iPhone 13 Pro Max iOS 16.1 Review: Improved Battery and Performance, but Overheating Issue!

After the release of iOS 16 a few weeks ago, Apple introduced the iOS 16.1 update. Many are still unsure whether to update, especially those with the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Does iPhone 13 Pro Max experience significant battery drain on iOS 16.1? Is the battery and performance still robust after the iOS 16.1 update? Find the answers in this official review of iPhone 13 Pro Max with iOS 16.1.

Read more:

• iOS 16.1 Review for iPhone 13: To Update or Not?
• iPhone 14 Pro Max Performance Review: The Power of Apple A16
• Official Review of iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 16: Should You Upgrade?

iOS 16.1 Update Overview

For those who might have forgotten or are unaware, on the morning of October 25th (Vietnam time), Apple officially released the iOS 16 update for all iPhones. I promptly updated my iPhone 13 Pro Max to iOS 16.1 (with a file size of 3.26 GB), and the battery status was at 100%.

Without keeping you waiting, let's dive into the performance review of the iPhone 13 Pro Max after updating to iOS 16.1!

iPhone 13 Pro Max Performance Still Exceptional with iOS 16.1 Update

• iPhone 13 Pro Max iOS 16.1 Performance Score

I will use specialized benchmarking tools such as AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 5, and 3DMark Wild Life to evaluate the performance of the iPhone 13 Pro Max after updating to iOS 16.1. Before sharing the results, let's quickly go through the conditions for scoring:

• The battery level must be between 90-100% (battery below 90% may affect device performance).
• No charging during the benchmarking process.
• Conduct 3 benchmarks and average the results after three consecutive runs.

Firstly, in the single/multi-core and GPU Compute benchmarks in GeekBench 5, the iPhone 13 Pro Max achieved excellent results, demonstrating its formidable power at the current moment. However, when compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max with iOS 16, there is a slight difference, but in my opinion, it's negligible. While the iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 16 scored 14,376 points, it slightly decreased to 14,289 on iOS 16.1. Despite a slight decrease, the phone's performance remains excellent, and all activities on it continue to be smooth.

- GeekBench 5:

• iOS 16.1: 14,289 points.
• iOS 16: 14,376 points.

- GeekBench 5 (single-core/multi-core)

• iOS 16.1: 1,749 points / 4,757 points.
• iOS 16: 1,739 points / 4,517 points.

Next, in the AnTuTu Benchmark, the A15 processor on iPhone 13 Pro Max updated to iOS 16.1 fortunately didn't encounter some issues like the screen only displaying vertically, as observed in the iOS 16 review. The score this time is 840,688 points, compared to 800,013 points on iOS 16. It shows a significant improvement in processing power and an impressive figure compared to other competitors released in the same year.

Moving on to the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test (checking average graphics processing ability), iPhone 13 Pro Max updated to iOS 16.1 scored 2,381 points in total with an average FPS of 14.3. When compared to iOS 16 (2,365 points in total with an average FPS of 14.2), it shows a slight improvement in handling light graphics. With such light graphics tests, the Apple A15 Bionic chip performs effortlessly, but the device did warm up a bit, and the battery dropped by only 3%!

An important highlight in this performance scoring section is the graphics-intensive test called 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. For those who might have forgotten, this test repeats 20 times to assess the device's performance over an extended period (such as gaming or video editing) to check for stability. Check out the results below, specifically the Stability metric!

Looking at the results, we can easily observe that the stability of iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 16.1 is quite high at 87.5% (iOS 16 was 83.2%). I find this result impressive, especially when comparing the difference between the highest loop score and the lowest loop score (2,422 - 2,120 = 302 points) with iOS 16 at 410 points. Surprisingly, my iPhone 13 Pro Max no longer heats up quickly compared to iOS 16, even though both experienced a 5% battery drop, indicating that iOS 16.1 has contributed to better stability.

Based on the performance scores above, I can somewhat conclude that the iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the iOS 16.1 update, performs exceptionally well at the moment. Both CPU processing speed and GPU graphics processing capabilities are slightly better than the iOS 16 version. This indicates that Apple quickly addressed issues and optimized third-party apps to give my iPhone 13 Pro Max impressive scores and make me satisfied. For others, basic needs such as reading, watching videos, recording, and photo editing on this version will provide a great experience.

• Gameplay on iPhone 13 Pro Max after updating to iOS 16.1

I rarely play games on the iPhone 13 Pro Max because it is quite heavy, and the extended gaming experience doesn't feel very comfortable for me. Instead, I have another iPhone 13 for more comfortable gaming. Therefore, the gaming experience on iOS 16 or iOS 16.1 doesn't change much for me. The iPhone 13 Pro Max can still handle popular games like Arena of Valor, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and even the graphics-intensive Genshin Impact with ease.

Additionally, I couldn't use Perfdog to measure FPS while gaming on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, both in iOS 16 and iOS 16.1. Perhaps we need to wait for developers to refine and optimize further. I will update the information for you when that happens. Therefore, I captured and recorded the screen in the videos below. A quick overview reveals that my experience with all three games - Arena of Valor, Call of Duty, and PUBG Mobile - is extremely smooth with minimal lag, although the device slightly warms up. I've also pushed the graphics settings to almost the highest!

Exploring the final game, Genshin Impact, this time iPhone 13 Pro Max updated to iOS 16.1 encounters overheating and frame stutter, especially during intense battles or elaborate skills. However, this can be understood as I set the game graphics to the maximum. For those seeking a smoother adventure, it's advisable to keep the graphics at default settings!

Though my recent gaming sessions have decreased, each battle still provides a satisfying experience with the iPhone 13 Pro Max updated to iOS 16.1. For basic tasks like watching YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, browsing the web, or streaming Netflix, the device performs smoothly. However, occasional heating issues arise without clear reasons.

iPhone 13 Pro Max iOS 16.1 Update: How's the Battery Life?

The most significant concern for many iPhone users with every new iOS release is whether their device will experience increased battery consumption. To address this, I conducted a battery test on the iPhone 13 Pro Max after updating to iOS 16.1 to evaluate its battery performance. The test adhered to specific criteria as follows:

• Engage in a 4-task loop, including playing Liên Quân (with game experience settings), watching YouTube, scrolling Facebook, and using Safari.
• Each task runs for 1 hour.
• Brightness level: 100%.
• External speaker enabled at 50% volume.
• WiFi and social media notifications activated.
• Power-saving, adaptive brightness, GPS, and Bluetooth are disabled.
• Testing from 100% to 0% battery.
• Initial battery level: 100%.

The results are as follows:

As seen in the above results, despite rigorous battery testing conditions, the iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 16.1 delivers impressive endurance with a usage time exceeding 9 hours (specifically 9 hours and 10 minutes). This figure is highly satisfactory, showcasing an improvement of over 1 hour compared to iOS 16, which provided 8 hours and 34 minutes. However, these figures are indicative, and actual usage time would extend beyond a day for various tasks (excluding gaming), requiring a charge only after a day of use. Even with gaming, charging is only needed towards the end of the day.

Therefore, for users with basic usage needs, upgrading to iPhone 13 Pro Max with iOS 16.1 is highly recommended! Additionally, as mentioned earlier, occasional heating during prolonged tasks should be addressed by allowing the device to cool down for prolonged battery life.

Key Features and Fixes in iPhone 13 Pro Max iOS 16.1

In this section, I'll briefly highlight a few features that I find noteworthy and useful. If you want to explore more interesting changes in the latest iOS, check out the reviews for iOS 16 and what's new in iOS 16 for additional insights!

• Environmental Charging Optimization

When this mode is activated, the iPhone will automatically optimize charging efficiency when using environmentally friendly power sources, reducing unnecessary carbon emissions that could impact the environment.

However, this feature only works depending on the user's location (currently not supported in Vietnam). According to the zollotech channel reviewer (currently living in the U.S.), the Environmental Charging feature can be activated. It's true that this feature is not supported in Vietnam, as I couldn't find this option on my mom's iPhone 11.

• iOS 16.1 Enables Battery Percentage Display on Small-Screen iPhones

This is undoubtedly good news for many users of small-screen iPhones like iPhone XR, 11, 12 mini, or 13 mini. Upgrading my mom's iPhone 11, I found that the battery percentage display works seamlessly, similar to the iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 16.1.

In addition, the battery icon in iOS 16.1 is now visually redesigned, with the battery indicator changing dynamically based on the remaining battery level.

Conclusion

Overall, this iOS 16.1 update has brought longer battery life and improved performance to the iPhone 13 Pro Max. However, the phone still experiences heating issues during heavy usage or prolonged use and needs further improvement in the future, possibly through additional bug-fixing updates for better optimization.

What do you think about iOS 16.1? Drop your comments below for me and everyone to know! Thanks for your attention and for following my article.

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