iPhone XS Max: the biggest screen, the biggest battery, the biggest price

Apple unveiled on Wednesday its iPhone XS Max, the new big screen phone from the gadget maker.

"This is the biggest screen ever seen on an iPhone," said Phil Schiller, marketing manager at Apple, at a launch event at Apple's headquarters.

The new phone (pronounced "10-S" and not "excess") has a 6.5-inch HDLE OLED display, slightly larger than the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 9.

The phone also offers the highest starting price for all iPhone models. The phone will cost $ 1,099 for a storage capacity of 64 GB, $ 1,249 for 256 GB and $ 1,449 for 512 GB. (This last price is higher than that of a basic MacBook Pro laptop.) It will be available in gray, silver and a new gold finish. Pre-orders begin Friday and the phone will go on sale on September 21st.

The XS Max is the big brother of the new iPhone XS, which sports a 5.8-inch screen and a cheaper iPhone XR, with a 6.1-inch screen, which were also unveiled Wednesday. Thanks to the thinner frames of the new phones, the three screens offer larger screens than those of the iPhone 5.5 5.5-inch last year.

The XS Max includes the largest battery for an iPhone model, which allows it to last an hour and a half longer than the iPhone X last year. The XS lasts half an hour longer than the X.

The new A12 Bionic phone chip, a 7-nanometer processor, promises to launch apps 30% faster than 2017 iPhones, speed up face recognition and enhance photos and videos with automatic changes such as white balancing and red-eye reduction.

The new Max Moniker replaces the more typical Apple name for its larger phones.

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The new iPhone XS Max should test the tolerance of Apple loyalists for higher prices. Last year, Apple raised the starting price of the iPhone X to 999 dollars in the United States, 300 dollars more than its iPhone 8. The price of the XS Max is even higher.

This price increase has allowed Apple to continue to increase its revenues, even after the end of the growth of the smartphone market.

At some point, Apple and other phone manufacturers could cap the price of their new phones. The iPhone X did not translate into a torrent of feedback on older iPhones, which many industry observers expected, but it was pretty well sold to allay the fears that Apple has overestimated the new device. Given these past sales, it is unlikely that the XS Max will be the big seller of the three new phones.

Samsung has also tried to increase its phone prices, with its Note 9 starting at $ 999. But Samsung is complaining of the "market resistance" at its higher prices. Time will tell if this same problem will hit Apple.

To prevent higher prices from affecting sales of its largest product, Apple has made sure to offer cheaper models of its new phones. So, if you're not desperate to spend $ 1,099 or more on the biggest and most expensive new iPhone, you'll have options. the iPhone XR starts at $ 749 and the XS starts at $ 999.

The technology giant has introduced the device as its financial success. Earlier last month, the company became the first publicly traded US company to achieve a market capitalization of one trillion dollars. This impressive number highlights the status of the iPhone as one of the world's best-selling devices and Apple's growing business in wearable applications, software and services, such as Apple Music.

Similarly, while rival tech companies Alphabet, Twitter and Facebook have been criticized for failing to protect users' privacy or preventing election interference, Apple has largely escaped criticism.

If things are going so well for Apple, one of the biggest challenges of its new generation of iPhone is meeting the disproportionate expectations of consumers and Wall Street. With the iPhone XS Max becoming the most expensive new model, Apple will have to work hard to convince people that it will be best to hand over $ 1,000 for the high-end phone.

Apple has managed to maintain its huge sales figures with the iPhone X last year, which resulted in the first major overhaul of the iPhone in three years. The company abandoned the Touch ID button in favor of Face ID technology and introduced the 5.8-inch device as the "future of mobile." It featured a new, cleaner OLED screen and also included software like Animoji, which could turn your face into a unicorn and other animated emoji.

Apple, September 12, iPhone XS, live blog and livestream

See all that Apple announced at its event of September 12th