iPhone Pro or Pro Max?

My wife is going to upgrade her iPhone 6s to a 12 Pro. The only question she has is, should she get the Pro or the Pro Max? Other than screen size, the only differences I see are greater optical zoom (5x instead of 4x) and better image stabilization for ultra wide shots. Am I missing anything? She is looking to use her phone much more for photography/video and not just casual shots. Are these extra features just for the professional photographer/videographer or for the amateur as well? And if for the amateur, what would be the use case that would make the Max worthwhile?

Add to that the fact that she is not certain the larger phone will be comfortable in her hand, so there’s that. Thoughts?

The Pro Max potentially has better picture quality in comparison to the Pro because it does have a larger sensor while maintaining 12 megapixels. That leads to an improved light capture. Apple claims an 87% improvement in comparison to the 11 Pro Max. Then there is the sensor shift technology. That means that you can use a twice as long shutter speed. Apple claims that handheld exposures of up to two seconds are possible.

The Pro Max is the perfect model for a photo aficionado, especially when doing manual stuff like using RAW or choosing shutter speed, f-stop and so on manually.

But… If your wife is not certain about the larger phone being comfortable in her hand that really may be a big deal breaker. And leaving all this geeky stuff aside, the iPhone 12 Pro is not being called “Pro” without a reason. Using it should be a very nice experience, too.

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If she is used to the 6s (non-Plus) the 12 Pro Max will feel enormous.

If her primary purpose is photography though I think the additional features of the Pro Max will make it worthwhile. We won’t know for sure until the reviews come out, but the sensor-based image stabilization seems like a giant leap forward. It definitely helps on SLRs when you have sensor-based + optical.

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Her work phone is an iPhone XS, so going from 5.8" to 6.7" won’t be quite as much of a leap, but she is concerned. Thanks for the info!

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Ok yea, it won’t be quite as bad making that leap. :blush:

My eyes love the Max phones, my hands wish they were more normal sized.

This tool is amazing:

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When my wife upgraded from her 6s+ to a XS Max, I took her old phone for a couple of months to see how I liked the larger form factor over my 6s. Found it very comfortable and really liked the bigger screen. I decided to go for the XR as it was the right size for me.

My wife has had 3 iPhones, 2 large and 1 small and she prefers the larger size.

The nearer I can get to the iPad Mini size in a phone the better, for me. Yes, I know it’s not running iPad OS. Mostly - for me - that’s a good thing (because of Widgets).