iPhone 11 Pro Max Vs Pixel 4 XL: One Lasts The Distance

Two good phones but one has a big advantage.

[This is a brief review focused on battery life.]

Background: I use the iPhone 11 Pro Max and Google Pixel 4 XL interchangeably. I prefer the Pixel 4 XL’s physical design and AI. But when push comes to shove (e.g., road trip), I grab the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Here’s why.

Whether it’s a laptop*, tablet, or smartphone, a mobile device is only as good as its battery life. If that’s not competitive, the device isn’t competitive.

While the Pixel 4 XL’s battery life isn’t terrible, i.e., it can get through a day, the Pro Max’s battery seems to last forever (translation: often a couple of days for me).

That’s a big reason the iPhone 11 Pro Max consistently gets stellar reviews despite a dull design. (Having a great camera and good performance don’t hurt either.)

How important is battery life?

I think it’s safe to say that for people who are mobile or travel, it ranks at the top or close to the top — other things (screen quality/size, performance etc.) being roughly equal for the world’s biggest smartphone brands.

Your average consumer isn’t interested in things like a foldable design or 5G, they just want long better life.

And reviews almost invariably put the iPhone 11 Pro Max’s battery life as the top two features of the phone.

How important is other stuff?

If the Pixel 4 XL had better battery life, you could almost say it is a better phone than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The Pixel has a more impressive display replete with a 90 Hz refresh rate (great for watching videos), a better physical design (and lighter) than the iPhone 11 Pro Max, great AI (Google Assistant is still better than Siri), and has a camera that is competitive with the iPhone’s.

Ecosystem integration

But back to the bad stuff. I also have a Google Pixelbook Go and integration with the Pixel 4 XL (or any Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy s10, which I also use), isn’t pretty. For example, I have never been able to get the Smart Lock feature to work. And I have queried Google about this, to no avail. Smart Lock theoretically allows you to unlock your Pixelbook automatically via your Android phone if you’re in a “safe” location like your home.

That’s especially important for the Pixelbook Go because it has no biometrics — i.e., no fingerprint sensor and no facial recognition.

On the other hand, the iPhone 11 Pro Max’s integration with my MacBook Pro 16 is practically seamless and another reason I take my iPhone and MacBook on long road trips** — not my Pixel 4 XL and Pixelbook Go.

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NOTES:

*I’ve tested a ton of laptops that have great industrial designs but crappy battery life. Bad battery life = deal-breaker not matter how good the design.

**This road trip comment needs updating. Recently, I am actually favoring the newest thin-and-light laptops from Hewlett-Packard and Dell for the longest road trips (over one week). Previously, I took either a MacBook Air or 15.4-inch MacBook Pro — the latter I have since replaced with a 16-inch MacBook Pro.