When Q4 rolls around, you know what's coming. Yep, time for Apple to announce their brand new iPhones.

This year, the tech giant unveiled the iPhone 13 Series made up of the iPhone 13 mini, the iPhone 13, the iPhone 13 Pro and the big brother, the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

At first glance, they aren't different any different from its predecessors because, well, they are technically the same phone.

The difference, however, is located under the hood, as Apple has made some small but powerful upgrades to the iPhone 13 Series, especially the top-of-the-range iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max is now powered by a more powerful A15 bionic chip and a new 6-core CPU, turning it into a beast that you can keep in your pocket.

It also boasts a new and improved camera system at the back that spits out incredible photos, as well as a gorgeous Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion.

We got our hands on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and we've been using it for almost three weeks now. Here are four talking points:

Getting some screen time

At first glance, right out of the box, you probably can't tell the difference between an iPhone 13 Pro Max and its predecessor, the iPhone 12 Pro Max. But when you fire it up, that's where you'll see some massive differences with the iPhone 13 Pro Max's screen.

The thing that jumps out at you is the smaller notch. Apple says that the notch cutout in this year's iPhones is 20 per cent smaller, and yes, it is noticeable. We're used to having notches on our iPhones by now, so the smaller notch doesn't really make that much of a difference to us - although, we have to say, we're all for smaller notches and hopefully, no notch in the future?

Our only gripe, however, is that Apple did not do anything with the extra real estate. You'll still get your usual time on the left side of the notch, and the mobile and WiFi reception as well as the battery bar on the right. We thought Apple would add in something like a battery percentage indicator now that they have much more room on top, but oh well, it is what it is.

The biggest feature in this year's iPhone 13 Pro Max, however, is the ProMotion display. Basically, it's a more canggih name for 'higher refresh rate' lah.

Prior to the iPhone 13, the previous iPhones are only able to refresh its screen at 60Hz (or 60 times a second). With ProMotion, the iPhone 13 Pro Max can refresh its screen as low as 10Hz all the way up to 120Hz.

How ProMotion works is that when you're scrolling through your phone, it will amp up the refresh rate all the way to 120Hz so that you'll have a smoother browsing experience. But when you stop to look at something on a page, iOS would adjust the refresh rate to a lower setting so that it uses less power. And when you start scrolling again, iOS would then pump up the refresh rate again to match what you're doing on the screen.

This allows users to conserve battery (more on this later) while maintaing a sharper, smoother and more responsive browsing experience.

And let us tell you; you will definitely notice that high refresh rate.

We love how that everything -- from scrolling through pages to switching between apps -- is now way much smoother and so much more responsive. Phone animations are noticably smoother as well.

The iPad Pro was the first iProduct to have the ProMotion display, and we've gotten use to the ProMotion display because we have been using an iPad Pro for awhile now.

So, to test if the ProMotion display indeed makes a difference, we handed the iPhone 13 Pro Max to several of our fellow iPhone users. They were blown away.

Now that Apple has decided to fit an iPhone with the ProMotion display, we do hope that future iPhones -- even the basic ones -- will be fitted with ProMotion, because there's no way we'll be going back to 60Hz phones now that we've experienced higher refresh rates on the new one.

New clothes, who dis?

Design-wise, there's not much difference between the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. This year's iPhone looks identical to its predecessor, and we won't blame you if you barely notice any difference.

The dimensions are almost identical as well, except that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is 0.25mm thicker due to the upgraded camera lenses. And because of that, all three cameras at the back are noticably larger and therefore, the cluster at the back takes up a little more space.

Oh, we do also want to add that this year's iPhone is heavier than its predecessor. You can feel that weight the moment you hold it in your hands, and if you're one of those who slap on a case to protect your investment (like us), you'll definitely feel the heft.

Other than that, there's really nothing different about this year's iPhone compared to last year's.

One new thing, though, is the new colour Apple introduced this year: Sierra Blue.

And we love it.

Unlike the new colours of the previous two iPhones -- iPhone 11 Pro Max's (the iPhone we were using before this one) Midnight Green and the iPhone 12 Pro Max's Pacific Blue -- the iPhone 13 Pro Max's Sierra Blue features a lighter and a more distinctive shade.

Apple managed to achieve this by "using multiple layers of nanometer-scale metallic ceramics applied across the surface" for a stunning and durable finish.

And it is stunning, especially when you look at it under direct sunlight. We are a fan of the way it gleams when the sunlight hits it at certain angles, and the polished stainless-steel frame on the sides blends in beautifully with the glass at the back, giving it a very premium look and feel.

We won't be surprised that the Sierra Blue turns out to be the most popular iPhone colour of all time.

Overall, we love the design of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Now, please forgive this writer, because the iPhone 11 Pro Max - which featured an entirely different design language - and having skipped the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 Pro Max feels and looks like an entirely new phone.

The flat-edge design is a reminiscent of our first iPhone - the iPhone 4, which, you have to agree, is one of the most iconic and well-designed iPhones in history.

Battery for days - literally!

Let's talk battery life - because holy cow, it's amazing. With the iPhone 11 Pro Max, we had to plug in the charger at the end of every day, which is something we are accustomed to.

With the iPhone 13 Pro Max, however, we did not have to plug in the charger for almost two full days! We are not kidding; here's a screenshot of our battery life:

With an average screen on time of almost six hours daily, we still managed to squeeze every ounce of power from the phone for two days before we plug it into the charger.

After a full charge and using it the entire day to play games, social media stalking, replying to text messages and occasionally jump into virtual meetings, it is now very common for us to go to bed with 50 per cent of battery left and wake up with enough battery life to last you for another day.

It is refreshing having to not charge your phone every single night, we tell you that.

A large reason for the stellar battery life is, without a doubt, the ProMotion feature. Like we mentioned above, by actively monitoring your usage, iOS can reduce the refresh rate all the way down to 10Hz as and when they feel it's the right time to do so.

Oh and also, the iPhone 13 Pro Max packs a larger battery pack at 4,352 mAh, as compared to 3,687 mAh on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, so that likely helps the battery life as well.

So, if any one is asking, yes; the battery life on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is really that good.

Pictures paint a thousand words

Like we mentioned above, one of the biggest differences with the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the noticably larger camera array at the back - and it's bigger for a reason.

It boasts a 12MP main camera with 1.9μm pixels (the largest yet on an iPhone, by the way), a 12MP ultra wide lense and a 12MP telephoto camera. It also has a LiDAR scanner at the back, which helps the main and potrait cameras ace the depth maps for portraits and faster autofocus in low-light conditions.

What that translates to is are gorgeous photos.

In bright daylight, the photos are crisp, sharp and provide plenty of detail. When you have enough light, noise is nearly non-existent. The photos are also true to colour, with high-dynamic-range (HDR) kicking in to make your photos' colours pop a little bit more.

Frankly, you can expect great photos from iPhones these days, and just like its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Pro Max delivers.

Here are some samples of the photos taken in good-to-great lighting:

As expected, the Night Mode on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is still as stellar always.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max is capable of capturing amazing still photos in almost pitch-black darkness, with surprisingly less noticeable noise and grain. Photos taken in low-light conditions look brighter, sharper and show more details.

Of course, the quality of your night shots depend on how still you could hold your phone for a second or two and how dark your environement is; the darker, the blurrier your photo gets.

We loved the Night Mode on our old iPhone 11 Pro Max, but somehow, Apple managed to level up with the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

These photos were taken in low-light conditions with a one to two second wait time:

Now, on to the new things.

This year, Apple added the Photographic Styles feature on the iPhone 13 Pro Max's camera app. Think of it as like a filter selection you find in your favourite photography app, because that's essentially what it is.

There are five Photographic Styles to choose from: Standard, Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm and Cool.

Each Photographic Style offers a different colour profile for your photos (Warm for a warmer look and Cool for a cooler look, for example), and you can select your favourite as a default. Y

You can easily toggle between the Photographic Styles by tapping on the icon on the top right hand corner of the camera app.

We prefer the Vibrant colour profile, as we feel the photos come out, well, more vibrant and bright colours pop a little bit more.

The biggest new feature on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the introduction of the Macrophotography mode.

When you move the camera close to a subject, the camera automatically toggles the Macro mode on. Things that appear blurry in the normal photography mode becomes much clearer when Macro mode turns on.

We spent so much time playing with the mode just because we wanted to check out how things look when they're macro-sized. It's indeed very fascinating looking at things that you can't make out with your naked eye.

But here's the annoying bit: getting Macro mode to work is tricky. Part of it was because there's no manual way to toggle the Macro mode on.

Often times, we found ourselves accidentally triggering Macro mode when we're intending to take a normal shot because we just happened to move the camera a bit too close to the subject. Then, we would have to square up for the shot all over again, this time being extra careful to make sure that we do not trigger Macro mode.

There were also times when we felt that auto-focus doesn't lock onto a subject when we're in Macro mode, so the photo turns out blurry because the AI does not recognise that we were trying to take a macro shot of a subject.

If you get Macro mode to work, however, you'll have tonnes of fun with it.

Thankfully, Apple says that they're going to add a button to let you turn the Macro mode on or off with an upcoming software update, so we just gotta wait for that.

Cop or drop?

Now comes the million dollar question: should you get the iPhone 13 Pro Max?

To help you decide if you should get one for yourself, we're gonna break it into two parts.

Buy it if:

• You're using an older iPhone and you're thinking of upgrading to a new iPhone. There's a lot to love about the iPhone 13 Pro Max, and if you're coming from an iPhone 11 or older model, the ProMotion display is a gamechanger.
• You rely on your smartphone to take great pictures. Granted, the iPhone 13 Pro Max definitely will not outshoot a DSLR, but if you're, say, a social media influencer or your job requires you to take pretty pictures for social media, it will do its job well.
• You're a heavy smartphone user. The battery life on the iPhone 13 Pro Max can handle anything you do on it, and the A15 chipset ensures that you have all the power you need.

Don't buy it if:

• You don't have a budget for it. When it comes to iPhones, this one is technically a given lah. The premium iPhones are never cheap, and it's the same story for this year's versions. The iPhone 13 Pro Max starts from RM5,799 for the 128GB version all the way to an eye-watering RM7,599 for the 1TB version.
• You have an iPhone 12 Pro Max. There's really no need for you to upgrade if you're currently using its predecessor...unless, of course, you have some extra cash laying around and you don't know what to do with it.
• You don't like big phones. If you have small hands and you don't fancy carrying a 'brick' in your pocket, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is not for you. Most of us could won't be able to stretch our thumb across the screen, so if you don't like big and heavy smartphones, stay away.

But whatever you choose to do, there's no denying that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is one incredible phone.

The upgrades may be minimal, but it's certainly placed the iPhone 13 Pro Max as the one to beat this year.

Apple wasn't lying; the iPhone 13 Pro Max is indeed the best iPhone they've ever made.