I could use it one handed with a bit of finger gymnastics and suffered none of the hand pain I got from trying to grip the bar-of-soap-like 11 Pro Max. Thanks to the hard edges I found gripping the 12 Pro Max significantly easier than its rounded and equally heavy predecessor the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It is very wide and weighs 226g – 18g heavier than the Note 20 Ultra, 39g heavier than the smaller 12 Pro or a full 64g heavier than the regular iPhone 12. Holding it usually requires two hands, much like its superphone competition. Watching HDR video is fantastic, and there is a good set of stereo speakers too. Bright, crisp and almost tablet-like at that giant size. The huge OLED display measures 6.7in on the diagonal, which dwarfs all other iPhones and rivals the Android superphones, such as the 6.78in OnePlus 8 or the 6.9in Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
The stainless steel sides of the 12 Pro Max polished to a mirror-like shine, shown here in the gold colour.