Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

The iPhone 16 Pro Max looks almost identical to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, aside from slimmer bezels and one new button. But for real change, you must look within, with excellent performance, great battery life and a slew of AI features on the way, even if most aren’t available at launch. There’s no doubt that this is one of the very best phones you can buy, though it has a price tag to match.

The Apple Intelligence capabilities are promising, even if some of it feels like Apple playing catch-up. The marketing sure feels overhyped. But the rest of the iPhone 16 Pro's hardware is polished and powerful too. (More buttons!) I only wish Apple would copy more of Google's call screening features because one thing's for sure: since I switched to these iPhones from the Pixel 9 series I recently reviewed, the spam calls will not stop.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers excellent cameras and editing tools, a large roomy screen, long battery life and the best that Apple has to offer.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts the largest display ever in an iPhone at 6.9 inches as well as the longest tested battery life of any iPhone yet. We also appreciate the camera upgrades and Camera Control button. But Apple Intelligence lacks that wow feature for now, and the charging speed could use a boost.

That’s not to say the iPhone 16 Pro is a bad phone — it’s a great phone, with some fascinating ideas about smartphone photography embedded in it. But it’s also clearly unfinished, and I think it’s worth waiting to see if Apple Intelligence can complete some of these thoughts before spending the money on an upgrade.

We tested the battery life, the new-and-improved 48MP ultrawide camera, and more — Apple's claims about the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max were discovered to be spot on.

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max is bigger and more powerful than ever. It has a beautiful screen, an excellent camera array, and new camera controls that could change how you approach iPhone photography. Power and battery life both get a boost to make this the big-screen smartphone of your dreams. Apple Intelligence offers some useful and intriguing features, but it's not yet the thing that will or should drive upgrades. Still, if you've been holding onto an iPhone 12 or 13 Pro Max, this is probably the moment for a big-screen upgrade.

Apple's newest and biggest iPhone gets a slightly larger screen, new A18 Pro chip, a better ultra-wide camera, a new physical button for controlling the camera, and the ability to run Apple Intelligence. But with many Apple Intelligence features not quite ready, the overall experience here is still very similar to last year's iPhone, although it's a bit better in every way.