Can't believe Otterbox wants $75 for what is essentially a single-piece case.
Yes and no. The plastic ring in front is a nice addition because it blocks dust/dirt/water from entering the case from the front. Underneath the plastic ring is a rubber surround that seals around the front display…and of course, the rubber also protects/cushions the display from a frontal drop.
The case is good…a bit wide and tall. A drop on the front face or side (top and bottom too) are extremely well protected. No worries there. That is probably where it gets its “5X” drop protection. I can see it being as protective (if not more) as the original Defender case for frontal and side drops. But….
The major weakness is the backside. The problem is when the case gets drop on its back…that is where it fails miserably. As noted above by me, the plastic back is extremely thin (thinner than Symmetry, Aneu, Apple clear case, etc.). It is just a thin cheap flexy plastic. The RING around the camera (on 12 Pro Max case) juts out...and is the thing that hits pavement first on a drop on its back. That camera ring is very rigid while the rest of back is flimsy thin plastic. So that ring has free movement on impact and crashes into the back glass of iPhone.
In addition, for some dumba$$ reason, the ring around the camera is HUGE yet shallow (!!)…much bigger than the camera module (unlike Aneu, Symmetry, etc.). So, your camera module is not protected much. The camera ring diameter is much wider than Aneu, Symmetry, etc....yet quite shallow…maybe a few nanometers higher than the camera lenses ( again, unlike Symmetry & Aneu). This is quite puzzling since XT PRO came out AFTER Aneu and Symmetry. I can see if XT Pro came out first and Otterbox didn’t have the exact dimensions of iPhone 12 Pro max…but this is not the case. Aneu/Symmetry camera ring is near perfect (i consider Apple cases to have perfect camera rings).
I am still using the XT Pro. The case feel is decent. I have made modifications as noted by pics above to further protect the back. I go to the beach often. So, i need a case that i don’t need to take off all the time to clean due to sand getting into it…with the mods done above, i am basically sealing the phone against dirt/sand/dust. (Obviously, it is not water resistant.). And unlike Aneu, there is that bacterial sanitizing coating.