Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max vs iPhone 12 Pro Max
73
out of 100
VS
63
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max (with Apple A15 Bionic) that was released on September 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 1 year before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Shows 23% longer battery life (28:08 vs 22:52 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Delivers 21% higher peak brightness (1053 against 868 nits)
- The phone is 1 year newer
- 56% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2427 and 1551 points
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
- 16% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1342K versus 1153K)
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1284 x 2778 pixels | 1284 x 2778 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 458 ppi | 458 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (10-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1000 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 87.7% | 87.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 238 Hz | 238 Hz |
| Response time | 8.5 ms | 8 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) |
| Width | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 240 g (8.47 oz) | 226 g (7.97 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green | Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A15 Bionic | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3230 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Apple GPU (5 cores) | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 640 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1338 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1712.6 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 21357 | 16481 |
| Single-core score | 2427 | 1551 |
| Multi-core score | 6142 | 4870 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 276639 | 385467 |
| GPU | 369897 | 320972 |
| Memory | 116764 | 167663 |
| UX | 390373 | 468241 |
| Total score | 1153673 | 1342343 |
| Samples | [3 tests] | [5 tests] |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 75% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 14 FPS | 11 FPS |
| Section 1 | 19 FPS | 14 FPS |
| Section 2 | 14 FPS | 11 FPS |
| Section 3 | 9 FPS | 8 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3785 | 2861 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 73% | 71% |
| Graphics test | 17 FPS | 13 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2960 | 2317 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-23 -> HotPower | AnTuTu 11 | 1184759 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 GPU | 21284 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2423 / 5985 |
| 📘 2026-09-12 (Simon) | AnTuTu 11 | 1146332 |
| 📘 2026-08-11 (encore) | AnTuTu 11 | 1335140 |
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-26 (kudryash) | AnTuTu 11 | 1196958 |
| 📘 2026-06-15 (hungph) | AnTuTu 11 | 1342343 |
| 📘 2026-06-09 (Khang) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1159 / 3300 |
| 📘 2026-03-13 (DNHK) | AnTuTu 11 | 1376823 |
| 📘 2026-03-13 (Naw) | AnTuTu 11 | 1279989 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| OS size | 13 GB | 16 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4352 mAh | 3687 mAh |
| Max charge power | 23 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (7.5 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (42% in 30 min) | Yes (55% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:46 hr | 1:32 hr |
| Web browsing | 11:16 hr | 08:35 hr |
| Watching video | 17:03 hr | 13:38 hr |
| Gaming | 06:41 hr | 05:29 hr |
| Standby | 136 hr | 116 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#89th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 2.5x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.5 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX703 | Sony IMX603 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch) | 1/1.9" (≈ 0.53 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.9 micron | 1.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.8 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 77 mm | 65 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX713 | Sony IMX613 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX772 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 75 | 70 |
| Preview | 81 | 80 |
| Zoom | 119 | 115 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX514 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | Yes | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | 128 | 127 |
| Video | 143 | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | - | No |
| USB version | 2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2021 | October 2020 |
| Release date | September 2021 | November 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1100 | $1100 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| SAR (head) | 0.99 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 0.98 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
- Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 3233