Nio

Here’s my experience of the 12 Pro Max that can hopefully help some people:  

1) SIZE: Moving from a XS Max, I didn’t have much concern over the size, since it is only marginally bigger than my current model. The screen is great, and I like the larger screen. My experience with the new 12 Pro Max, however, was that it felt noticeably larger because of the squared sides, more like a brick, than the XS Max—much more than the negligible spec-difference would indicate. Also, because of the squared sides, when performing the swiping actions, my fingers would scrape the corner edge—not a problem, just noticeable—which is not an issue with the iPad Pro because of their larger bezels. 
2) WEIGHT: noticeably heavier. The specs only show a 20g difference (428g vs 408g), but it’s enough to make it harder to handle, especially with one hand.
3) FUNCTION: Apple no longer offers the Folio case with auto on/off when you open and close the cover. It’s a function that I much appreciate and enjoy on the iPhone, as well as the iPad Pro. The lack of the folio for the new iPhone is likely because it relies on magnets at the front and back of the case to function, and with the advent of MagSafe, it’s no longer possible. This means that when putting the iPhone down, I need to press the on/off button or else rely on the auto shut-off. A second problem this created is that I also liked putting my subway pass in the folio, so I could fold it out and tap the gate for subway use. The current wallet is not a substitute, because to have the subway card function, one would need to remove the magnetic wallet from the phone, pull the card out (because the holder is shielded), tap, before reversing the process after going through the gate—obviously a non-starter. 
4) SELFIE LENS: Haven’t seen my concerns written up anywhere, but with the 7MP to 12MP megapixel increase, the lens also went wider angle. This would normally be a useful upgrade, except for two things. First, my Zoom setup is such that I use a blank wall as a background, sometimes on the couch and sometimes on my bed. With the wider angle, the lens now picks up the bed frame and sheets, and there is no way to zoom the camera on Zoom, at least for now. I tried moving my phone setup closer, which helps some, but this leads to a second issue, that the lens introduces a fisheye distortion. In the wide angle main camera, the phone uses algorithms to correct the distortion, but this is not present with the front lens. The closer the lens is, the more the fisheye problem is obvious—great for a rap video effect, not so much for a professional Zoom call. I ended up looking for other ways to do Zoom calls that didn’t involve my new iPhone. 

Any one or even two of these issues would have been fine, but when taken as a whole, I decided to return the phone after 12 days and return to my well-loved XS Max. I’ll miss the photographic advantages of the 12, but not the other stuff. When I upgrade in the future, I will consider a smaller model.