You think Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max is a bad name? It could be worse

What you need to know

  • Apple iPhone Pro Max. It's a mouthful.
  • Apple has an unfortunate history of odd names.
  • Macintosh SE FDHD, anyone?

In the run up to the iPhone 11 announcement we found ourselves speculating as to what they might call the largest high-end model. Some suggested we might see the name iPhone 11 Pro Max, which sounded a bit ridiculous. And then Apple announced iPhone 11 Pro Max on-stage.

We've been wondering whether there's ever been a more ungainly name for a product, particularly from Apple. And as is usually the case with these things, Stephen Hackett has the answer. Unfortunately, Apple seems to have a history for product names that don't quite roll off the tongue.

Enter the Macintosh SE FDHD from 1987. And the Performa 6400/200 VEE from the 1990s. The list goes on. And on. As a side note, who knew Apple made so many different Performas?

In due course it's likely the iPhone 11 Pro Max name will just become normal, and we won't find it such a mouthful. As Stephen points out, time is a great healer of these things.

Of course, over time these things settle down. I remember groaning at "MacBook Pro" in January 2006 when the PowerBook's successor was unveiled, but now we don't think twice about it.

Until then, if you want to learn about computers and accessories you never knew existed and will soon wish you'd never heard of, check out Stephen's post. Just be warned, once you've seen the Workgroup Server 95 you'll never be able to unsee it again.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.