iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max: even better and even bigger!

iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max: where does the ‘s’ stand?

The iPhone X of last year was a revolutionary new design: a almost borderless OLED screen and Face ID for face recognition, instead of a home button with the old-fashioned Touch ID. The iPhone Xs and Xs Max are not so revolutionary, but they are big updates. To make this clear, Apple has released the so-called s-update. These are new models that look very similar to the predecessors, but have significantly better specifications under the hood. However, there is a new color: the Xs and Xs Max are available in gold as well as silver and spacegar.

Better specifications

What do the iPhone Xs and Xs Max have to offer? Of course, a new iPhone gets a fresh processor from the A-series from Apple. Now we have arrived at the A12, with the same nickname as last year: Bionic. It is the first chip made with the 7 nm manufacturing process and is much faster than its predecessor. The main processor has six cores, the gpu has four cores. In addition, there is a new Neural Engine with eight processor cores. It is fully optimized for machine learning and can perform up to five billions of calculations per second. This opens up possibilities for the automatic search for the perfect photo, augmented reality and the camera in general.

Also with regard to storage capacity, the Xs and Xs Max break all records. For the first time an iPhone with 512 GB storage (that is made possible by the new A12 processor). More than enough space for all your photos, music and films. The smallest version starts at 64 GB.

The best camera ever

It would be a big surprise if Apple did not improve the camera of the new iPhone enormously. The iPhone Xs and Xs Max have a dual camera with a wide angle lens and a tele lens. Both have 12 megapixels. The new Neural Engine allows a lot of calculations to be made while taking photos, such as face recognition, but much more. For example, multiple pictures can be taken at once, with intermediate frames to bring shadow details to the fore.

Thanks to the dual camera, there is also the portrait exposure that allows you to blur the background. New to the iPhone Xs is that you can adjust that depth of field afterwards. This is also thanks to the Neural Engine. Finally, the iPhone Xs (Max) can make stereo video and sound recordings. Finally! This had been the smartphones of the competitors much longer.

Dual SIM

We heard a lot of rumors beforehand, the new iPhone would have a dual SIM card so you can have two phone numbers at the same time. That appears to be half true. In China there is indeed a model where you can put two SIM cards. We have to do it with a regular sim and Apple’s eSIM. It is now standard in the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, as in recent iPads and the Apple Watch Series 3 and 4. In the US the second eSIM is supported right from the start.

iPhone Xs vs.. iPhone Xs Max

So what are the differences between the iPhone Xs and the iPhone Xs? Well, they are not that many. The iPhone Xs Max has a much larger screen with 6.5 inches than the Xs with its 5.8 inch. It is even the largest iPhone screen ever. That also has consequences for the size of the battery, because in a larger device you can also lose a larger battery. The iPhone Xs Max even has the largest iPhone battery of all time. That promises some battery life.

Conclusion

Last year Apple released the iPhone X (ten) to show that this was a revolutionary device from the future. Now we are a year further, and the design of the X has stood the test of time: it still looks very modern. That is why it is not surprising that Apple did not do much on the design with the Xs (Max). From now everything is up to date and that is enough for this year! But for next year we want something revolutionary, Apple!

Prices and release

The iPhone Xs starts at € 1059, the Xs Max at € 1259. You get the 64 GB version. As mentioned, you can pre-order the new phones from Friday (September 14), next Friday (September 21) they are in the store.