The name alone blew up Twitter a bit upon release. Users from Europe pointed out that “XS” generally means extra small, which is a little confusing with the word “max” right after. For me personally, the letters XS were a bit amusing because of the similarity of the GTA 5 vehicle Sentinel XS, where the XS seemed to be a play on phonetics as excess. Which, given that the car is a tricked out BMW, fits.
In this case, it fits with the phone as well.
It’s Apple’s largest phone by a whole half inch, and costs a whopping $1050 to $1499, depending on storage capacity selected. The iPhone X made a splash upon its own release by costing $1000, and apparently since users were willing to shell that out Apple figured they might as well repackage similar tech with a storage capacity that rivals laptops and Surface Tablets at a similar price point.
Unfortunately, it seems that despite the largest price tag anyone’s ever seen on an iPhone, the XS has what Youtube channel Unbox Therapy says is a serious issue:
The problem being that apparently the phone doesn’t recognize the lightning cable when the screen is off. When you turn the screen back on it will acknowledge it and start to charge, but if you didn’t know this it could be a really inconvenient situation.
Imagine plugging the phone in, thinking it’s charging, and walking away for an hour or so. Then later you grab it and run out the door, thinking the phone is charged up, but it’s lower than you left it. And in some cases, the XS’ screen refused to even turn back on while plugged in. Or it refused to charge even when the screen is turned back on.
As much as the Lightning Cable is supposed to be non-directional, i.e. it does not have a specific side of the plug that is the “right” way to plug in, some users have nevertheless reported that removing the cable, rotating it, and plugging it in the other way resolves the charging issue.
Beyond it seeming reasonable to assume that the “most innovative iPhone yet” would’ve been more thoroughly tested before release, users in the comment section of the above video have also pointed out that, at this price point, it seems unfortunate that the phone:
- Still features traditional headphones instead of coming with wireless ones that Apple has insisted are the future
- Still no fast-charge tech in the charger when it does work
- Does not come with a dongle
The phone is generally very durable, however, which is at least what you would expect. In the below video, you’ll see an interesting series of stress tests done to the XS Max: