iPhone 16 Pro Max: the best and worst of the most powerful and largest mobile phones in Apple history | Technology
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a beast that has everything you’d expect from Apple’s most powerful and ambitious model yet, although it doesn’t represent much of a spec upgrade over its predecessor, the world’s best-selling iPhone 15 Pro Max . in the first tranche of 2024, according to Counterpoint. While its main external innovation is a button that changes the way cameras are used, Apple is promoting it as its first phone designed internally to optimize the use of Apple Intelligence, its generative artificial intelligence service announced last June. However, all models of the iPhone 16 line are arriving in the European Union without the expected artificial intelligence system. EL PAÍS spent several days testing the terminal, which, in addition to the best battery, is positioned as a good alternative for content creators. These are its pros and cons.
The best
iPhone with the biggest screen
The iPhone 16 Pro Max’s screen is even larger than its predecessor. Its size has increased from 6.7 inches of the iPhone 15 Pro Max to 6.9 inches. To achieve this, Apple has reduced the screen bezels and slightly increased the size of the phone. In fact, this is the largest iPhone the Cupertino company has ever made. It measures 16.3 centimeters high and 7.76 centimeters wide, compared to 15.99 centimeters high and 7.67 centimeters for the 2023 model. Due to its large size, it’s not an iPhone for all audiences, but it’s a great option for watching multimedia content and especially for big screen lovers. Of course, it is also somewhat heavier: while the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighed 221 grams, its successor weighs 227 grams.
Matching Battery
One of the strengths of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is its battery. While Apple never reveals the technical details of its mobile phone batteries, Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency points to 4,685 mAh – 5.5% more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max – according to a portal specializing in mobile phone specifications. GSMArena.
In practice, autonomy improves significantly, by more than 5%. The terminal lasts a whole day without recharging, even with heavy mobile phone use, Internet sharing, watching videos, playing games and browsing social networks.
Breathtaking slow motion
The results when recording in slow motion are impressive. iPhone 16 Pro Max allows you to record 4K video at 120 frames per second (FPS). Such a large number of frames helps achieve high resolution and smooth video. In addition to a high level of detail, recordings are realistic, have good dynamic range and accurate colors. Less specialized users may not use this feature often, but it may be especially attractive to content creators, filmmakers, or athletes.
High quality performance
If the iPhone 16 Pro Max stands out for anything, it’s its performance. It features the Apple A18 Pro processor and is without a doubt one of the most powerful mobile phones in the market. For the user, it’s like carrying a computer in your pocket. In this newspaper’s tests, its performance was smooth, it didn’t overheat or slow down, and it was up to par when using all types of applications.
Worst
Artificial intelligence that doesn’t come
There have been a lot of expectations surrounding Apple Intelligence. After months of waiting for the Apple company to once and for all board the generative AI boat powered by ChatGPT, Apple made the official announcement to much fanfare in early June during its annual software developer conference. However, since this new AI is only compatible with A17 Pro processors and above, it leaves out over 90% of current iPhone users. Moreover, new features of this technology will not be available until the end of October and initially only in the US and in English. In Spain we will have to wait for now. Although Apple has announced that it will be released in other languages in 2025, it is unclear whether its arrival in the European Union will be delayed further due to non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Love-hate, camera control
The iPhone 16 Pro Max now has a button that lets you open the camera app with one click. Just press it to take a photo and hold it to record. Alternatively, you can drag your finger across it to make scale and when you double-click on it, a menu of tools opens, allowing you to change the exposure or put different filters on the photo.
With this button it is easy to create feelings of love and hate. While it’s useful in some specific situations and easy to use, sometimes it doesn’t solve any problems and its position isn’t exactly ergonomic. It is located on the right, under the power button. It feels like it’s designed for right-handed people and for horizontal mobile phone use, but isn’t entirely usable or intuitive when creating content vertically, the predominant format for uploading videos or stories to apps like TikTok or Instagram. In addition, the use of certain accessories may degrade the experience. For example, if you place your phone on a car mount, you might accidentally press a button and open the camera when the user wants to view the map app.
No major photographic enhancements.
The results with the 48 megapixel main camera are really good. However, in tests carried out by EL PAÍS, no significant difference was found with the results of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The colors, dynamic range, realism and level of detail are remarkable, but very similar to those achieved by its predecessor. The same goes for the 12-megapixel front-facing camera and the 12-megapixel 5x telephoto lens, which is ideal for portraits and retains the good performance of the oldest model in the 2023 iPhone lineup.
Another unresolved issue is the 48-megapixel wide-angle lens. While this improves, low-light conditions lack a higher level of detail, especially in the corners of photos. The lack of major improvements may disappoint iPhone 15 Pro Max owners who are considering upgrading their device, especially considering that the photos section is one of Apple’s key assets to become a leader in the sector.
Price
Apple’s most powerful mobile phone is prohibitively expensive for some users. Its price starts at 1,469 euros for the version with 256 gigabytes of internal memory. The 512 GB model costs 1,719 euros, and the 1 Tera model costs 1,969 euros. Thus, Apple is maintaining the prices of the iPhone 15 Pro Max and positioning this mobile phone as a product. bonusat a price comparable to the price of a computer, jewelry or high fashion clothing.