iPhone Xs/Max bags the top ratings from DisplayMate, DxOMark, Anandtech for Display, Camera and Silicon

[RedRound2]

DisplayMate: iPhone XS Max Has Best Smartphone Display Ever

DxOMark: The Apple iPhone XS Max comes with one of the best mobile cameras we have ever tested

Anandtech: Apple’s CPU have gotten so performant now, that we’re just margins off the best desktop CPUs

 

 

Well the deep dive iPhone Xs reviews are in and it looks like Apple has indeed, yet again designed the best of the best components for their newest flagship.

 

Additionally the full concluding remarks by DisplayMate

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Based on our extensive Lab Tests and Measurements the iPhone XS Max receives our DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Award, earning DisplayMate's highest ever A+ grade by providing considerably better display performance than other competing smartphones.

DxOMark

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The Apple iPhone XS Max comes with one of the best mobile cameras we have ever tested, and in many areas offers noticeable improvements over last year’s iPhone X. Both still and video image quality in bright light are excellent, with a very wide dynamic range and good detail. Autofocus and image stabilization work swiftly and efficiently, and the camera is very reliable overall, consistently delivering good results.

Anandtech

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Apple’s marketing department was really underselling the improvements here by just quoting 15% – a lot of workloads will be seeing performance improvements I estimate to be around 40%, with even greater improvements in some corner-cases. Apple’s CPU have gotten so performant now, that we’re just margins off the best desktop CPUs; it will be interesting to see how the com.

 

On the GPU side, Apple’s measured performance gains are also within the promised figures, and even above that when it comes to sustained performance. The new GPU looks like an iteration on last year’s design, but an added fourth core as well as the important introduction of GPU memory compression are able to increase the performance to new levels. The negative thing here is I do think Apple’s throttling mechanism needs to be revised – and by that I mean not that it shouldn’t throttle less, but that it might be better if it throttled more or even outright capped the upper end of the performance curve, as it’s extremely power hungry and does heat up the phone a lot in the initial minutes of a gaming session.ing years evolve, and what this means for Apple’s non-mobile products.

Additionally researchers from National Tsing-Hua University have made another great feature on the new iPhones

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In testing an iPhone XS Max, it learnt Apple’s latest OLED displays are scientifically healthier for your eyes compared to Apple’s previous LCD-based models.

Tests revealed the iPhone XS Max delivers a 20% higher MPE (Maximum Permissible Exposure) than the iPhone 7. MPE is the time before a retina will become inflamed due to screen exposure. The duration was just 346 seconds (a sobering reminder we shouldn’t stare at our displays for too long), but it easily beat the iPhone 7’s 288 seconds.

 

IMO it's great knowing Apple's newest devices still tops most of the important metrics of a good smartphone, and in some cases, been ahead of the competition for years (like the A12). Does it justify the extremely high price tag? Personally no, as Apple could've easily shaved off atleast a $100 off the new phones, if the iPhone X wasn't selling like hot cakes.

 

And about the 2018 iPhone Gates. It's stupid.

 

Apple is rolling out iOS 12.0.1 today that fixes the issue, so no more ChargeGate

https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/08/ios-12-0-1-iphone-xs-charging-ipad-key-position/

 

BeautyGate happens in some low light cases where there seems to be excessive noise filtration, as Apple this year have focused lot more into computational photography, like the what the Pixel did last year. Here are two video, Jonathan Morrisons (must watch, it's hilarious ) and Rene Ritchi who goes into a deeper dive, everything about the iPhone

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/10/07/apples-iphone-xs-max-a12-oled-display-price-cost-iphone-xr-release-date/#3f3e25e32be4

https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/05/a12-faster-than-expected/

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/24/iphone-xs-max-displaymate/

https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/03/iphone-xs-camera-dxomark-ranking/

[Bouzoo]

It really has a good camera, one of the best, but no one should trust DxOMark. Literal pay to win. P20 Pro is the best? Please, both Pixel 2 XL and XS Max have better all around cameras. 

What I am blown away by most is the A12. Jesus Christ it's such a good chip. 

Still not worth the price though, even as a premium device. 

[Quadriplegic]

Margins off the best desktop CPUs? So they are pretty close to i7/Ryzen 7? Where are they handing out apple shaped tinfoil hats?

[TheRandomness]

Now watch as they cram the A12 into the Macbook Air.

[vanished]

uhh excuse me what?

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Anandtech: Apple’s CPU have gotten so performant now, that we’re just margins off the best desktop CPUs

Really?  I wasn't aware an iphone was close to the 2990WX.

Seriously wtf are they smoking...

[Commodus]

I'm always a bit skeptical of DisplayMate and DxO, since there's a higher degree of subjectivity than I might like, but at the same time, it's not entirely off the mark.  The CPU bit also feels like an exaggeration, but there are areas where the A12 is surprisingly competitive with PCs.

 

My real beef, though, is that so many people have been trying to play up concerns around the iPhone XS that it's ridiculous.  Was "chargegate" a problem?  Yes, and it shouldn't have shipped that way.  Is it a universal problem that cripples the phone?  No.  From the way forums like this responded, though, you'd think that it would have been a fatal flaw.

 

And then there's "beautygate..." which, well, watch that Jonathan Morrison video.  So many people not only misunderstood what the XS was doing, they had no problems with its selfie quality when they thought it was coming from a Pixel 2.  Just goes to show that some people really do have an irrational hatred for Apple based purely on brand perception rather than reality.

[PlayStation 2]

Ya know, AnandTech could've worded their statement better.

That being said, the A12 is an incredibly fucking impressive chip and Apple deserves a lot of credit for that.

[PlayStation 2]

1 minute ago, Commodus said:

I'm always a bit skeptical of DisplayMate and DxO, since there's a higher degree of subjectivity than I might like, but at the same time, it's not entirely off the mark.  The CPU bit also feels like an exaggeration, but there are areas where the A12 is surprisingly competitive with PCs.

 

My real beef, though, is that so many people have been trying to play up concerns around the iPhone XS that it's ridiculous.  Was "chargegate" a problem?  Yes, and it shouldn't have shipped that way.  Is it a universal problem that cripples the phone?  No.  From the way forums like this responded, though, you'd think that it would have been a fatal flaw.

 

And then there's "beautygate..." which, well, watch that Jonathan Morrison video.  So many people not only misunderstood what the XS was doing, they had no problems with its selfie quality when they thought it was coming from a Pixel 2.  Just goes to show that some people really do have an irrational hatred for Apple based purely on brand perception rather than reality.

The whole charging issue honestly made me wonder "how the fuck did they miss that?" rather than circlejerking the notion that it's a shit phone because of it.

That being said, ignoring the fact that it was a problem like the other side of the circlejerk was wrong, too. It was a problem, and I dunno how they missed it, but it didn't kill the phone for me.

[RedRound2]

3 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

The whole charging issue honestly made me wonder "how the fuck did they miss that?" rather than circlejerking the notion that it's a shit phone because of it.

That being said, ignoring the fact that it was a problem like the other side of the circlejerk was wrong, too. It was a problem, and I dunno how they missed it, but it didn't kill the phone for me.

It doesn't happen in all the devices and it only happens if the screen doesn't turn on. And the bug had something to do with iOS 12 Lightning port locking system they had put in place to combat GrayShift devices. So they could've missed it, but seriously the mainstream media went bananas with it

[Commodus]

15 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

The whole charging issue honestly made me wonder "how the fuck did they miss that?" rather than circlejerking the notion that it's a shit phone because of it.

That being said, ignoring the fact that it was a problem like the other side of the circlejerk was wrong, too. It was a problem, and I dunno how they missed it, but it didn't kill the phone for me.

Exactly, it's somewhere in between.  The problem, of course, is that forums like LTT tend to be rabidly anti-Apple, so you don't hear the nuanced reality as often as you do the "Apple is dooooomed" cries.

[DrMacintosh]

36 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

Apple’s CPU have gotten so performant now, that we’re just margins off the best desktop CPUs

I mean Apple makes great ARM SoCs, the best there are essentially....but that’s BS. If it were true x86 would have been sacked by now. 

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, RedRound2 said:

It doesn't happen in all the devices and it only happens if the screen doesn't turn on. And the bug had something to do with iOS 12 Lightning port locking system they had put in place to combat GrayShift devices

So it was less of a genuine fuck-up and more of an unintentional consequence of how the software works?

[ZestyJalapeno]

11 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Exactly, it's somewhere in between.  The problem, of course, is that forums like LTT tend to be rabidly anti-Apple, so you you don't hear the nuanced reality as often as you do the "Apple is dooooomed" cries.

The status quo on any tech forum especially one as mainstream as LTT is that when any other phone manufacturer out-specs an iPhone on paper is; "Apple is falling behind. Tim Cook needs to rename himself to Tim Cooked." but whenever Apple completely does something truly innovative, such as the A12, the sentiment is "benchmarks do not reflect real world performance". The double standard is quite amusing

[Blademaster91]

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

uhh excuse me what?

Really?  I wasn't aware an iphone was close to the 2990WX.

Seriously wtf are they smoking...

Wow,yeah I was just looking at that Anandtech article, making claims that it runs as fast ''the best'' desktop cpu? LOL tbh i'd expect something more like engadget or the verge to be shilling that hard for apple. But really almost any midrange phone is fast enough and the screen well it better be good in a $1300 phone but i could personally care less because it still has a notch which even Apple themselves tries to hide.

[AlTech]

I hate to rain on the iPhone shilling parade that review sites are part of but mobile SOCs are nowhere near desktop CPUs. Let alone laptop CPUs.

 

ARM wants to get to a core i5 dual core level of performance with their upcoming Cortex A76. Nobody else is anywhere near this level of performance.

[vanished]

19 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Wow,yeah I was just looking at that Anandtech article, making claims that it runs as fast ''the best'' desktop cpu? LOL tbh i'd expect something more like engadget or the verge to be shilling that hard for apple. But really almost any midrange phone is fast enough and the screen well it better be good in a $1300 phone but i could personally care less because it still has a notch which even Apple themselves tries to hide.

I would love to see some actual comparisons in performance across iOS, android, Windows on desktop, etc. but due to the very different OSes and CPU architectures I'm not sure this has ever been achieved, which is a real problem because you can't claim performance vs something else unless you can actually test it.  Just using logic and basic physics though, it's hard to believe that the entire computational power of the phone could beat even a single core of a modern desktop PC.  I find it near impossible to believe that Apple could be so vastly far ahead in terms of efficiency compared to companies like Intel that they could do significantly more with a Watt than a desktop CPU, and therefore, power consumption would be somewhat correlated with performance, and therefore, no phone would stand a shred of a chance.  All just speculation and my own gut though... would love to get some actual numbers as I said.

[Dabombinable]

Come on. Apple may design extremely fast low core CPU, but they are no where near the performance of even low end i3.

43 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Exactly, it's somewhere in between.  The problem, of course, is that forums like LTT tend to be rabidly anti-Apple, so you don't hear the nuanced reality as often as you do the "Apple is dooooomed" cries.

The problems also shouldn't be showing at all in phones that cost well over $500. Apple's margins from their products is more than large enough for them to be able to have some form of true quality control & assurance.

[Curufinwe_wins]

34 minutes ago, Commodus said:

snip

"chargegate" rendered a significant proportion (not like 1%... not like 10%... ) of devices non-functional without hardware workarounds (non-standard charging). Which is disappointing, but what really really pisses me off is that it sat un-recognized, un-fixed for two weeks. How the hell does that even get out? And it takes you more than 2 weeks to fix it? Apple's own staff didn't know how to handle it and replaced faulty devices with other faulty devices.

 

Beautygate is an issue for the sole reason that you can't turn the damn thing off.

 

But I'm actually most concerned by the attenna discussions. Particularly because we already have objective data that looks really poor, and if it isn't just Apple doing Apple things, but is an actual side effect of a 4x4 array, then I expect to see a lot more phones in the future showing these issues.

 

Anyways, back on topic... The anandtech comment in context honestly felt completely unsubstantiated. It's certainly possible, considering that it was such a big famous deal how weighed down x86 was by forced back-compat. In the same article, Anandtech thought the camera was better... but certainly not as good as the current Android tops (with the P20 Pro? and the S9+/Note 9). 

 

The display is great ofc. Buying the best Samsung can make, and putting it on the tightest OS on the market, well yes full integration certainly has benefits.

[Curufinwe_wins]

BTW in case anyone wants to somehow dive into the horrible market BS that is Displaymate (like wtf guys... you do great work, but then package it in an absolute disaster of marketing BS and hype)

 

Here is the most relevant comparison:

 

Basically.... They are spewing bullshit all the way around on their "new best". They don't have a higher rating system than Excellent A+, and both (among others) are given the same rating which is the "best ever".

 

It's the best for an Apple product, and directly on par with the best Samsung has to offer. Not surprising.

 

EDIT: Ugh I can't emphasize how frustrating it is that Displaymate does so good robust testing then delivers it in this horribly misleading and awful package. Their raw data is as always impeccable.

 

[arnavvr]

1 hour ago, TheRandomness said:

Now watch as they cram the A12 into the Macbook Air.

Except that Apple's A-series processors are incapable of running OSX, it's an architecture that needs an AMD or Intel processor.

[mr moose]

I was sure the last major discussion we had on dcxomark concluded it was pretty much meaningless (except for the people who worshiped a phone that got good results that particular time of course).  I even remember a few people comparing it to geekbench. 

 

My with that kind of reporting Anandtech have fallen a long way from where they were in the early naughties. 

 

 

 

 

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 hour ago, RedRound2 said:

It doesn't happen in all the devices and it only happens if the screen doesn't turn on. And the bug had something to do with iOS 12 Lightning port locking system they had put in place to combat GrayShift devices. So they could've missed it, but seriously the mainstream media went bananas with it

Yeah so take Apple's slow charger on more than 10% of devices (Lew had 7 of 8 devices with the issue), and sit near the wall tapping the phone every two minutes to make sure it charges. That's reasonable. 

 

It's a very easily fixable issue, but that doesnt mean it wasn't a serious one.

[Phentos]

Practically anything has a better camera now than my HTC 10. Its camera sucks some big ones, so much so that I cannot understand how DXOMark gave it an 88. It's more like a 58.

 

Looking forward to the Xs after my wallet recovers from doing a new 9900K-based build.

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

I mean Apple makes great ARM SoCs, the best there are essentially....but that’s BS. If it were true x86 would have been sacked by now. 

I’m waiting for that rumored 2019 Apple laptop with ARM inside. 

[TheRandomness]

25 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Except that Apple's A-series processors are incapable of running OSX, it's an architecture that needs an AMD or Intel processor.

Except they're trying to make iOS apps work on OS X, so in theory, they could do it the other way around. Who's to say Apple can't redesign quite a lot of things and finally unify their tablets and laptops? Who's to say that iOS won't be a thing in the future, replaced by a version of OS X with multi-arch capabilities?