If only they had 500 off for the regular iPhone 11. Thought of getting one

Ya, I believe that is the case but was hopeful they would have some sort of a discount since the successor is imminent. Oh well, wishful thinking on my part

Have tried the 11 Pro Max before passing it on to my better half, just wanted to try the 11 to see if it's vastly improved from the XR.

so....that means, it's not a good idea to wait for iphone 12 to decide if one is really looking for huge discount on iphone 11 series

It depends on individual preference, of course. End of the day, get the phone that suits your needs and budget, not what reviewers say is good or bad. I do believe the 12 series will have poorer battery life across board than the 11 series even without 5G simply because the battery is smaller.

I don't even use the AOD features on my Android phone as well to conserve battery and avoid potential OLED burn-ins - I am aware that many manufacturers have employed different implementation to assure customers and prevent this from being an issue but I prefer to play it safe, hahaha... I just use tap to wake the screen to check on notifications every now and then.