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Is the iPhone 13 Pro Max waterproof? And every feature you need to know about

Thinking about updating your current phone? Want something top-of-the-range to make friends and family jealous? Well, if flagships are your thing, then Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max is worthy of close consideration. Read our quick Gadget Cover guide to the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s best features to decide whether it’s the phone for you.

Ever since the iPhone 13 range hit the shelves in autumn 2021, they have been some of the most sought-after phones in the world. According to the latest figures, the iPhone 13 is the most popular model among UK consumers, picking up 29% of sales, followed by the iPhone 13 Pro with 10% and the iPhone 13 Pro Max with 9%.

Sales have been so impressive that the tech giant recently announced plans to increase the production of the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max by a phenomenal 10 million units. This is great news for those buyers who were worried that global supply chain issues could prevent them from getting their hands on these remarkable machines.

If you do invest in one of these handsets, get iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance to protect your tech. From accidental damage and loss to theft and breakdown, insurance arranged through Gadget Cover is definitely worth adding to your shopping list.

iPhone 13 Pro Max tech specs – at a glance

• Price: From £1,049
• Finish: Ceramic Shield front, textured matt glass back and stainless steel frame
• Colours: Graphite, Gold, Silver, Sierra Blue, Alpine Green
• Size: 160.8 x 78.1 x 7.65 mm (6.33 x 3.07 x 0.3 inches)
• Weight: 238g
• Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
• Battery life: Up to 22 hours
• Screen size: 6.7 inches
• Resolution: 2778 x 1284-pixel resolution (458 ppi)
• Adaptive refresh rate: Up to 120Hz
• Processor: A15 Bionic
• Rear cameras: Pro 12MP camera system containing telephoto, wide, and ultra-wide lenses
• Zoom: 3x optical, up to 15x digital
• Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth camera
• Video: HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60fps
• Face ID: Yes
• Apple Pay: Yes
• MagSafe: Wireless charging up to 15W
• Splash, water and dust resistance: IP68 (6 metres up to 30 minutes)

Design delights and cool colours

If you’re already in the market for a model like the Pro Max, then it’ll probably be no surprise for you to hear it’s a hefty handset that feels substantial in the hand. As well as the weight and dimensions, the stainless-steel outer band gives the phone’s edges a more industrial, sharper feel. Yes, it feels grippier but over an extended period of use it can become quite uncomfortable to hold.

And unless you’ve got big hands it can become a bit of a challenge to wield with all that finger and thumb stretching. Be aware that if your hands become tired, it could lead to more accidental slips and drops. A cracked screen on your brand-new iPhone is something that no owner wants to deal with.

Better to get iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance as soon as possible. Unlike some insurers, Gadget Cover will even cover your tech for minor screen cracks. And if the item cannot be repaired, we will replace it.

Compared to its predecessor the iPhone 12 Pro Max, other design changes include a slightly smaller notch and a larger camera array on the back.

Apple has kept true to its trusty Lightning connector, which remains at the base of the iPhone, next to a speaker. While there has been much debate over the years about the potential advantages of switching the iPhone to USB-C, Apple is still unpersuaded.

Whenever new iPhones are released, there is always some debate among fans about the range of colours to choose from. As well as graphite, gold and silver the iPhone 13 Pro Max was also released in Sierra Blue last autumn. That was followed this spring by the release of an Alpine Green version.

We love mid-cycle refresh concepts and would opt for the subtle Alpine Green if we were given the choice. However, despite it having Apple’s super-tough Ceramic Shield on the front, a decent case and screen protector are still a must. Just like finding the right iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance, don’t leave it until it’s too late.

Finally, Apple is still offering MagSafe with its new iPhones. While we haven’t seen a vast range of MagSafe accessories coming to market, the tech is becoming more of a selling point. So, it only seems a matter of time before we see more cool cases, stands, controllers and gimbals appear.

Display details

Apart from the reduced notch, there are a number of features to the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch display that are worth drawing your attention to.

First up is the new ProMotion display technology that offers an adaptive refresh rate from 10Hz up to 120Hz. This offers much smoother scrolling, transitions and animations throughout.

While it’s great to see this on the iPhone, this is probably still a luxury extra rather than a must-have feature. And during everyday use you might not see a huge difference when compared to the screen on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Apart from a bit more fluidity and responsiveness.

That said, this is still an improvement and if you use some of the apps that are designed to take advantage of ProMotion then you will see much more of a difference.

Another advantage of the iPhone 13 Pro Max screen is the increased brightness, particularly when viewed outdoors in sunshine. It’s brighter than a lot of other smartphones on the market, making viewing much easier in sunny conditions. It’s great to see Apple focusing on the changes that really make a difference for users in their day-to-day lives.

The fact is that the iPhone 13 Pro Max has one of the most stunning OLED displays out there. When it comes to quality it offers a genuine alternative to watching on the big screen.

Camera action

One of the main reasons people opt for an iPhone Pro Max model is the additional camera capabilities usually on offer. And this remains the case on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The camera offering here is a real selling point. And while the improvements might only be slight when compared to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, each one of those tweaks is useful and impressive. Making this one of the best camera phones around.

As we said previously, the camera array on this phone is larger than its predecessor, and there's a good reason for that. The main Wide camera is the largest sensor Apple’s ever put in a smartphone, allowing you to snap some seriously impressive images. While the Ultra Wide sensor has also been upgraded and now packs Apple’s Night Mode functionality. Finally, the Telephoto lens has seen a boost to its zoom capabilities, now offering a 3x optical zoom.

When looked at side by side there’s a clear and obvious improvement over last year’s model. Even by the high standards of Apple this is very welcome. Here are some of the most noteworthy features you’ll want to get to grips with if you’re lucky enough to grab one of these phones.

• Macro Photography Mode – The new macrophotography mode turns on instantly when you move closer to a subject and offers the potential for some fantastic shots. When seen at the macro level there’s a whole new world ready for you to discover through your iPhone 13 Pro Max. Enjoy!
• Low Light and Night Mode – All three rear cameras now perform much better in low light situations. Offering clearer, sharper and brighter shots even in the darkest of environments.
• Photographic Styles – You’re now offered five pre-programmed settings to make your images more vibrant or alter the colour temperature. Choose from standard, rich contrast, vibrant, warm and cool depending on what you need.
• Cinematic Mode – If you fancy yourself as a bit of a movie-maker then Cinematic Mode could be very useful. The feature changes the focus automatically to where the focus of a viewer should be. This makes for much more dynamic and movie-like videos. A fun tool to make your home movies look that bit more professional. Unfortunately, Cinematic Mode is capped at 1080p, so you can’t have portrait mode videos and 4K quality at the same time.
• Portrait Mode – If you love that great looking ‘bokeh’ effect so beloved of the Insta-crowd then you’ll be pleased with Portrait Mode. You can even use it to capture stationary objects that aren’t human or animal – making for some lovely pictures when you’re out and about.
• ProRAW – Showing that the Pro Max is a step above the usual basic camera models, ProRAW is back again on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Offering great shots but giving you lots of options for editing later.

Performance power

We all know that Apple is partial to superlatives. But when Apple’s marketing blurb says the iPhone 13 Pro Max contains ‘the world’s fastest smartphone chip’ then it’s hard to disagree.

Thanks to its new A15 Bionic chipset, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is indeed super-fast. And that’s a view backed up by plenty of the benchmarking performed by trusted tech reviewers such as Tech Radar and Tom’s Guide.

It seems clear that the iPhone 13 Pro Max destroys the Android competition. It’s really only other iPhones that are worthy challengers for the performance crown.

Whether gaming, graphics, editing photos, saving video or any other heavy-duty tasks, the iPhone 13 Pro Max makes much quicker work of it than anything else. In fact, it's only beaten in testing by the far more expensive iPad Pro range.

Battery life that can’t be bettered

Have we saved the best feature until last? With all that performance and capability, you might be forgiven for thinking that the battery life of the iPhone 13 Pro Max would leave something to be desired.

But you would be very wrong. In fact, thanks to a larger 4352mAh battery and other enhancements the iPhone 13 Pro Max performs very well. With reviewers at Tom’s Guide finding that it lasted a fantastic 12 hours and 16 minutes on a battery test.

For day-to-day use you should find you’ve still got plenty of battery life left when you get to the end of the day. We can safely say that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is one of the very best phones available for battery life. 

Unfortunately, the reviews aren’t quite so positive when it comes to charging. Using a 20W USB-C charger will get you to just 50% capacity after 30 minutes. Which isn’t great compared to some other rival phones such as the OnePlus 9 Pro and Xiaomi 11T Pro. While MagSafe charging is even slower at 15W.

If you invest in a higher-power 30W charger then you can get to 100% in a fairly speedy 90 minutes.

If you’re using some of that great battery life to spend hours listening to your perfectly curated Spotify playlist, then you’ll want to invest in some great headphones. However, Apple headphones can be pretty pricey. So, you’ll want to make sure your iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance covers accessories lost, damaged or stolen at the same time as your iPhone.

Should you buy the iPhone 13 Pro Max?

This is a big question, and with a price tag of over £1,000 it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. We know not everything is as straightforward as finding the right iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance with Gadget Cover. To help you out, we’ve put together a 60-second round up of the pros and cons to help you decide.

Pros

• Best camera set up in a phone.
• Stellar performance.
• Great range of photo and video modes.
• Smooth and bright OLED display.
• Battery life to take on any challenger.

Cons

• Still has that notch.
• Fast charging isn’t as fast as it could be.
• Can get tiring to hold.
• Cinematic Mode is capped at 1080p.

3 top tricks to do with your iPhone 13 Pro Max

It takes time to learn all the nifty things that these amazing gadgets can do. Here are just three of our favourite capabilities from the iPhone 13 Pro Max, courtesy of iPhone Geeks:

1. Automatically switch between 5G and 4G

The iPhone 13 Pro Max knows when to give you an extra boost of power for downloading videos and so on. On simple tasks it will switch from 5G back to 4G - called Smart Data Mode - to help save your battery life.

2. Copy live text

This amazing new feature called Live Text enables you to point your phone at a piece of text and it will automatically copy it onto a document for you. It could be printed text in a sign, or a handwritten note. If there’s a long phone number you don’t want to type out, this is a quick and easy way to share it.

3. Make more eye contact

Eye Contact in the iPhone 13 Pro Max makes FaceTime even easier to use. This handy feature makes it look like you’re actually looking at the person you’re speaking to, rather than your phone’s camera. If you need to make an important video call, Eye Contact will help you make a better connection.

So should you buy it?

The amazing battery life and camera offering alone are great reasons to invest in this awesome piece of kit from Apple. But with the cost of living spiralling, you might prefer to save your cash and go for a cheaper Android alternative, like one of the recent mid-range of budget Samsung releases?

The A52s for example comes in at just under £500 but offers some great features such as fast charging, 5G connectivity and great screen quality - perfect if you like watching lots of movies on your device.

Whichever mobile phone you choose, Gadget Cover will be able to find your insurance protection to match.

Choosing a new phone can leave buyers feeling a little overwhelmed. So that’s why we always suggest reading Gadget Cover’s ultimate guide to buying a mobile phone first so you know where to begin. No matter how many times you’ve bought a new iPhone before, it’s still well worth a reminder.

Our guide is jam-packed with ideas perfect for anyone looking to spend hard-earned cash on the very latest tech marvel. It offers in-depth guidance on the features to look out for, the top brands, price plans, and network choices. Not to mention how to protect your new phone with iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance.

Get iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance from Gadget Cover

While the iPhone 13 Pro Max offers incredible performance and rightly sits atop many best-buy lists, it’s certainly not cheap and needs to be well protected with the right insurance policy. The team here at Gadget Cover knows the pressures on everyone’s budget at the moment, so we’ll do our best to find a policy that’s right for you.

Accidental damage, liquid damage, theft and breakdown are all covered as well as loss  (Loss cover is optional and charged at £1 per month.) and unauthorised usage. Choose a policy through us and cover will automatically be extended to your immediate family, too. And if you’re heading abroad, we can protect your iPhone anywhere in the world, up to 180 days in any one year.

Get a quote for iPhone 13 Pro Max insurance from Gadget Cover today.