iPhone 16 Pro Max Review
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a true powerhouse, offering premium build quality, stellar performance, and top-tier cameras. Its battery life has also seen significant improvements, making it a dependable option for power users. However, the absence of Apple’s AI features, especially in markets like India, gives the phone a somewhat unfinished feel. It feels like a work in progress in some areas. And the new camera control button, far from being revolutionary, actually feels more like a gimmick. You have to press it hard enough that it often causes unnecessary shake and blur in your images, detracting from its intended convenience. Despite these drawbacks, the iPhone 16 Pro Max remains the best iPhone ever made.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s latest flagship, and after 10 days of testing, it’s clear that Apple is pushing the boundaries of hardware while refining its software experience. It boasts a larger 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, enhanced performance from the A18 Pro chip, and an improved battery with faster charging options. The camera system shines with a new 48MP ultrawide lens, alongside the 48MP main and 12MP telephoto sensors, offering impressive features like 4K 120 fps video capture and advanced audio mixing. Running on iOS 18, the iPhone 16 Pro Max sets the stage for Apple Intelligence, but it feels somewhat unfinished since this feature is not available out of the box. So, does the iPhone 16 Pro Max truly live up to its Pro moniker, or does the absence of AI features diminish its appeal? Let’s find out in our detailed review where we pit it against competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (review), Pixel 9 Pro XL, iQOO 12 (review), and others.
Apple continues its legacy of premium design with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The aerospace-grade titanium frame is lightweight, yet the device feels durable and substantial. While the flat-edged design retains the signature iPhone look, slightly rounded corners enhance comfort for extended use.
Apple’s meticulous attention to detail shines through every aspect of the phone’s build. The back features frosted glass that resists fingerprints more effectively than the glossy finishes of previous models. Additionally, the phone boasts an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, offering users peace of mind regarding its durability.
Equipped with the 2024 version of Ceramic Shield protection, Apple claims this is the toughest glass on the market. However, in my experience, it scratches more easily than Gorilla Glass Victus 2 or Armor. On the audio front, the iPhone 16 Pro Max now features studio-grade microphones that deliver sublime sound. They are loud and powerful enough to enhance phone calls and media playback.
One minor drawback is the sheer size of the device. The 6.9-inch display makes the iPhone 16 Pro Max a two-handed phone for many users. While the lighter titanium frame helps, it remains bulky, which may be cumbersome for some. The available colour options—Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and the new Desert Titanium—also feel somewhat bland compared to the vibrant array offered by the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
This year, Apple has introduced an additional button: Camera Control, located on the right side of the frame. However, this feature didn’t impress me. It’s too fiddly, especially in portrait mode, and the force required to press it can lead to shaky, blurry images. Surprisingly, this feels more like a gimmick than a functional enhancement from Apple.
The 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is nothing short of stunning. Apple has further trimmed the bezels this year, resulting in an immersive viewing experience that is truly impressive. My only hope is that Apple can reduce the pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout even more next year to enhance that immersion even further.
With a ProMotion 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, the iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts one of the brightest and most fluid displays on the market. Whether you’re scrolling through apps, watching HDR or Dolby Vision content, or playing games, everything appears incredibly smooth and vibrant. Apple has refined its OLED panels to perfection; colours pop with remarkable accuracy, while blacks are deep and inky, providing excellent contrast.
While the brightness levels are outstanding, the Pixel 9 Pro XL does have the edge when it comes to brightness under direct sunlight. I measured a maximum brightness of 1,662 nits on a sunny day—though not the highest reading we’ve encountered, it still ranks among the best.
A standout feature of the display is the Always-On Display, which now integrates more seamlessly with widgets and notifications. However, I did notice some battery drain with the Always-On Display activated, particularly when on standby. Thankfully, the display can dial back its refresh rate to as low as 1 Hz, which helps conserve battery life.
After hours of testing, it’s clear that the A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a powerhouse. Performance is silky smooth across the board, with tasks handled effortlessly. Whether it’s gaming, multitasking, or demanding applications like on-the-go video editing, this chip excels. The 6-core CPU, paired with a 6-core GPU, delivers a significant leap in graphical performance, making the phone ideal for gamers and users seeking powerful mobile computing. Built on TSMC’s 3 nm process, the A18 Pro also features a new 16-core Neural Engine, designed to support the much-anticipated Apple Intelligence features—though those aren’t available just yet.
With 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM, the iPhone 16 Pro Max tackles multitasking with ease. App-switching is fluid, and apps open in an instant, making it a joy to use, especially for power users who demand seamless performance.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, the phone scored a solid 74.40% in the stability test, which is commendable. However, while the first loop was impressive, the second loop saw some performance throttling, after which things levelled off. The phone’s surface temperature hit 39.1°C during this test, which is quite high. I also noticed some heating during simple tasks like taking photos, and it was more noticeable compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
That said, everyday gaming is still smooth. BGMI ran with minimal frame drops, and even demanding AAA titles like Resident Evil Village and Assassin’s Creed Mirage performed well, with only occasional stutters. While the iPhone 16 Pro Max doesn’t quite match the buttery smooth gaming experience of the iQOO 12, it does support AAA games, which the iQOO 12 lacks.
In synthetic benchmarks, the iPhone 16 Pro Max topped the charts in Geekbench scores but fell behind in GPU-intensive tests like AnTuTu. Rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, iQOO 12, and OnePlus 12 outperformed it in these tests. The iPhone also fell behind all its competitors in GFXBench tests, as you can see above. However, these benchmark scores are just numbers. For the average user, the differences are hardly noticeable in day-to-day use.
During Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro Max launch event, they spent a lot of time highlighting the new Apple Intelligence features. But here’s the catch—the phone doesn’t actually come with these features out of the box. It ships with iOS 18, but Apple Intelligence will only arrive with the iOS 18.1 update, and even then, it’s available only in U.S. English.
For users in India, this means you’ll have to change your region and Siri language to U.S. English if you want early access. However, this workaround may disrupt features like App Store payments, so it’s not an ideal solution. Support for Indian English is expected sometime next year, though there’s no exact timeline yet.
I went through the process of switching regions and languages to test these features using the iOS 18.1 beta. While some features are already available, many won’t roll out until later in the year. “Clean Up,” for instance, feels a bit behind compared to similar features on Android phones, making occasional mistakes in categorizing files.
However, the new Siri has shown significant improvements, and features like notification summary and email/article summary are proving quite handy. Unfortunately, Visual Intelligence is still missing from the beta.
In terms of overall software, iOS 18 remains smooth and responsive, with fluid animations and a highly intuitive interface. You now have the freedom to move app icons anywhere on the home screen—a feature Android users have enjoyed for years.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max introduces some exciting upgrades to its already excellent camera system, particularly with the addition of a new 48 MP ultrawide sensor and support for 4K video recording at 120 FPS. The 16 Pro Max is perhaps one of the most consistent and reliable camera systems on a mobile phone in the current market. In ideal lighting conditions, the camera delivers stunning results, offering remarkable detail and outstanding colour accuracy, maintaining Apple’s reputation for top-notch image quality.
However, in challenging lighting, the phone tends to crush shadows, resulting in a loss of detail in darker areas. While this can be a downside for some users, the overall image quality remains strong. Portrait mode is especially impressive, with 5x zoom shots showcasing crisp detail and striking depth of field.
In low light, the iPhone 16 Pro Max excels at reducing noise and managing highlights, though this sometimes gives images an artificial appearance. Apple has also expanded the camera experience with a variety of Photographic Styles this year. These come in two categories: Mood and Undertones. Each style lets you tweak three key parameters—Tone (contrast), Colour (saturation), and Palette (like a colour filter). While experimenting with these styles can be fun, they may not become a daily tool for most users.
When it comes to video, the iPhone 16 Pro Max continues to dominate, solidifying its place as the best smartphone for video recording. The ability to capture 4K at 120 FPS makes for impressive slow-motion footage with excellent clarity.
The new Audio Mix feature, though intriguing, didn’t fully meet expectations, but it adds another layer of flexibility to video creation. Overall, the iPhone’s video performance remains unmatched, offering smooth, high-quality footage, vibrant colours, and superb dynamic range.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is equipped with a 4,685mAh battery, which is a slight boost of 240mAh compared to the previous iPhone 15 Pro Max. This extra capacity has led to an impressive Screen-On Time of 7-8 hours. While video streaming and gaming performance remain similar to what was seen on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the new model shines in areas like call and web browsing, contributing to the overall improved battery life.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max supports fast wired charging, though Apple doesn’t disclose exact power ratings.
The company claims that the device can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes when using a 20W charger. The phone charged from 0-100% in 102 minutes or 1 hour and 42 minutes, according to our tests. As indicated by Apple, it reached 48% in 30 minutes, but charging the phone post that, especially the last 20%, is laboriously slow.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max also supports fast wireless charging up to 25W using the latest MagSafe charger when paired with a 30W or higher power adapter. For those using a Qi2-compatible charger, the maximum wireless charging speed is limited to 15W.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a true powerhouse, offering premium build quality, stellar performance, and top-tier cameras. Its battery life has also seen significant improvements, making it a dependable option for power users. However, the absence of Apple’s AI features, especially in markets like India, gives the phone a somewhat unfinished feel. It feels like a work in progress in some areas. And the new camera control button, far from being revolutionary, actually feels more like a gimmick. You have to press it hard enough that it often causes unnecessary shake and blur in your images, detracting from its intended convenience.
Despite these drawbacks, the iPhone 16 Pro Max remains the best iPhone ever made. The level of polish in both hardware and software is undeniable, even though some elements feel incomplete. If you’re upgrading from an iPhone 13 Pro Max or older, the improvements will genuinely impress you. However, if you already own an iPhone 14 Pro Max or 15 Pro Max, the upgrades are too incremental to justify the switch. Moreover, if AI capabilities are a priority for you, alternatives from Pixel and Samsung offer a more complete and advanced experience in this regard.
