Apple iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max Review

We have prepared a detailed review of the Apple iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro, the best Apple phones of 2019…

Not long ago Apple launched the iPhone 11 series. The outstanding features of the series’s stars have a major upgrade compared to last year’s phones. Last year the overall upgrade was on the chipset, but this year’s upgrade on camera is the main selling point.

The iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max come in enhanced versions of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max phones. They have similar designs and the same screen size. However, they come with improved performance, some major camera upgrades, a bigger battery and a new Apple U1 broadband chip.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max Specifications

As mentioned earlier, this year’s latest upgrade is on cameras. Behind it is a brand new triple camera installation. Moreover, the rear panel has a frosted glass coating. Water protection feature has also seen some improvement and now the next generation iPhones are waterproof up to 4 meters.

The new A13 Bionic processor is an improved version of last year’s A12. Apple also integrated a new Apple U1 broadband chip. However, its use is not yet fully implemented in iOS.

And finally, the iPhone 11 Pro now has 20% bigger battery capacity than the XS, while the 11 Pro Max has 25% more capacity than the XS Max.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max Design

If you have high design expectations about the iPhone 11 Pro, you can put it aside. When you look at the front panel when they come out of the box you can almost say I know it. Phones XS and X have the same design. On the other hand, although the 11 Pro Max is as big as the XS Max, it is 20g heavier.

Although there is a huge notch at the top, the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED screens have very thin frames. It includes the top-notch handset, several sensors, 3D TOF and the new 12MP selfie camera. The selfie camera has excellent features. You can learn more in the Camera section below.

The screens on both the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are protected by the toughest glass in the world. It is made by Corning and has improved protection in comparison to the screen protection in XS. In the last year model, Apple was using a special version of Gorilla Glass 6.

Apple also applied oleophobic coatings to all iPhones. This is your shield against fingerprints and smudges. Even if your fingerprints appear on the phone, just wipe them lightly. Like the previous iPhones, the iPhone 11 series has similar frame hardware. Left mute key and volume keys on the left, power / Siri key on the right.

The back panels of the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are the fruits of a completely different design. Except for the 2D edges, for the first time, they’re not bright. Apple uses a matt glass with a frosted coating.

Unlike the OnePlus 6, which has a slightly similar design, the back panel of the iPhone 11 Pro is not slippery. The new texture provides some grip and feels more secure in hand compared to the XS generation.

Back Panel and Camera Installation

Thanks to the icy surface, spots and fingerprints are barely noticeable. The new triple camera features a special frame in the upper left corner of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. The module in which the cameras are located is flatter and brighter, not frosted coated.

The wide + tele 12MP duo has OIS support. The third 12MP camera is part of the new camera layout with an ultra wide angle. It has No optical stabilization or autofocus, therefore, it is not as good as some may think. 

Apple has created some nice software for the camera, and we’ll cover them later in the camera section of this review.

Inside the frame, installation is an advanced dual-LED dual-tone flash that is brighter than before. And there’s a very small hole that we think accommodates the microphones used for video recording.

As expected, the new camera setup looks proportionally larger on the smaller iPhone 11 Pro, which contributes to fewer aesthetics. However, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is a bigger phone and it looks better in the corner of the installation.

Check out in-depth review of iPhone 11 here

iPhone 11 Pro Series Dimensions and Additions

The iPhone 11 Pro measures 144 × 71.4 × 8.1 mm. This is 0.4 mm longer, 0.5 mm wider and 0.4 mm thicker than XS. It’s also heavier. 

The iPhone 11 Pro Max then spreads 158 × 77.8 × 8.1 mm – 0.5 mm longer, 0.4 mm wider and 0.4 mm thicker than the iPhone XS Max.

The extra space from the 3D Touch layer removal allowed Apple to put larger batteries into the new iPhones. There is a 20% increase in normal battery capacity. Max increased by 25% compared to the iPhone XS.

And last but not least, Apple has secured its iPhone 11 Pro smartphones better against water. The phone is IP68 rated and can stay in water for up to 4m depth for 30 minutes.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max Display

You probably know how big a problem these new XDR screens are. XDR stands for eXtreme Dynamic Range, where Apple tells us about its progress in HDR. The new range is brighter with 800nits and can be illuminated up to 1200nites when necessary. XDR OLEDs double the contrast.

So in short, the new XDR displays are much brighter and offer twice the contrast of the OLEDs we see on the iPhone XS and XS Max. Like Samsung’s latest Dynamic AMOLEDs, they have a better dynamic range that goes beyond the HDR standard.

Both displays provide density at 458 PPI. With a 5.8-inch screen, the iPhone 11 Pro has a resolution of 1125 × 2436 pixels and offers excellent pixel density. The iPhone 11 Pro Max provides 1242 x 2688 pixels on the 6.5-inch panel. Both OLEDs support common HDR10 and Dolby Vision standards.

Nevertheless, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max OLEDs with a maximum brightness of 811 nits are currently among the brightest smartphone displays on the market.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max Performance

Battery Test – Battery Life

The iPhone 11 Pro Max is powered by the largest battery Apple has ever had. This is a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 3,969 mAh which is 25% bigger than XS Max’s.

Both iPhone 11 Pro models have an 18W fast charger.  If you charge your iPhone 11 Pro Max with this charger, it will charge 50% of the battery in 30 minutes. 

A full charge on both phones takes about 2 hours. iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max support 10W wireless charging. 

We completed the battery test on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Max, approximately 21 hours 3G search on a single charge, 15 hours web browsing, or you can watch videos for about 19 and a half hours.

A13 Bionic Chipset and Performance Results

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, as well as the cheaper iPhone 11, use the latest Apple A13 Bionic chip. It has 8.5 billion transistors. This is based on the 7nm + process. The chipset is faster and more efficient than the A12.

The Apple A13 Bionic chip features a six-core processor with a 2 × 2.65 GHz Lightning high-performance core and a 4 × 1.8 GHz Thunder efficient CPU core. The Lightning core is 20% faster, 30% more efficient.

The A13 chipset features a new GPU that retains the 4-core design introduced by the A12. But now it delivers the same performance as the A12’s GPU, 20% faster and 40% more efficient.

The third generation Neural Engine has 8 cores (20% faster, 15% more efficient). Responsible for image processing features such as Deep Fusion and Night Mode. Deep Fusion will be released as a software update at the end of this year.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Series Cameras

One of the main reasons why the new iPhones are called Pro is because of the camera. Apple finally added a third camera to its wide + tele installation. This is the ultra-wide-angle camera.

The iPhone 11 Pro duo uses the same set of triple 12MP cameras in the back. And the front selfie camera is the same. Also, all the features, modes, options and image and video quality in the camera section remain the same on both iPhones. Therefore, all of the following features apply to both iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

All our cameras consist of a 12MP sensor. The primary camera features a wide-angle f / 1.8 lens, optical image stabilization (OIS), and Dual Pixel AF. The secondary camera is a telephoto that uses a 52mm lens for 2x optical zoom on the main camera. The lens is now brighter when it has an aperture of f / 2.0, the OIS is available, but does not have Dual Pixel AF as in the main camera. The new member of the family is the third ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree viewing angle. There is no stabilization or autofocus for this camera.

The selfie camera also received an upgrade. The 3D TOF sensor is used for Face ID, portrait shots and various animations. However, the actual selfie sensor is a 12MP camera that uses f / 2.2 aperture wider than the 30mm lens on previous iPhones.

The new main and tele sensors on the iPhone 11 Pro have extended ISO sensitivity. There are also new minimum / maximum exposure times. The aperture in the telephoto camera is also wider – increased from f / 2.4 to f / 2.0.

Camera Application

The cameras are always in sync with each other. So when you switch between them, they can instantly adjust the correct focus, exposure and tone mapping. This applies to both photos and videos.

The new camera application automatically captures information outside the main and telephoto views with information from ultra-wide and main sensors. The Photos app will then automatically suggest that you capture a larger shot if there are people who have been cut out of a group of photos, or if part of a building has been dropped and similar features are released.

This extra-record requires extra space. That’s why the 64 GB model can run out of memory immediately. But the good news is that if you don’t use the extra information, it will be deleted after 30 days. At least you don’t have to think about that.

Camera Quality

The pictures shot in various modes have exemplary details, extremely low noise and a very high dynamic range.

Although the colours look a little warm, the accuracy is high. The contrast looks as perfect as one would expect from an Apple flagship.  Sharpening is a bit excessive, and in general, the photos are noticeably overly sharp.

The quality of the ultra-wide shots is good, but not perfect. There is enough detail, although we expected a little more, due to the automatic distortion correction applied, the corners are quite soft and there is some noise here and there.

The colours, contrast and dynamic range match the main camera, which is not ideal. Night Mode is automatically activated when the light is low. Usually, it uses a 2 or 3-second wait. The image is recorded instantly, even if it isn’t the fastest Night Mode we’ve ever encountered.

The quality of Night Mode images is also class-leading. They have too much detail, they’re sharp enough, but they’re not the best. The colours are excellent, the contrast is first class, the exposure is very balanced and you will love every picture in general.

Also, when shooting in Night Mode, a single picture is not blurred, so it should be great even if you only take one picture.

Conclusion

The iPhone 11 Pro duo focuses on two features that Apple doesn’t consistently offer: camera and battery life. By doing so, apple tries to close the gap between Android phones. An ultra-wide-angle camera is also quite a good approach. Although not as good as an ideal option, Night Mode is better than ever and the battery is ideal.

Apple’s have their dedicated fan base. However, it is a fact that Android phones have many more options. You can find many flagships on the market that come with superior features for the same price tag. But if you choose between the two, I recommend the Max.