iPhone 12 Pro Max Review

Aug 20, 2025 • Onoja • Phones

iPhone 12 Pro Max Review

The iPhone 12 lineup, which marked a major change in Apple's design, reintroduced flat-edge designs on Apple's smartphones, representing a significant upgrade that was very much worth it. I used the 12 Pro Max when it was released, and I was pretty much impressed by it. It exudes a premium feel and a stylish look.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is one that undeniably sets the blueprint for modern iPhone designs, and it remains a strong contender in the smartphone market, particularly for users seeking a larger screen size and long-term software support. But considering the low refresh rate and the number of its successors with more recent features and technology, is it still a good buy?

In this review, we will take an in-depth look at the 12 Pro Max, examining its features, performance, and comparison with its successors, to determine if it remains a good buy in 2025.

Firstly, we’ll be looking at the Body Design of the 12 Pro Max

The body design of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is quite impressive, Apple decided to change their curvy-edges by reintroducing the flat-edges design on the iPhone 12 lineups, these flat edge design was used on iPhone 4 over a decade ago from the iPhone 12 lineups, this flat-edges gives it a more appealing look, though it might seem a little discomforting to some given the size of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I noticed it tends to easily made the palms of your hand hurt when using without a phone case and same goes for the 13 and 14 series too. But it ended at the 14 series; from the 15 series, the edges are not as sharp-looking as those of its predecessors.

I got my hands on the Pacific Blue color of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which I like so much, I can proudly say this is my favorite color option of the 12 Pro Max. It slaps so hard, gives off a premium look that screams pure luxury, and the well polished edges really stand out.

The back of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is made of textured matte glass that feels great, featuring a triple camera setup. I noticed that the lenses on the iPhone 12 Pro Max are actually smaller than those on the newer Apple flagships, which still makes it unique, as the camera bump doesn’t protrude nearly as much.

At the front, the notch is quite larger compared to that of the 13 Pro Max, and that makes it look a bit dated. However, given the big screen size, that shouldn’t be much of a concern.

What actually gives away the true age of the iPhone 12 Pro Max are the bezels. For someone who has used the 15 Pro Max, just by taking a glance at the 12 Pro Max. I can literally tell that there’s a massive production gap between the two phones

Next thing we’ll be looking at is the Display of the iPhone 12 Pro Max

The display on the iPhone 12 Pro Max wasn’t the best for me, honestly. Don’t get me wrong, the display was vivid, bright, and precise in color and contrast, which is ideal for HDR content, outdoor viewing, and light photo and video editing.

The display is better at high brightness, when on low brightness, I noticed a lot of display flickering which made using the iPhone 12 Pro Max on low brightness very discomforting, for someone like me who gets easily affected by high brightness level, I was very disappointed, although this was a software related issue which was later resolved when Apple released an IOS update later-on.

The display screen on the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a 6.7 OLED Super Retina, this was the first of its kind Apple ever made, it is pretty much bigger than its predecessor, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, the only downside of this is that the iPhone 12 Pro Max runs on a 60hz refresh rate which limits how the screen redraws itself every second, and by that certain level of performance shouldn’t be expected from the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I compared the display of the 12 Pro Max with that of its successor, the 13 Pro Max which runs on the 120hz, and honestly, the 13 Pro Max outperformed the 12 Pro Max which was expected, and the refresh rate plays a huge role on the performance and responsiveness of the phone, so I wasn’t really impressed with that.

Next thing we’ll be looking at is the Camera

The cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro Max are impressive, with several notable differences in its camera performance compared to its predecessor.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max performed better in low-light conditions, thanks to its larger sensor and f/1.6 aperture wide lens, compared to the f/1.8 aperture on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. This presented a better result when taking nighttime shots and portrait images, not to mention that all the cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro Max offer Night mode. It appeared more detailed, which would be particularly helpful for users who engage in extensive mobile photography.

In daylight condition, I took it upon myself to take pictures with the 12 Pro Max and compare with that of its predecessor, and the 12 Pro Max is pretty decent, I love the fact that the pictures taken with the 12 Pro Max were slightly more detailed especially when you zoom it, it still maintain its original color than the 11 Pro Max, and this makes the 12 Pro Max a better choice when it comes to the camera performance.

The only issue I had with the camera performance of the iPhone 12 Pro Max was the rendering of fine detail. The overall detail is nice, but when it comes to complex elements like foliage or grass, they tend to appear smeared and oversharpened when viewed closely.

Aside from that, the 12 Pro Max cameras are excellent, providing great detail, contrast, and color in the pictures taken. Honestly, I was satisfied with the cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Battery Life

When it comes to the battery life of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I didn’t notice any significant improvement over that of its predecessor. It is safe to say that Apple has downgraded the battery capacity of the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

If I’m being honest, Apple really disappointed me with the battery life of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the fact that the iPhone 11 Pro Max, its predecessor delivers a better battery performance is one that leaves me in shock, I was very disappointed honestly, I mean, the 11 Pro Max does literally do everything the 12 Pro Max does and still outperforms it when it comes to the battery life.

Although the battery life of the iPhone 12 Pro Max can’t be matched with that of its predecessor, the performance is quite okay, but honestly, I’m quite sure that whoever has used the 11 Pro Max and has experienced and enjoyed the massive battery life, then upgrades to the 12 Pro Max only to get less of what he had on his 11 Pro Max, it pretty won’t be something to be excited or not bothered about.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max supports up to 20 watts of charging, which means it charges slightly faster than the 11 Pro Max, which is good. It can charge from 0-100% in about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but the charging time increases when using a charger with a lower wattage.

Overall, the battery performance of the 12 Pro Max is decent; you can go about your day performing your day-to-day activities without needing to charge for a reasonable time frame.

Now let's talk about the general performance of the iPhone 12 Pro Max

When it comes to the general performance of a phone, the first thing I tend to always tick out is my gaming experience, and for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, there wasn’t really a major leap with that of its predecessor, performance was decent but it can’t stand running such a heavy-load task for a long time without a break, given its 60 Hz refresh rate.

However, aside from gaming, the iPhone 12 Pro Max's performance is impressively snappy for day-to-day use. Thanks to the A14 Bionic Chipset, general responsiveness and app switching are noticeably improved. Even in 2025, the latest iOS 18 update runs smoothly on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, continuing to deliver smooth performance and functionality for most daily tasks.

Conclusion

In summary, the iPhone 12 Pro Max remains a good buy in 2025, but I recommend opting for the 13 Pro Max, which not only outperforms the 12 Pro Max but also introduces new features that align with the 16 lineup.