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iPhone 15 Pro Max How come most English-language reviews suck?

JPack

JPack

macrumors G5
Original poster
Mar 27, 2017
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There is 10x more production value from Chinese reviewers. All iPhone reviewers receive their test units the same time, but most English-language reviews feel like a high school production. Thankfully, Chinese reviewers post content on Bilibili and YouTube.

I learned more about the iPhone 15 Pro camera system, ACES, Apple Log, color grading, external SSD, and USB-C accessory behavior from this single review than all other combined. The content is fun and engaging too. Same thing with Geekerwan reviews.


Mediastorm.jpg
 
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I do agree, they have a ton of different angles there, some focused on user experience, this Media Storm guy focused on the camera system and the ecosystem around that, and Geekerwan one focused on performance and battery testing. Many English reviews are just repeating the same marketing language over and over again... No real insight that is in any form unique or professional.
 
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Thanks for sharing this video. Its actually kind of incredible. Awesome sample photos. Great editing, including subtle stuff like explaining the PM price bump.

Biggest notes I haven’t heard in any american reviews:
—The 15 series oversharpens less
—Next gen portraits use LiDAR on the Pro
—15 Pro has less LiDAR dots than the 14 Pro but scans significantly more times per second
 
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they sign an agreement to only talk about specific things on a list, and to release the video no earlier than a specific day. if they don’t comply they don’t get future early review units.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
Far too many English reviews on YT are nothing more than biased cheerleading pimping for view revenue. It is the same shallow schtick every year from the same people.
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Completely agree 👍

At this point YouTube “reviewers” are nothing more than glorified car salesmen repeating the exact same press release / spec sheet that Apple already already gave.

Not a single one of them has any true insight or original thought process for the public. Nowadays they are simply an semi-extension of Apple’s marketing department, which can cut them off for being too critical.

It doesn’t help that the whole system of YouTube paying them for views makes it so that they have to post their “review” ASAP so that they don’t get left behind from the other channels posting at the same time, so there’s no real long term testing done either.
 
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First, quality review cannot be out In a few days from launch, period.
Second, like other says, those English reviewers are nothing more than Apple’s marketing stunt and doesn’t offer any insights and all the nitty gritty detail, if ever.
Apple customer base being excessively loyal also doesn’t help.
zach-coleman said:
Surely the Chinese reviewers are under the same restriction? They also have early review units…
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You can say they have their own means to obtain review units and don’t give a crap about what Apple wants them to say, or Apple cannot realistically enforce NDA in China Mainland.
 
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English media will praise Apple no matter what. One good example is TheVerge.

The battery test they did eg tomsguide is just —web browsing, while the Chinese reviewers include gaming, social media, apps.
 
Hal~9000 said:
Completely agree 👍

At this point YouTube “reviewers” are nothing more than glorified car salesmen repeating the exact same press release / spec sheet that Apple already already gave.
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Dave2D convinced me to buy junk

- 2015 Nexus 6P & 5X
- 2017 Essential PH-1
- 2017 Dell Inspiron 7567
- 2019 MacBook Pro 16"

He's a very effective salesman!

I wish I never bought any of those things!

I had to block him. o_O

- Nexus boot looped, bad battery & AMOLED burn-in in less than 12 months
- Essential halved its MSRP to $399, broke apart and folded as a company
- Dell had a TN display with 14nm chip
- MBP 16" 14nm chip that overheats even when he assures us it does not then 3 years later the 2021 MBP 16" 5nm comes out



If I didn't buy those 2 flagship Android phones and those two Intel 14nm laptops I'd be nearly $5k ahead! :mad:

It would have been better if I just stuck to just 1 iPhone at any given time and kept using my 2011 MBP 13" 32nm until the 2021 MBP 16" 5nm then I'd be more than $2k ahead!

I bought that 2017 Dell 15" 14nm to learn 2015 Windows 10 when BootCamp was available for my 2011 MBP 13" 32nm & 2012 iMac 27" 22nm.
 
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MrAperture said:
I thought this review was decent from a Photographer/Videographer’s POV:

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TBH if the camera wasn't a meaningful improvement to your current phone then there is incentive to stretch it out to when it does. Hence the 3 year or longer replacement cycle becoming the phone norm.

That's the key selling point of any phone for most people.

Android phone companies making strides to superior image quality via larger image sensor cameras.

For 2023 these would be

Xiaomi 13 Ultra


Oppo Find X6 Pro

 
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Maybe because in China the phone market is quite diverse, there are a lot of brands that you don't get in the US, so they make detailed videos of all the features.

Most of the mainstream reviewers are American. iPhone is like the default there so whatever.
 
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I feel like the Western influencer/content creator market has moved into a very chase the algo direction, which is largely pushed by social media analytics influencers on Youtube informing them how to intro, hook, CTA etc in the same format. Most western YT content is almost a template fired off, then onto work on the next one.

Serious indepth work on a topic takes too much time for little payoff. A shame!
 
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TJ82 said:
I feel like the Western influencer/content creator market has moved into a very chase the algo direction, which is largely pushed by social media analytics influencers on Youtube informing them how to intro, hook, CTA etc in the same format. Most western YT content is almost a template fired off, then onto work on the next one.

Serious indepth work on a topic takes too much time for little payoff. A shame!
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Nailed it
 
I struggle to watch iJustine now. She is such a cheerleader...never an ounce of balance.
 
TJ82 said:
I feel like the Western influencer/content creator market has moved into a very chase the algo direction, which is largely pushed by social media analytics influencers on Youtube informing them how to intro, hook, CTA etc in the same format. Most western YT content is almost a template fired off, then onto work on the next one.

Serious indepth work on a topic takes too much time for little payoff. A shame!
Click to expand...
This. Content is largely created now to appease algorithms or provide extreme cynicism/praise. It‘s very hard to take most content at face value, for any industry.
 
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