iPhone 16 Pro Max: Five challenges for the new device

iPhone 16 Pro Max: No, I didn’t need a new phone. My only excuse for only adding one more phone to the 15 Pro Max was that my wife was eagerly waiting for the 15, and my daughter was eagerly waiting for my wife’s 14. So the purchase was a question of family functionality, not common sense. If you open Apple’s comparison pages, the further developments from the 15 Pro Max to the 16 Pro Max are minimal, and many testers were quick to jump to the word “evolution” without really understanding “survival of the fittest.”

In short: I have had the new iPhone 16 Pro Max in my hands for ten days and… I am almost thrilled. I would like to show you why by means of five “challenges” that I set myself and the device:

• “Looking”: Haptics and Optics
• “Taking photos”—the” camera
• “Let it run”—the battery
• “Let it do the math” – the chip
• “Look at it” – the display

The first comparison is not very impressive. Photo: Screenshot Apple website.

Before we start reading the first challenge, we would like to briefly introduce our partner for today’s iPhone review. And he couldn’t be a better fit!

Our partner: Setapp Mobile

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Challenge #1 Watch

How does the new device look and feel? Let’s face it: never order a new color without seeing it in real life. “Desert Sand” is the name of the new color that your esteemed chronicler clicked on with conviction, only to hear himself say when picking it up at the Apple Store: “Can I still exchange this for white?” For years I have wanted casual instead of business dress in the Pro colors, but Apple is more – let’s say – traditional, others call it boring.

Apart from the colors black, white, gray and an unpleasant mix of beige, pink and gold: the rest is perfect, a statement. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has definitely gained in elegance. Apple uses grade 5 titanium for the case frame, and you notice it immediately. Titanium is not only light, but also gives the device an elegant robustness. What I noticed immediately: fingerprints are significantly reduced. Thanks to the special PVD coating (Physical Vapor Deposition), the surface remains almost flawless and feels (even) more pleasant than its predecessor. Even after a few days of intensive use with a lot of interaction on the device, the iPhone remained surprisingly clean and hardly showed any streaks. A real relief for dirty people like me.

The colors of the iPhone Pro and Pro Max. Photo: Apple.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max feels surprisingly good in the hand despite its 6.9-inch size. Yes, it’s big—bigger than its predecessor—but the significant reduction in the display bezels means it doesn’t feel bulky at all. Apple has done a great job here. Despite the larger screen, it feels more compact compared to previous models like the 15 Pro Max. The narrower bezels and contoured design ensure that the device fits perfectly in the hand, even though the writer isn’t a giant with shovels for hands.

Despite its size, it fits well in the hand. The iPhone 16 Pro Max. Photo: Fileccia

Speaking of weight: I was initially skeptical here because the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 6 grams heavier than its predecessor, but (pun intended!) this hardly makes a difference; in other words: you don’t notice it.

A classic from the category “It’s a feature, not a bug” is the way iPhones tilt on the table. How would it feel if there was finally a solution to this? An iPhone that can simply lie on the table without any balance problems in the inner ear. The camera lenses still protrude significantly from the casing. This not only causes the device to wobble slightly on smooth surfaces but also means that there is a risk of scratches on the camera lens. Even with a protective case, this problem can only be solved to a limited extent.

Will we live to see this? An iPhone that doesn’t tip over on the table?! Photo: Fileccia

Challenge #2: Taking Photos

Cameras in smartphones are now one of the most important selling points. Every year they are supposed to be “even better”, and yet you ask yourself: “Do I really need a camera that shows the dog’s fur in a structured way?” With the iPhone 16 Pro Max with its 48 MP main camera called Fusion and the improved macro option, also in 48 megapixels, the answer was clear: Yes, I do! Whether snapshots, landscapes or detailed macro photography, the iPhone does not disappoint.

The lenses of the iPhone Pro. Photo: Apple

As a former owner of an iPhone 15 Pro Max, I was familiar with the 5x telephoto lens, so that wasn’t new. Buyers of the iPhone 16 Pro will still be happy to finally have this photo option. The ultra-wide-angle camera with its 48 megapixels took razor-sharp pictures in good lighting conditions but was a bit weak in difficult lighting conditions. As I said, this lens is now incredibly good in the macro range!

Macro photography at its finest. Photo: Apple.

By the way: The shutter speed is fast; I tried it out with sports photography and it’s really impressive. The videos are now available in 4K and at 120 frames per second ProRes, you’d hardly get much better images with such a small device. Unfortunately, my test of the slow motion mode in 4K Dolby at 120 fps had to be cancelled; I couldn’t have a house explode in the background and casually walk away without looking back.

The new button, sorry, the camera control, makes a difference. Yes, Apple avoided the term artificial intelligence for years and yes, Apple is now avoiding the term “button”. It doesn’t make our lives better; it’s a button. That’s it. Getting used to this button is painful. I had to force myself to use it and more than once I used the previous route via the display to open the camera.

And the button invites misuse; it is simply too crowded. I like to imagine the meeting in Apple Park where the functions were decided. All the managers tried to outdo each other with suggestions. The end result was a button that needs to be pressed and pushed firmly, lightly, or twice as lightly and has three levels (trigger, select, adjust) and represents the ultimate challenge for people with gross motor skills. I assume it is already being used by physiotherapists to train eye-hand coordination.

“Camera Control”—one b button! First name and photo: Apple.

To avoid any misunderstandings: The button is a really good idea and I’m happy about the fast camera, but it’s just awful to use. Maybe that will change over time, but I’m not very optimistic. Let’s say it like it is: This thing is rubbish! I expect a 3D Touch fate here.

For newbies:

• 1x firm press: Camera
• Sensitive simple tip: control function (see below).
• Swipe: Depending on the function (see below), the definition of the function, zooming, for example or changing the lens or depth of field.
• Sensitive double tap: Selection of functions such as zoom, depth, exposure, cameras (meaning the lenses), styles and sound; this selection again via firm pressing

Funny, when Apple employees do this, it looks easy, but the reality is different. Camera control is a challenge, but the macro mode is great! Photo: Fileccia

Another tip: The iPhone remembers these settings and the next time you double-tap sensitively, the original function opens (for me, it’s always zoom), but the settings within this function are reset to zero. Here it’s worth taking a look at Settings – Camera – Photographic Styles. In portrait format, by the way, this is a bit more difficult, poor TikTokers whose index fingers have to learn a few acrobatics.

I’ve heard of people who use the action button (not the actual camera button) to open the camera in portrait mode and put a second camera app on the camera control button. This way I could open two different cameras at the touch of a button in a matter of seconds—a dream for every photographer.

Challenge #3: Let it run

To be honest, the quality of the battery only becomes apparent after the initial phase of the new relationship and not after a few dates, during which the device still has a lot to do in the background after the initial installation. However, it is to be expected that the battery will be somewhat better than its predecessor. Apple now states 33 hours in the somewhat strange unit of measurement “video playback” (who watches a day and a half non-stop?), while the 15 Pro Max stated 29 hours.

What does that mean for everyday use? I didn’t notice any difference, but that’s not surprising after just a few days. Internal measurements have shown that the battery in the Pro Max has actually grown by 9 percent, but that probably doesn’t make it a running miracle. With my 15 Pro Max, it lasted two days with normal use and from sunrise to sunset with hardcore vacation-photo-maps-translate use.

Fast charging with the new Magsafe puck with 25 watts. Photo: Fileccia

And yet there is a small but subtle difference: the “Fast Charging”, which is really fast with a fat charger; even if the stated 45 watts probably don’t arrive, with MagSafe with the new charging puck it is 25 watts instead of the previous 15 watts. The phone’s hunger is quickly satisfied and it easily charges from under 20 to 50 percent in half an hour.

Challenge #4: Let them do the math

The A18 Pro chip is Apple’s latest flagship in terms of performance. The 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU make the iPhone a real powerhouse. Apps open lightning fast, multitasking runs smoothly, and graphics-intensive games? No problem. I tested the device in Geekbench 6, and with a single-core score of 3,323 points and 8,179 points in the multi-core test, the iPhone comes dangerously close to the M1 processors. But why?

Computing power! Screenshot: Fileccia

Apple has been improving benchmark values ​​with the new chips for many years. What does that mean in everyday life? Almost nothing, unless I provoke it. The power is supposedly noticeable in smooth AR applications, fast 4K video editing, and games that run smoothly, even with ray tracing and hardware-accelerated graphics tasks. In normal everyday tasks? No difference! How could it? And yet! But perhaps we will all be happy when the intelligent Siri 2.0 needs more computing power—in other words, when Apple Intelligence on device really does need the brutal chip power.

Dear highly gifted Siri, we are waiting for you! Photo: Apple

With the predecessor, it could happen that the device became uncomfortably warm; let’s call it hot. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has so far remained cool (pun intended). This is probably due to a new graphite-coated aluminum substructure that has been integrated into the titanium frame and improves heat dissipation. This has received a new PVD process (see above), which should also contribute to cooling.

Challenge #5: Look at it

No, I don’t need a Pro device. And yet, it was a no-brainer to buy a Pro again. Why? The differences this year are minimal; the camera button is identical, the chip irrelevant and the colors even prettier. The display! is the answer! At 6.9 inches and a resolution of 2868 x 1320 pixels at 460 ppi, it’s fabulously good. And it has a range of an impressive 2000 nits of brightness outdoors (1600 nits peak brightness HDR) and, on the other hand, 1 nit in the dark. By the way: In the old world, the value for luminance (instead of a nit) is one candela per square meter.

Gaming is fun: the display and computing power are unbelievably good. Photo: Fileccia

Thanks to ProMotion, the dynamic refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, everything feels so fluid—really everything, even graphic monsters like games. Pun alert! The display is an eye-catcher!

Conclusion

The iPhone 16 Pro Max proves to be a successful development, even if the differences to its predecessor seem minimal at first glance. The look and feel have definitely improved thanks to the use of titanium and the reduction in fingerprints, and the larger display impresses with its brightness and sharpness. The camera remains a key selling point, especially with the improved macro photography and video options. The new “Camera Control” button is innovative but takes some getting used to. Despite these criticisms of handling, the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers an overall impressive performance thanks to the A18 Pro chip and improved battery performance. Oh yes, the price… the Pro Max starts at a slim 1449 euros (256 GB) and ends at an outrageous 1949 euros (1 TB).