Home > Smartphone comparison > iPhone XS Max vs iPhone 11 Pro Max – which one to choose?

Apple iPhone XS Max vs iPhone 11 Pro Max

52 out of 100
Apple iPhone XS Max
VS
61 out of 100
Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
Apple iPhone XS Max
Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Apple iPhone XS Max (with Apple A12 Bionic) that was released on September 12, 2018, against the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 1 year after. 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
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone XS Max
  • Weighs 18 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • Shows 35% longer battery life (23:30 vs 17:28 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • 40% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1182K versus 842K)
  • Comes with 795 mAh larger battery capacity: 3969 vs 3174 mAh
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Delivers 21% higher peak brightness (789 against 654 nits)
  • The phone is 1 year newer
  • 33% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1748 and 1310 points
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone XS Max and iPhone 11 Pro Max crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
4 / 64 GB
VS
4 / 64 GB
112.8
(Excellent)
Value Index
95.3
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
iPhone XS Max
vs
iPhone 11 Pro Max

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.5 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1242 x 2688 pixels 1242 x 2688 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.4:9 19.5:9
PPI 456 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 625 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Touch sampling rate 120 Hz -
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 85.4% 84.4%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.8% 99.6%
PWM 240 Hz 245 Hz
Response time 11.2 ms 4.9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
iPhone XS Max
654 nits
iPhone 11 Pro Max +21%
789 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 157.5 mm (6.2 inches) 158 mm (6.22 inches)
Width 77.4 mm (3.05 inches) 77.8 mm (3.06 inches)
Thickness 7.7 mm (0.3 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 208 g (7.34 oz) 226 g (7.97 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Gold, Gray Silver, Gold, Gray, Dark gray
Fingerprint scanner No No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone XS Max and Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Apple A12 Bionic Apple A13 Bionic
Max clock 2490 MHz 2650 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Tempest
- 2 cores at 2.49 GHz: Vortex		 - 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Thunder
- 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 7 nanometers 7 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Apple A12 Bionic GPU Apple A13 Bionic GPU
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1125 MHz 1230 MHz
FLOPS ~576 GFLOPS ~629.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone XS Max and Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 14182
Single-core score 1310 1748
Multi-core score 3458 4187
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
iPhone XS Max
842172
iPhone 11 Pro Max +40%
1182914
CPU 276695 353295
GPU - 306685
Memory 147886 131245
UX 418471 391689
Total score 842172 1182914
Samples [3 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 79%
Graphics test - 10 FPS
Section 1 - 12 FPS
Section 2 - 10 FPS
Section 3 - 7 FPS
Graphics score - 2646
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 65% 76%
Graphics test 8 FPS 12 FPS
Graphics score 1482 2068
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone XS Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-05-05 (Jarukit)AnTuTu 11847535
📘 2026-03-22 (Jai)AnTuTu 11842172
📘 2026-03-17 (Hoangg Anhh)AnTuTu 11810991
Add View all (3)
Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-03 (Phzinho)AnTuTu 111190389
📘 2026-04-26 -> RaxxxyAnTuTu 111182914
📘 2026-04-26 (RAXXXY)AnTuTu 111182914
📘 2026-02-12 (Absl)AnTuTu 111174939
📘 2024-11-28 (Nehul Tyagi)Geekbench 6 GPU14182
Add View all (6)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 64 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 12 (Can be upgraded to iOS 18.7) iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
OS size 16 GB -

Battery

Capacity 3174 mAh 3969 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi (10 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (48% in 30 min)
Full charging time 03:29 hr 1:57 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:43 hr 08:51 hr
Watching video 10:28 hr 14:18 hr
Gaming 04:11 hr 05:41 hr
Standby 87 hr 117 hr
General battery life
iPhone XS Max
17:28 hr
iPhone 11 Pro Max +35%
23:30 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 2x Optical, 2x
Flash Quad LED Quad 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°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 28 mm 26 mm
Sensor Apple iSight X Apple iSight Camera
Sensor size 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.0
Focal length 52 mm 52 mm
Sensor size 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 13 mm
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 65
Preview - 76
Zoom - 88
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone XS Max from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 7 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3088 x 2316 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 32 mm 23 mm
Sensor BSI CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo 97 115
Video 119 134

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) 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 Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features SPP, PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HFP, HDP, GAP, GAVDP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type No No
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 16 18
5G support No No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
iPhone XS Max
77.2 dB
iPhone 11 Pro Max +11%
85.8 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2018 September 2019
Release date September 2018 September 2019
Launch price (MSRP) $1100 $1099
Successor - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg 0.95 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.99 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition 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 11 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
288 (30%)
671 (70%)
Total votes: 959

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