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iPhone 16 Pro Max review: One button makes a big difference

Small changes make a big difference

iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5
Processor
Apple A18 Pro
Display
6.9-inch Super Retina XDR
RRP
From $2,149
Adam Smith
Oct 08, 2024
Icon Time To Read5 min read
Quick verdict: iPhone 16 Pro Max

A new chip, a new button and a bigger screen make the iPhone 16 Pro Max feel like a bigger refresh than it seems at first glance.

pro
Pros
pro New chip
pro Camera button is super handy
pro Cheaper than last year's
pro Bigger screen
con
Cons
con Apple Intelligence not coming until December

We've gotten to the point where yearly phone refreshes can feel like a bit of a non-event. Aside from the odd year where a manufacturer switches up the form factor, most phone launches these days feel like minor iterations on the previous year's models rather than major innovations.

At first blush, the iPhone 16 Pro Max seems to fit this bill. It's not markedly different from the iPhone 15 Pro Max in appearance or specs. But the addition of just a few new features, including the new Camera Button, make it feel like a bigger step forward than it first appears.

iPhone 16 pro max

How much does the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max cost in Australia?

Inflation? What inflation?

Apple seriously bucked the trend of price creep for new phone models when it announced this year's iPhone lineup. The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $2,149 for the 256GB model, down $50 from where the iPhone 15 Pro Max launched. The 512GB model retails for $2,499, while you can pick up the 1TB model for $2,849.

If you prefer to buy your iPhone 16 Pro Max on a plan, here's a look at the cost over 24 or 36 months with Vodafone, Optus and Telstra.

iPhone 16

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iPhone 16 Pro Max 256GB plans

36 and 24-month iPhone 16 Pro Max 256GB plans.

iPhone 16 Pro Max 512GB plans

36 and 24-month iPhone 16 Pro Max 512GB plans.

iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB plans

36 and 24-month iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB plans.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Design

A little bigger, a little ... button-ier?

Yes, the iPhone 16 Pro Max looks a lot like the 15 Pro Max. There's no getting around that. But, there are some subtle differences.

The first is the display. The 16 Pro Max sports the same 120Hz Super Retina HDR display, as its predecessor. But, the 16 Pro Max is ever-so-slightly larger, at 6.9 inches versus the 15 Pro Max's 6.7 inches. 

iPhone 16 pro max colour options

It's a minor upgrade, for sure, but it does give you a little extra screen real estate for gaming or streaming entertainment, which — of course — the iPhone 16 Pro Max does beautifully. Games like Assassin's Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4 really show off the brilliance and vibrancy of the screen.

The biggest design difference of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the addition of the Camera Button. This is a haptic button that lets you control various camera functions. I'll discuss at length how it actually functions, but from a design perspective, its placement is mostly unobtrusive, though I did find myself accidentally opening the camera app a few times when I gripped my phone a bit too hard.

The colour options have also changed, with Apple dumping the Blue Titanium from the iPhone 15 Pro lineup in favour of Desert Titanium, which has a sort of rose gold look.

Apple iPhone 16: Cameras and video

Now with 100% more button!

There are a few differences in specs between the iPhone 15 and 16 Pro cameras, but they're mostly at the margins. The ultra wide lens has been bumped up to 48MP, which enables some truly stunning macro photography. You can also shoot spatial video, on the 0% chance you own a Vision Pro and can actually see the results.

On the video side, the changes are more noticeable. You can shoot in Dolby 4K at up to 120 frames per second. This allowed me to capture some pretty impressive slow motion videos (just a warning about the flashing lights in the embed below), and my other videos looked beautiful and crisp.

Play Video

Of course, the biggest change is the new Camera Control button. A quick press of the button brings up the camera app. Another press triggers the shutter. You can light press to bring up the zoom function and slide your finger back and forth to zoom in and out, or long press to toggle between different camera settings.

It's a neat little feature, but this button turned out to be far handier than I'd anticipated. At this point, I've been so conditioned to using touch screens to control smartphone cameras that I thought the Camera Control button would feel a bit extraneous. After just a few days, though, it became second nature to use it with every shot, and it's now my default camera control.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Features and performance

A very conspicuous missing piece

It's a bit curious that iPhone 16's marketing leaned so far into its Apple Intelligence features, considering they weren't available for anyone at launch, and won't be available in Australia until December. Apple showed off a lot of neat features, including the ability to type in a description and use it to generate an emoji, its own spin on Google's Magic Eraser feature and handy email and notification summaries. Unfortunately, we have yet to see how well any of those features work. When Apple Intelligence does drop here in Australia, I'll put it through its paces (and test it against Google's AI features), but for now its absence makes any review feel a bit incomplete.

Performance-wise, though, it's hard to find fault with the 16 Pro Max. Its A18 chip was built to handle all the fairly resource-intensive Apple Intelligence features, so it can handle just about any app or game you throw at it. 

It has the same 6-core GPU as the 15 Pro Max, which means games like the aforementioned Assassin's Creed Mirage look stunning and run smoothly.

The 16 Pro Max also gets a bit of a bump in battery life from the 15 Pro lineup. Apple says it will get up to 33 hours of video playback, which sounds about right. I routinely got more than a day-and-a-half of regular use out of it between charges.

When you do need a charge, the iPhone 16 Pro Max charges quickly. Apple claims a 30-minute charge at 20W will get you up to 50% battery, and I was able to verify this with my own testing. I found I could charge the phone from below 15% to 100% in around an hour or less.

iphone-12-wireless-charger

Need a charger to go with that iPhone?

Change up your charging setup with our guide to the best (and fastest) iPhone chargers you can find in Australia.

Is the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max worth buying?

Does one button an upgrade make?

If you're upgrading from an older iPhone model — say, a 13 or 14 — you're going to notice a significant difference in performance, battery life and camera quality with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Compared to older models, or, indeed, most other smartphones on the market, it's near top of class. I have no hesitation recommending it, even before the Apple Intelligence features drop.

However, if you've been using a 15 Pro Max, the changes might not seem quite so profound at first. The Camera Action button truly is practical and easy to use, but does it make the upgrade worthwhile? Couple it with a slightly bigger screen and Dolby 4K 120fps video, and it starts to make a more compelling case of buying the iPhone 16 Pro Max. As I said, the differences are more striking than they seem at first glance.

Ultimately, though, the jury is out until we see how Apple Intelligence performs. Apple made much ado about the fact that this iPhone lineup was built from the ground up to support Apple Intelligence features, which means they're always going to run better on the 16 lineup than on older models. But without being able to test these features, it's impossible to know how much better. In short, if you're currently using an iPhone 15 Pro Max and want to know if it's worth upgrading, you'll have to wait until December to see if Apple Intelligence is as — well — intelligent as Apple claims.

How does this compare to the latest iPhone?

See every other iPhone we've reviewed over the years in one place.
Product
Our score
Price
Processor
Screen size
More info
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5
From$2497
A18 Pro6.7-inches
4.3 out of 5 stars
4.25
From$1397
A186.1-inches
4.3 out of 5 stars
4.25
From$2199
A17 Pro6.7-inches
4.3 out of 5 stars
4.25
From$2199
A17 Pro6.1-inches
4.3 out of 5 stars
4.25
From$1397
A16 Bionic6.7-inches
Adam Smith
Written by
Adam Smith has been a journalist for the past 18 years, writing on subjects as varied as music, entertainment, finance and technology. Since moving to Australia from Kentucky (before you ask, yes, he knows the secret recipe) by way of New Zealand, Adam has led an editorial team at Finder, launched editorial operations at Freelancer.com and hosted podcasts about personal finance, streaming, emo music, the crypto craze and the award-nominated We Review Stuff podcast. These days, Adam spends most of his time behind the scenes managing the team of reviewers on Reviews.org but he will occasionally pop in to spin wild conspiracy theories about Chris Messina being a glitch in the simulation in The Watchlist newsletter.

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