iPhone 18 Pro Max Review: Marginal, yet meaningful refinement
If the iPhone 17 Pro was Apple changing what a pro-grade iPhone looked like, the 18 Pro is Apple making that new design work harder
The new iPhone 18 Pro Max is a refined yet marginal upgrade over last year's model, according to a recent review. The only noticeable visual difference is the color, which is a darker shade referred to as "glacier" by Apple. Under new leadership, John Ternus, Apple has made some meaningful changes to the device, particularly in cooling technology.
The most significant advancement is the redesigned vapor chamber, which has been expanded three times in size. This modification allows the phone to maintain high performance during intensive tasks such as long exposure photography, computational editing, 4K video shoots, on-device AI, and extended movie watching at full brightness. A wider cooling surface results in less throttling of the chip, which in turn makes the device feel faster.
In addition to the cooling improvements, the device sports a new A20 Pro chip with a more powerful CPU, GPU, and secondary neural engine. Apple claims the chip has doubled the compute power and has 40% faster graphics. While most users won't notice a significant difference in daily usage, the enhancements could be beneficial for gamers and those utilizing Apple's pro camera system, which requires substantial computational power.
The secondary neural engine is also noteworthy, signaling Apple's focus on on-device AI, real-time video processing, and improved Siri capabilities. The new chip's role is shifting from simply launching apps quickly to seamlessly handling advanced features directly on the device. Battery life has also seen notable improvements, with Apple claiming six additional hours of video playback compared to the previous generation.
The efficiency gains are largely attributed to the upgraded vapor chamber, which keeps the device cooler and running longer without adding significant weight.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu - Sci-Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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