When Performance Triumps

Apples 'S' lineup of its flagship iPhones may well recycle the design of the year prior, but each S model has pushed the iPhone forward in a meaningful manner, even if its just been some serious under-the-hood improvements. And so it is with the new iPhones, the XS and the XS Max both phones are unquestionably the best, most powerful phones Apple has ever made and also its priciest.

- Tushar Kanwar

Design: The iPhone X had ushered in a new era of all-screen iPhone design, and the XS duo follow the same design language, clad in glass and stainless steel for that jewel-like premium feel that is without a parallel in the smartphone segment. Save for the classy new bronze-ish gold colour, it is hard to tell the XS apart from the X, although the glass is more durable and the phone now comes with a higher IP68 dust/water rating. The XS Max is all of this, but bigger…a whole lot bigger. The really big deal is that the 6.5-inch screen has been squeezed into a body that isn’t that enormous (and not quite as heavy as one would expect), especially if you are considering an upgrade from one of Apple’s previous Plus-sized models. That said, it is still almost exclusively a two-handed phone, and the XS is a better form factor in almost every sense – everyday use, slipping into a pocket – unless you need the vastly bigger screen.