iPhone XS Max full review: stunning screen and photos make upgrade worth it – if you don’t have an X
The 6.5-inch OLED display is an absolute joy to look at – especially when viewing those improved photos – but Apple doesn’t make the most of its possibilities, unlike similar Android devices
Apple’s S-model iPhones have traditionally lacked an immediate wow factor because they look and feel exactly the same as the previous year’s models. But they have made up for that by introducing some of the most useful and important features in iPhone history. The iPhone 3GS, for example, brought video recording; the 4S introduced us to Siri; and the 5S was the first iPhone to have a fingerprint scanner.
This year’s XS, however, has no single headline-grabbing, game-changing new feature. There are a lot of internal improvements, but it is still the most iterative update of an iPhone yet.
There is, though, the larger XS Max, whose sheer size alone has created plenty of intrigue – and grabbed all the early sales.
I tested both the XS and XS Max. With the exception of dimensions and battery size, both phones are completely identical in hardware and software. This review will focus on the XS Max, but everything mentioned also applies to the XS unless stated otherwise.
Design and hardware
Considering the ubiquity of the iPhone X, and how many Android phone makers – Xiaomi, ahem – have flat out copied the look, it is safe to assume just about everyone reading this has a general idea of the XS Max’s hardware design. It is essentially a blown-up version of the X and XS.
