iPhone 16 Pro Max review two months later — Like Apple says, the best iPhone yet

Maybe there isn't one giant improvement in the iPhone 16 Pro Max from its predecessor, but there are many improvements worth the steep price of admission.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a curious device. While it has a fractionally larger screen than last time, so does the iPhone 16 Pro.

And while it has a new Camera Control button, so does every model in the iPhone 16 range.

So the easy way to focus on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is that it's the same as the rest, and not that much different to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That's the easy description, and it's not unfair, but in regular, every day, extended use, it does not feel accurate.

If you're thinking about getting into tech writing for free stuff, you should probably reconsider. We buy all of our own devices, and for the purposes of this review, it does help that I upgraded from an iPhone 15 Pro. So even without any other difference from the 2023 releases, for me there is a huge size difference.

At some point, though, a long term review can't continue to be about the differences between models. It has to be about the phone itself and what's good about, what makes it — or doesn't make it — worth buying.

So while I can't help comparing my iPhone 16 Pro Max with my old iPhone 15 Pro, this is really about what it's been like using the new iPhone constantly since release.

iPhone 16 Pro Max

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Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max has a Grade 5 titanium design and a 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display.

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iPhone 16 Pro Max review: surprises

You often forget the size. That's probably the most unexpected part of using what had initially seemed to be an enormous difference to the smaller Pro model.

That's despite the larger screen than before, which means the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch screen. That compares to its predecessor's 6.7-inch screen, but more significantly for me, it compares to my iPhone 15 Pro's 6.1-inch display.

It feels a waste that iOS 18 looks the same on the larger screen as it does on the smaller one. Each app icon is exactly the same size it was, it's just the spacing that's different, and I'd have liked the room to be used for more apps instead.

Then, too, I would vow that watching movies and TV on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is better than on the iPhone 15 Pro, but it can't be. The resolution is the same at 460 pixels per inch, and brightness is the same.

There's no denying that the screen is bigger, so maybe that's all I'm responding to. But where I used to only occasionally watch video on my old phone, I'm now watching much more.

Then this can't really count as a surprise because I was hoping for it, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max has delivered on what I was looking for in an e-reader. The phone is heavier than my Kindle Paperwhite, but still I've now read a couple of novels solely on it, instead of chiefly reading on Kindle or iPad.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: in daily use

The moment that I finished moving everything over to my new phone, it rang. And that caller commented — unbidden — on how clear I sounded.

I'm with her. Every call I've made since getting this has been noticeably clearer and sharper.

Unusually, I've also had the chance to test that from both sides. By chance, I was invited to call into a dozen BBC local radio stations recently and listening back to those shows now, I can hear that the call quality is far better than I had when I did this through my old phone.

Combined with the general audio quality, the new iPhone has subtly changed how I phone people. For some reason, I am now much more likely to leave the phone on my desk, or across the kitchen, and say "Siri, phone so-and-so on speaker."

The new Siri animation never gets old

The speakers are certainly good enough for calls, and I've listened to music and podcasts quite happily through them. That was partly because my AirPods Pro were faulty and now I've replaced them, but the speaker can still be more convenient.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Camera Control in daily photography

Camera Control turns out to be a button of two halves for me, with the lesser part being to do with its specified purpose of taking photos. That's even though, in theory, this new Camera Control ought to feel as if it is built for me.

For I never remember that you can swipe across from the lock screen to get the camera. Then despite having the camera button on the lock screen, I almost never think to press it — I always open the iPhone and find the Camera app.

So having one button that goes straight into taking a photo should really be ideal, but now my list of forgetfulness includes rarely remembering that there is this Camera Control button. That's not consistent, and there are reasons I think I'll get used to it, plus some times it really is ideal.

The Camera Control button is hard to find without looking

It appears to be that my problem decreases the less I think about it, so I have taken many very fast photos because of Camera Control. But whenever I am thinking about it, such as considering changing the zoom or trying to switch to video, my finger can't find the button at all.

If it were slightly raised or even just slightly more depressed, my finger would go right to it. That wouldn't solve the issue of changing zoom or the other functions of Camera Control, but it would mean never again having to tilt the phone to see where the button is.

So with photography, I'm generally impressed with Camera Control when it works for me, and I'm not when I can't find the button immediately.

Still, I'm having to stop to think how to use it. A medium-length press opens the camera, and then taking your finger away and bringing it back to press and hold, starts video recording.

Frankly, I'm saying that to tell myself as much as you. And that business of the medium-length press has proved to be key now that I'm using the iOS 18.2 beta.

That's because on the bad side, it introduces a real need to get the timing of your press right. But on the good side, pressing for slightly longer starts Visual Intelligence.

And that has completely changed how I feel about the Camera Control button.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Camera Control with Visual Intelligence

Right now, even though I work here for a living, I confuse myself continually about which Apple Intelligence features are out, which are in the betas, and which are promised for when. Plus I'm in the UK and while I can set my region and language to US, I still don't get everything.

So while it shouldn't have been a surprise when I stumbled into Visual Intelligence, it was.

Using Visual Intelligence on a shed. Inset: a better view of the text result.)

I was trying to take a photo of an electricity meter to document a reading for my provider, and for some reason happened to remember where the Camera Control button was. But I pressed it in for too long and instead of a photo, I got a nice dialog box telling me what an electricity meter is.

The fact that starting Visual Intelligence takes just the right length of press makes it feel less obvious and simple as Apple used to be. Plus there are times when what it tells you isn't accurate, but overall I am addicted to Visual Intelligence.

It is one element that reminds me I'm on a larger phone, though. Once you've pressed the Camera Control button and got into Visual Intelligence, you have three controls toward the bottom of the screen and I juggle a bit to get to them one-handed.

Nonetheless, I manage somehow, and it has been deeply impressive. Under the beta it was defaulting to telling me the US names for plants and flowers, but it was still getting them close enough that I sounded impressively informed.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Photographic Styles

I'm also impressed with the new Photographic Styles — yet this is something else I don't use. I've never intentionally or willingly used any kind of filter in my life because I find they overwhelm an image and you're stuck with them. I'll fiddle in Photoshop or Pixelmator Pro, I'll fiddle at great length, but always after I've taken the shot.

Photographic Styles radically and impressively but not destructively

For me, I need to always take the best, most accurate photo I can, and whether that's any good or not, edit a copy of it later. Photographic Styles sound like a filter in that they apply a certain look to an image, so initially I shrugged, but it's vastly better than that.

Instead of just chucking an orange filter over the whole image and calling it done, Photographic Styles looks at every shade in the picture. Then it subtly shifts every shade to the style you choose.

It is possible to go to the Settings, Camera app and set a preferred Photographic Style that the camera will then always use. This is particularly well done, I think, but also particularly unnecessary.

For whether you choose shoot everything with Photographic Styles giving your images a rose gold tint or not, you can add that style later. And, importantly, you can remove it.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Video

I do tend to shoot more video than I do take stills, and there has been one thing about that. Using my iPad Pro, Final Cut Pro for iPad, and that app's multicam feature, I've tried remotely controlling the iPhone's zoom.

It does work, you can swipe carefully on the iPad's screen and have the phone zoom in on you. But in trying it out, it was impossible to smoothly zoom from the 0.5 view to the 5x one.

Controlling Zoom precisely is a problem

And then it was impossible to stop at 5x, even though that is the limit of the optical zoom. The iPhone automatically switched into digital zoom and kept going past 5x, 10x and on in the end to a surprisingly effective 25x.

That's remote controlling the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera from an iPad, so it isn't really a fair criticism of the phone. It's more an accurate description of my not being very good at using zoom.

That Zoom really works.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Battery Life

If I'm going to criticize myself, though, let it be over laziness. As it happens, the Friday I got my iPhone 16 Pro Max, I had to go away and as ever, I packed my MagSafe Charger.

I didn't use it over that whole weekend. Now, granted, I use wired CarPlay so my iPhone was plugged in a charging for the hours I was driving, but it got so I stopped thinking about charging.

And this is the lazy part. All this time later, I still haven't got around to putting that MagSafe charger back by my bed.

I'll charge the phone up in my car, I'll pop it on a charger at my desk. Very occasionally I've left it on other people's chargers for a few minutes.

Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro Max lasts for up to 33 hours when you're constantly playing back video. I will easily go a day and a half before I even start thinking I ought to do something about its charge.

iPhone 16 Pro Max — almost two months later

Until I wrote that about it being seven weeks, I hadn't realized. It still feels like a new toy.

I'm definitely now used to the larger size and once that happened, I appreciated the benefits of it more. The longer battery life is nothing short of sweet, I relish reading books on this screen, and watching TV on it too.

Using Visual Intelligence to buy a mug, you have to contort a little to switch from the Camera Control button to the front controls

None of this seems completely different to the iPhone 15 Pro I had, rather it's more of the same and better.

It may not be a startling upgrade from the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But for right now, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the state of the art — and it's a very good state.

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Pros

• Battery life is excellent
• Camera Control is great once you have Visual Intelligence
• Size is noticeably bigger than last year's

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Cons

• It's heavy
• The size requires two hands most of the time
• Camera Control takes some getting used to

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Thank goodness for the .5. A score of 4 would be underselling such an excellent phone — and a 5 would be too much given that there is no radical upgrade.

Still, that Camera Control button is a pretty radical update, or at least it is when Apple Intelligence gives it a use beyond taking photos.

There's not enough here to make upgrading from anything newer than, say, an iPhone 13 Pro Max. But for me, coming from an iPhone 15 Pro, it's been superb.

Where to buy and save on Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max

Wireless carriers are offering aggressive incentives through bill credits and trade-in deals on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. At press time, the offers deliver up to $1,000 off the handset, which can be found below. You can also visit our iPhone 16 Pro Max Price Guide for side-by-side comparison of the current offers.

• Boost Mobile on Amazon: Save up to $1,000 (no trade-in required)*
• AT&T Wireless: Get up to $1,000 off an iPhone 16 Pro Max with qualifying trade and plan at AT&T*
• Verizon Wireless: Get an iPhone 16 Pro Max at Verizon for as low as $5 per month*
*Terms and conditions apply. Please see site for details.

If you're looking for promotions on the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro, today's best iPhone deals can be found on the entire range.