Iphone 11 Pro Max sunset photo issue

That is indeed lens flare. You can use photo editing software to remove the artifacts. But it is lens flare. Were you using the Ultra Wide lens? It may have helped contribute to the lens flare as it's a slower f2.4 aperture, meaning it takes longer to capture light compared to the wide angle lens which is faster.

Unfortunately, it can. Even a high-end DSLR can do this. My $2K DSLR with a $1500 lens does this. Maybe not as bad, but then the lens and sensor on my DSLR are significantly larger and my lens is much faster. Still, you can fix the lens flare in something like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom easily.

Turning off HDR might have actually been beneficial taking this photo. HDR layers photos on top of each other, contributing to the Lens Flare effect. I do not believe the phone is faulty at all. Nor would this suggest there's a software issue. Bright lights behind a subject are difficult at best to take, especially when the subjects themselves are in lower light as this photo suggests they were.

I am having these kinds of artefacts only when the iPhone used HRD mode. HDR is a synthesis of three shots taken in a quick succession, and if there is a glittering specular light - the reflection on a metallic button or a sun ray passing through the leaves of a tree, sunlight glittering on the waves, the automatic HDR will create these coloured spots, because the glittering spot is slightly moving.

With my older iPhone X it did not matter, because it had a setting to keep the normal version; I could simply discard the HDR version and could keep the normal version. But this useful option does no longer seem to be available on my new iPhone 11 Pro Max with "Automatic HDR" enabled. So we are stuck with only the HDR version with artefacts, which is a pity.

That was actually a good idea. I have the 11 Pro Max and I was doing a test picture just in my house. The HDR actually works better than the non hdr for me. With the HDR on it was a more defined image. But simple images would lights as the reflection even though I am not aiming at it. I have to point directly at the light to move the distortion into the lights so I don’t see The reflection.

I returned mine today, got a new one and still have the problem. The lenses are defective!

Oh how horrible, I’m getting the same issues too. Day and night. Exactly the same. My old iPhone didn’t do that. Look at my night shots, does yours do it at night.

You’re right: it only seems to save the hdr version. That’s not going to work out for many of us. Hopefully the developers will read this and bring it back.