I always go back and forth on screen size even to this day. All the way back to the original release of the 6 and 6 Plus. I’ve had a few cycles of the large device and regular.
It’s a tough decision, but overall I still think to this day I prefer the regular sized phones.
With the Max models, I really tend to like them when I’m chilling at home, on my couch, bed, or what have you, browsing and texting. That big screen then becomes super nice. That is until I’m out and about. Putting it in my pocket when I’m wearing shorts in the summer, or casual pants out and about, it becomes annoying quick. Even little things like fitting it into my little space in my car under the instrument cluster, the size becomes more of a pain than a benefit.
The long battery life is super impressive, but when I had my 11 Pro Max with my usage I was hitting the point of diminishing returns. Every single night I would end on 50-75% battery depending on my usage. I can only imagine what it would be with a modern Pro Max with how good the battery has become. I think the 13 / 14 Pro gives similar battery life to the 11 Pro Max if I’m not mistaken.
Not to mention the weight. The 11 Pro Max weight already nags on me and the 14 Pro Max is even heavier. If I do decide to upgrade, I think I’ll go for the Pro this year because I’m really missing the pocketable size, and it’s not like a 6.1” screen is small or anything.