Why the iPhone 15 Pro Max Isn’t the Smartphone of the Year!

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Earlier this week, I gave you a few reasons as to why the iPhone 15 Pro Max might be the best smartphone of 2023.

Apple’s latest flagship has reignited a flame somewhere within me. The iPhone no longer seems boring, stale, or simply focused on cashing in those huge cheques.

It has a near-perfect camera system. The build quality is unmatched. The Apple ecosystem (both hardware and software) is better than anything else out there.

The problem is that the iPhone 15 Pro Max still has issues that are hard to look past. So, today, I’m going to provide the counterargument and reveal why it may not be the smartphone of the year.

It’s REALLY expensive

In the UK, the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at £1,199 for the 256GB model. You’ll pay £1,059 for the same size Pixel 8 Pro. Granted, the S23 Ultra is more expensive, just, but there’s no escaping the fact the iPhone 15 Pro Max is pricey.

I appreciate most people finance their smartphone purchases in some way – usually via their network carrier – therefore a few extra quid a month to get ‘the big one’ isn’t going to hurt many pockets.

The problem is that we live in a very expensive world right now, and spending – let’s be honest, £1,399 for at least 512GB – demands a strong stomach, no matter how many interest-fuelled monthly instalments it’s broken into.

Apple is known for making and selling expensive and often unattainable gear, and their top-of-the-line smartphone does nothing to dampen that image.

You’ll get sucked into the ecosystem

I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it’s inevitable.

You can’t stop it.

No matter how hard you try to fight against it, you’ll never fend it off.

It’ll hunt you down day and night. Through thick and thin, no matter the weather, and regardless of how exhausted you look.

It’ll go, and go, and go, until you cave.

Then, a few months after buying your iPhone 15 Pro Max, you’ll have an Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 2, an iPad with an Apple Pencil and a Magic Keyboard, a pending order for a MacBook Air you don’t need, and a sudden and completely indefensible urge to buy an Apple Polishing Cloth.

You’ll also be knee-deep in carefully curated Apple Music playlists, ready to head into your eighteenth Apple Fitness+ cycling workout, and continually bombarded by notifications for new editions of the 814 magazines you’ve subscribed to in Apple News+ (which you never read).

Trust me; buy an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and you’ll be welded to Apple for a long time.

You HAVE to be an Apple Person

This one is contentious, I know, but to buy the most expensive version of anything Apple makes, you really do need to be one of those people.

I sit in that camp, so I’m allowed to refer to those people in that way. Indeed, I’m regularly reminded that I’m a ‘sheeplz’ (or something similar) in the comments sections of my YouTube videos.

Think about it. If you weren’t an Apple Person, would you really be considering dropping nearly £1,500 on a portable telephone?

You wouldn’t. You’d buy an Android device, or opt for the cheapest iPhone you could find, just because your mate said it’s the one to get.

Sorry to be the bearer of this news. I’ll let you decide if it’s good or bad.

iOS feels a bit stale

Another contentious one, and if anyone from the Apple iOS product team is reading this (unlikely), I must apologise; I’m not for one second suggesting you’re dragging your heels.

It just feels that way, sometimes. We have to be honest with ourselves, right?

While the guts of iOS have changed monumentally since it launched in June 2007, it still looks ostensibly the same. Sure, we have widgets, automatically masked Lock Screen wallpapers, and visual flourishes that were the stuff of dreams in 2007, but iOS is still a wall of app icons and barricaded functionality.

Some users aren’t fussed by this – I’m one of those people. But when you compare iOS against Android, you’d immediately want to take the latter out for a few beers.

There are some non-events

Apple is, in my opinion, the best company in the world when it comes to marketing. The way the marketing team uses copy, imagery, and storytelling to make you spend as much money as possible is a masterclass for anyone who has a desire to get into that line of work.

The problem is that some of the stuff they peddle and which looks undeniably joyous in Apple Land (the entirely unrealistic world in which all Apple adverts are set) is a complete non-event when you get your hands on it.

Dynamic Island is a perfect example of this. I’ve had it on my iPhone since the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is nothing more than a smart way to hide the camera housing. It’s a two-fingered salute to the people who bashed the notch. It’s nothing to get excited about, basically.

Dynamic Island is functional, yes. It’s fun to use, yes. Integration with the likes of Uber and Ringo is genuinely useful, absolutely. But it would be rendered redundant if Apple did what every other smartphone manufacturer did and resorted to a simpler biometric system.

Fingerprint reader under the display, anyone?

The Action Button is another example. It plays a huge role in the marketing campaign for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it is just a configurable button. And, trust me, you’ll set it to operate the camera… and never use it.

Oh, and don’t get me started on Spatial Video.

The photos aren’t as good as the Pixel 8 Pro

They’re not – if you’re a fan of Google Pixel photography. In fact, the images the iPhone 15 Pro Max produces aren’t even close.

Take pot shot at me in the comments section, please.

It’s still REALLY big

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is still a massive lump of metal and glass.

The switch to Titanium was inspired and has resulted in a welcome dose of weight shedding, but you really have to want a big phone to buy Apple’s flagship.

I still have issues with it fitting in certain pockets and, just like every Pro Max iPhone I’ve owned, this one spends more time out of my pocket for that reason. This has resulted in me leaving it on the passenger seat of my car countless times – which is never not really annoying.

The display isn’t the best

I don’t think this is contentious at all.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a great display. Superb, in fact. It’s bright, sharp, and easy on the eye in low-light situations.

However, it isn’t the S23 Ultra display which is still my favourite by some distance. Whatever Samsung does to its displays really works for me. It just feels far more vibrant, exciting, and indulgent than the iPhone’s effort, and that counts for a lot when you’re spending a shedload of money.

The same goes for the Google Pixel 8 Pro. It’s one of the brightest displays on the market, and, for reasons I’m afraid I can’t qualify, just looks more impressive than the iPhone 15 Pro Max display.

Finally: you’ll become an iPhone person

I’m an iPhone person. You might be an iPhone person. However, if you’re not, and if the thought of becoming one has always given you the ‘ick’, as the kids say, I’ve got some bad news.

Buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and you’ll become an iPhone person. This is a subset of Apple People, but it’s a subset that is just as universally ridiculed by Internet Android People. Digital sticks and stones will be thrown. You’ll get called names (sheeplez, iDiot, etc). You’ll be told that you’ve got more money than sense.

I don’t care, though. You’ll eventually dispense with caring yourself, too, but it can be a tough ride.

You need to be ready for this – don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Is the iPhone 15 Pro Max the best smartphone of 2023?

I guess you want my answer to the question I’ve posed this week, don’t you? Is the iPhone 15 Pro Max the smartphone of the year?

No.

The real winner might surprise you. And I’ll reveal it before the year is out. Stay tuned (but take guesses below, if you wish).

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