Everyone who enters the Apple ecosystem, stays in the Apple ecosystem, right? If so, perhaps you’re looking to upgrade your old iPhone, but seeing the lucrative price tags of the iPhone 15 Pro Max makes you wonder if the extra few hundred dollars for the new iPhone 16 Pro Max is justifiable.
Summary:
To get started, you can compare the complete datasheets or continue directly with our editor’s rating in the following text.
Even though Apple has officially discontinued the iPhone 15 Pro Max, you can still find some units around for around €/$400-$450 less. And let’s be honest, iPhone updates have become pretty stale lately. Let’s find out if Apple managed to spice things up this year.
Size comparison
Design-wise, there is little to no change in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, compared to the 15 Pro Max. However, the new Max has grown in size and added some weight. The weight aspect isn’t as noticeable, but since the 16 Pro Max is now built around a huge 6.9-inch display, albeit with thinner bezels, it’s noticeably taller and a bit wider too.
There is no significant difference in the “building blocks” either. Sure, the 16 Pro Max uses next-generation Ceramic Shield glass for the front and back, but we doubt this will tip the scales for anyone. Both phones are exceptionally built and boast IP68 ingress protection.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max this year comes with a slightly larger screen diagonal and even thinner bezels. The resolution is also higher to maintain the same pixel density.
Other than that, the 15 Pro Max has the same quality screen. Both support the same HDR standards (up to Dolby Vision). Both peak at around 1,700-1,800 nits of maximum brightness, according to our tests, and can go up to 120 Hz.
Battery life
The already excellent battery life of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is surpassed by the battery endurance score of the 16 Pro Max. The difference in the overall score is rather minimal, but looking closely at the results, we see that the new Pro Max gains a little ‘ extra battery life in 4G calling and web browsing tests.
Sure, the difference isn’t huge, but if battery life is of the utmost importance to you, then the 16 Pro Max is the right choice.
Charging speed
Unfortunately, there are no updates in the charging department for another year. According to our tests, the iPhone 16 Pro Max charges about the same time as its predecessor. Apple doesn’t advertise the rated maximum charging power, but our tests clearly show about the same charging speed in the first 15 to 30 minutes and then slows down significantly.
The older 15 Pro Max charges from 0 to 100% in 109 minutes, while the 16 Pro Max does so 8 minutes slower. The slightly longer charging time is probably due to the larger capacity.
Test the speakers
The newer 16 Pro Max features improved speaker quality without being quieter. They offer the same volume level but with higher quality.
Music tracks sound more natural, warmer and with greater depth thanks to the more pronounced bass. Interestingly, this does not appear to affect the voice in a negative way. Vocals and treble are just as clean as the 15 Pro Max, maybe even cleaner.
Performance
Like every new iPhone, the 16 Pro Max offers a newer, faster, and more efficient chipset. It has the Apple A18 Pro on board with a hexa-core CPU and is based on the 3nm manufacturing process. The Apple A17 Pro that powers the 15 Pro Max has similar specs: hexa-core CPU with hexa-core GPU.
The new A18 Pro chipset also has significantly better AI capabilities thanks to its 16-core NPU.
Memory configurations remain unchanged with both devices starting at 8GB/256GB and going up to 8GB/1TB.
Reference performance
While the changes may seem subtle, the 16 Pro Max offers nearly 26 percent better CPU performance according to Geekbench 6, about 27 percent better combined performance according to AnTuTu 10, and outperforms the 15 Pro Max by 27 percent in workloads heavy on the GPU.
Additionally, the 16 Pro Max performs better in our CPU and GPU acceleration tests, showing better and lasting performance.
Overall, the performance bump is far from trivial, but it will likely remain underutilized if you’re not much into mobile gaming.
Camera comparison
The iPhone 16 Pro Max brings a notable update to its camera system with the addition of a new HDR adjustment setting and a camera control button feature, although the latter remains incomplete at launch and with a rather questionable usefulness.
The biggest change comes with the ultrawide camera, where the previous 12 MP sensor has been replaced by a 48 MP (1/2.55″, 0.7 µm) Quad Bayer type sensor. Despite this increase in resolution, the physical size of the ultrawide sensor remains about the same as before, indicating a 1/2.55″ sensor size like its predecessor. While these updates push ultrawide to new heights, the selfie camera, featuring a 12MP sensor with PDAF and a 23mm f/1.9 lens, carries over from the previous generation without major changes. Video recording capabilities in the system include up to 4K at 120 fps for the main camera and up to 4K at 60 fps for the ultrawide, telephoto, and front cameras.
Image quality
Considering the small hardware changes, there is little to no difference in how the two iPhones take photos and videos. We struggle to find noteworthy differences in photos and videos in terms of quality, processing, etc.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x
Phone 15 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x
Selfie examples: iPhone 16 Pro Max • iPhone 15 Pro Max
After a bit of pixel analysis, however, we found a barely noticeable difference between the ultrawide cameras, which is to be expected given that the only hardware change is in this department. The new iPhone appears to produce still images that are slightly warmer and have brighter highlights, but again we doubt most people would notice. It’s a trivial change.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x
iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x
Video quality
The same goes for video recording. We see no apparent difference in how these two phones record video, except at ultrawide where the 16 Pro Max produces clips with a slightly warmer color temperature.
iPhone 16 Pro Max daytime video examples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x
Examples of daytime videos on iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x
iPhone 16 Pro Max low-light video examples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x
iPhone 15 Pro Max low-light video examples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x
Verdict
So is the iPhone 16 Pro Max better than its predecessor? Definitely yes. Objectively speaking, the 16 Pro Max has slightly better battery life, considerably higher performance, better speakers, and since it’s a newer phone, expect an extra year of software support. The 16 Pro Max also has a camera control button, which left us with mixed feelings but some users like it.
But is it around €500 better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max? Probably not. If you can find a 15 Pro Max on store shelves, you’ll get much the same user experience for a lot less. We find it difficult to justify the huge price gap with the rather modest hardware upgrades, especially since there are no advantages in the camera department.
- Slightly longer battery life.
- The slightly larger screen.
- The best speakers.
- The highest performance.
- The extra year of software support.
- The camera control button.
Get the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max for:
- The price is significantly lower.
- Slightly more compact dimensions.
- Comparable user experience.
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