone with no compromises, the 13 Pro Max delivered. The first time I have said that about an iPhone in three generations.
Note: this is the original 2022 take, archived. See the three-years-on follow-up for current thoughts.[1]
About the data
A note on what the numbers in this post represent so you can read them with the right confidence:
- "My own bench" rows are personal measurements on my own hardware. They are honest about my setup and reproducible there, but they should not be treated as universal benchmark scores.
- Benchmark numbers attributed to public sources (Geekbench Browser, DXOMARK, NotebookCheck, FIA timing) are illustrative, the trend is what matters, not the third decimal place. Cross-check against the source for anything you would act on financially.
- Client outcomes and ROI percentages in business-focused posts are anonymised composites drawn from my own consulting work. Real numbers, real direction, sanitised so individual clients are not identifiable.
- Foldable crease-depth and similar engineering measurements are estimates pulled from teardown reports and reviewer claims; manufacturers do not publish these directly.
- Forecasts and "what I bet" lines are exactly that, opinions, not predictions with a track record yet.
If you spot a number that contradicts a source you trust, tell me, I would rather correct it than be the chart that was off by 6 percent and pretended otherwise.