Apple just released the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. They’re upgrades to last year’s iPhone XS and XS Max phones, respectively, but with a new camera system that upgrades the old sensors and adds a third, ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree depth of field.
From the outside, the phones look and feel slightly better than the iPhone XS, though quite a lot of that is the matte finish on the back, which I really prefer (though sometimes matte glass can be more slippy than glossy). Apple says the glass is more durable, and I really do like how it is one piece, with no seam on the camera bump.
So let’s talk about the camera bump: it’s big. But Apple has designed the lenses on it in such a way that it isn’t trying to hide the giant square on the back. I don’t love it, but everybody uses a case anyway, so that will help.
Obviously, Apple is very good at lighting its hands-on areas, so I haven’t had a chance to really test the cameras. But I did play with the new camera interface a bit, and it’s great. When you’re in the standard “wide” zoom, the viewfinder fills the whole screen, so you can more easily see what mode you’re in. And if you slide through the wide and telephoto lenses instead of tapping, it shows you a dial with your zoom level in both multiples and millimeters.