As expected, Apple went all out during its fall launch event, because Tim Cook is all about that go big, or go home life! So, naturally, the launch event unveiled new tablets, new watches, new phones, new names, new everything! Curious? Along with all-new 10.2-inch iPad and Apple Watch Series 5, Apple launch not one, not two, but three of its highest-performing iPhones yet –iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Now before we begin unveiling the future of technology, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Remember how in 2017, Apple decided to change the iPhone’s naming convention and launched iPhone X to celebrate the device’s 10th anniversary? Well, this year, Apple had a change of heart, again and altered the naming system, again! Indecisive much?
Anyhoo, fast forward to the present, and here’s an FYI for you. The new 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro and 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max succeed the iPhone XS and XS Max, respectively.
The addition of the term “Pro” was probably to distinguish its flagship smartphones over its cheapest model, which was named as iPhone XR last year. And it’s not the first time Apple used the pro label. But it still doesn’t make iPhone 11 Pro Max any less of a mouthful.
The label aside, the thing I’m excited about the most, and you’re probably dying to know is the triple camera suite in the latest iPhone Pro series. The triple camera setup adds an extra ultra-wide-angle lens to the portfolio, along with features like Night mode and slofies aka slow motion selfies (yup, that’s a thing). TBH, iPhone’s camera has never been meh, but it has struggled to keep up with others in the race. But thanks to the shiny new upgrades, Apple’s about to shake it up!
Pro Worthy Design with a bump
Let’s start with the looks. Coz one look is all it took for these iPhones to steal my heart with its frosted glass finish or as Apple likes to call it ‘Matte.’ Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. The front is quite similar to the previous models, XS and XS Max. But look at the hued side (huehuehue, not guilty about this laugh at all), the new iPhones picked up a fresh palate of colors (Hello Midnight Green!) with an all-new display technology called Super Retina XDR, borrowing a few features from Apple’s Pro Display XDR Monitor. This tech brings iPhone 11 Pro’s 5.8-inch OLED screen and iPhone 11 Pro Max’s 6.5 OLED screen to life. So basically, new iPhones’ display is brighter, clearer, and livelier than my future. Oh, and that wide notch encasing the TrueDepth camera is still tagging along, and so are the bezels around the display.
Also, if you drop more phones than beats, take a chill pill because these shiny new iPhones are shiny for a reason. The phones are made of stainless steel, which is stronger than aluminum, usually the metal of choice for phones, including the newly launched iPhone 11.
Moving on, to the elephant in the room, the bumpy camera modules on the back. They are bulkier than the guys at my gym. And I would’ve assumed that Apple would’ve liked to preserve it’s a revolutionary feature for a little longer and maybe added a mask of sorts on the glass covering the massive lenses, but nope! That overly pronounced camera module ain’t doing it for me. It’s quite jarring and will take some getting used to. Regardless, I’m not sold on the bumpy design.
Reclaiming the Champ Title – Camera
I know I just cribbed about the bumpy camera designs, but thankfully that won’t be the case with the cameras itself. Following suit of other smartphones brands, Apple has also launched the iPhone Pro with telephoto, standard, and ultra-wide-angle lenses. And guess what, the newly launched ultra-wide-angle lens has a 120-degree field of view with an f/2.4 aperture with, allowing you to capture those awkward moments in the back.
That’s not it. Apple used up all that triple camera power and introduced a new feature called Deep Fusion that clicks nine photos across all three cameras and stitch them up together into a single high-quality picture. Moving on, of course, the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max will ship with some cool new features like a night photography mode and slow-motion selfies, also called umm…” slofies.” Slofies give you the superpower of capturing a 120 frames-per-second slow-motion footage with the front-facing 12-megapixel camera. But that’s not all. The slofie camera is also getting a wider lens for photos, as well as wider FaceID sensor that is now faster and works from different angles. All that’s cool and all but the most headline-worthy upgrade is the PORTRAIT MODE, well if you’re an animal lover. The previous Portrait Mode with the soft-focus, bokeh-Esque photo effect was designed for portraits of just humans. But the new one is more pet-friendly. Thanks to Apple PET MODE IS NOW OFFICIALLY A THING.
And if any of you were wondering, switching between the three lenses is smooth, like cha cha real smooth. You can switch using slide your finger and go from 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and even a 10x digital zoom option, or, you can tap on the 1x button to cycle through these options.
Specs and Battery Backup
Apple’s A13 Bionic processor powers the latest iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max. According to Apple, it is the most powerful mobile chipset available and obviously makes the new iPhones fast and furious. But the thing that interests me the most is the battery life of the Pro variants. Apple has promised that iPhone 11 Pro will last 4 more hours than its predecessor and Pro Max will last 5 hours more that iPhone XS Max. An iPhone that lasts all day? Now that’s what I call an improvement.
Another good news, Cook finally realized we’re too broke to pay extra dough for 18W fast charger. So, he decided to ship one in the box. Thank the martyr! And of course, the wireless option still exists. These iPhones run iOS 13 out of the box and has swapped 3D Touch with Haptic Touch seen on last year’s iPhone XR.
First Impressions
The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are the Pro of the Pros, the new top dogs, the hotshots in the smartphone playfield. If you get down to comparing the iPhone 11 Pro variants with the 2018 iPhone 8 and the iPhone XR, the pro series will come out as the ultimate champion. Apple certainly seems to have “maxed” out the specs. And I am sure that there’s plenty more to discover once I get my hands on Cook’s latest iPhone offering which will be up for grabs on 20th Sep 2019 in India. And on the price front, you better start breaking your piggy banks or break into real banks because iPhone 11 Pro starts from ₹99,900 and iPhone 11 Pro Max starts from ₹1,09,900.
But the real question is will a green iPhone and an extra camera stave off Apple’s archrivals for another year? Well, it’s yet to be seen.
