A different kind of iPhone review
16 Pro Max - Why drive a Toyota when you can drive a Porsche?
TL;DR - If you don’t care about all the new changes and just want to know whether it’s worth buying, please jump into the last section - “Why should you buy anything?”
2020 was a year of many changes. A lot of people were fighting a dangerous virus and those who weren’t were fighting the rest of the system - nobody could head out, work and workplaces were changing, some people lost jobs while some found new ones that expected them to work in a totally different way.
It is perhaps this context that best explains why a lot of people did not notice the big changes Apple made to its iPhone lineup in 2020. Maybe most of you did notice the changes, but probably did not notice the implications of what this meant.
Apple introduced a brand new screen size that year in the form of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, at a whopping 6.7 inches. When it came out, a lot of reviewers called it unwieldy, and honestly, quite rightly so. But over the next two years, Apple only made it more unwieldy with the 13 and 14 Pro Max which added a bit more weight over the 12 Pro Max. The 14 Pro Max is till date, the heaviest phone Apple ever made. Last year with the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple perfected the 6.7 inch form factor. It was more rounded and easier to hold. The titanium finish was excellent and very importantly, it was lightweight, making it easy to use.
At the cusp of this perfection, Apple has once again pushed the boundaries of its screen size with the 16 Pro Max, now at 6.9 inches. This has led a lot of people to ask the same question - how big should a phone really be?
So, you could say in a way that this year is analogous to the 2020 iPhone launch. But what makes it very interesting is that this is not the only similarity with the 2020 event. There was another change that Apple made, which in retrospect wasn’t questioned just enough. The iPhone 12 (base) had upgraded to an OLED display for the very first time. With this change though, it meant that the 12 and 12 Pro hardly had any differences between them. If you look at the Compare By page today between the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, you will notice that they are very identical phones, they even have the exact same processor. Except for the camera and the material of the phone (stainless steel vs aluminium), everything else was identical. The 12 Pro did not even have ProMotion. This begs the question - why wasn’t this an issue for every reviewer and armchair experts on Twitter around the world that time? Why didn’t they complain that the 12 Pro was not offering enough for the price and accept it as it was? The 12 Pro sold pretty well. Why?
I ask these questions because this year’s iPhone reviews are all complaining about the lack of innovation or any meaningful change and they also complain that the base and Pro model are closer than ever. That is blatantly untrue. The 12 and 12 Pro were the most identical phones Apple made. Today’s 16 and 16 Pro are as far away from each other as they possibly can be. One is a general consumer phone, the other is a phone for people who want the best possible iPhone experience there can be.
As for the lack of meaningful change and what not, let’s dive into it. This is my very opinionated iPhone 16 Pro review.
Size & Display
The first perceived lack of meaningful change everyone is talking about is that the 16 Pro and Pro Max look identical to their predecessor, the 15 Pro. But in reality, both the 16 Pro and Pro Max get a bump in their screen size. They are now at 6.3 and 6.9 inches, up from the 6.1 and 6.7 inches respectively.
Apple has also worked on reducing the bezels further, an improvement over the 15 Pro Max which is much welcome. For all the naysayers talking about lack of aesthetic changes, the 14 Pro and the 16 Pro look very different when looking at the display because over the last 2 years, the change in bezel size is dramatic. You are unlikely to notice this with screen protectors, but just looking at the plain, unadulterated displays, the differences are obvious.
This reduction in bezels indeed means that the 16 Pro and 15 Pro look similar in size. But this is a great thing. Why wouldn’t you want a larger display in a similar/smaller form factor? The weight is also somewhat equal to last year, thus continuing to leave the crown of the heaviest phone ever with the 14 Pro Max.
In terms of the actual display itself, there is one meaningful change that I find to be very useful in my day to day life. The display now drops to a low 1 nit of brightness. This has been pleasantly useful when using my phone in dark rooms and I can attest that this is a very noticeable and practical change.
The Dynamic Island continues to be a joy to use and I can’t go back to not having it. If you are still on a phone that doesn’t have the Dynamic Island, this alone is worth the upgrade now that even more apps have started supporting it.
Cameras - Are they better?
On paper, the changes with the camera this year is that the 16 Pro gains the 5x Telephoto that was previously only on the Pro Max, the ultra wide lens is now 48 MP and the main lens is now a different version of the 48 MP and is dubbed by the marketing team as “Fusion”.
Most of the reviews I have read and watched over the last few weeks have swore by the idea that the photos from the 16 Pro Max look nearly identical to the 15 Pro Max.
In my practical experience, however, in a way I couldn’t quite place it, I found the photos from the 16 Pro Max to be better. I couldn’t even describe why they were better or what was so different about them. But very subjectively, I just found that the 16 Pro Max was helping me click photos that were closer to what I wanted from my phone.
I was reading Sebastiaan de With’s excellent review on the iPhone 16 Pro cameras (read here - https://www.lux.camera/the-iphone-16-pro-camera-review-control) and he mentioned a particular term that I had totally missed from the keynote - Zero Shutter Lag. It finally made sense why the photos from the 16 Pro seemed better. I was able to capture photos faster than I could with my 15 Pro Max which meant that the photos were a more accurate representation of what I wanted to click. This was especially apparent when I was taking photos of moving objects. It’s a very, very small change that most people might not even notice but I am so glad it works this way.
But other than this small change, the cameras perform very similarly to the 15 Pro Max. The only change - which is a big one for many people - is the new Photographic Styles. If you didn’t like the Standard processing on the iPhone, this allows for infinite customisation in the image pipeline on how you want tones in your photos to be processed. I haven’t used this much up until this point because I generally like the Standard style that Apple applies but I assume I would use it more when I meet with people who don’t like the default photos from my phone.
One other standout feature with the cameras this year, or rather with the cameras + mics is Audio Mix. This works really well in a closed space and I think that’s what it was designed for. The default audio capture out of the box will include all background sounds like your fan, the honks of the cars outside on the road (this is India!) and someone ringing your doorbell just when you are recording something wonderful. This is where Audio Mix really shines. With the setting cranked up to a 100, I found the In-Frame option really does well at focusing only on the person’s voice and drowns out all the other background noise - the fan, the honks and the doorbell too. This is a brilliant feature for folks who want to record podcasts or even YouTube videos and don’t want to dub again on top of it. I see a lot of reviewers complaining that Audio Mix performs poorly in outdoor conditions and I blame Apple for setting the wrong expectation. I don’t think the technology is there yet to make it effective outdoors. Right now, it’s just a great way to avoid re-recording audio on top of your video in closed spaces. It’s like a dedicated mic running while you record the video. Like Apple’s slow and steady improvement of Cinematic Video, I expect Audio Mix to improve over the years and hopefully become great at outdoor stuff too.
At this point, the only problem I have with the camera is the Telephoto lens. It needs to get upgraded to a 48 MP sensor because it performs slightly poorly in low-light when compared to the other two lenses. I still like all the 5x Portrait shots I get out of my phone, even in Night Mode, but I can’t help but think, especially in low-lit environments, hey the 1x looks much better than this! Hopefully, they will change it next year but here, I agree with the reviewers - competition is doing well on this, Apple needs to bump it up.
Battery, Performance and other misc. things
A week is a short time to judge the battery but so far, it does seem slightly better than the 15 Pro Max. Then again, iOS 17.6.1 wasn’t too good on my 15 Pro Max battery, so I wouldn’t want to comment on this too much. It could be an iOS improvement but Apple does say battery is better here.
There’s nothing to talk about Apple Intelligence because it is not yet out. So that’s for a later time.
I don’t think there’s anything meaningful to say on performance - every chip Apple makes does well. I would rather say I like how iOS 18 is performing so far. It seems solid despite all the customisation options it has introduced.
I also love that Voicemail is now a thing in India (thanks Apple and thanks Airtel!). I am finding voicemail really useful to filter out spam calls and the live visual voicemail feature in iOS 18, where I can see live text transcription of the voicemail being sent is very nice to help me decide if I want to pick the call up midway.
I don’t care too much for the customisation options but I guess it’s nice for whoever likes it. What I do like is the Control Center customisation with third party app shortcuts. I have added ChatGPT and Swiggy Instamart to my Control Center and I find myself using both several times a day.
Color
I badly missed the Gold iPhone last year as Apple’s switch to Titanium probably did not leave them with enough time to create a gold shade. While the Natural Titanium was nice, to say the least, I missed the gold finish I had enjoyed in the previous years. I am happy to say that a shade of gold is back with the 16 Pro Max in the form of “Desert Titanium” and it’s absolutely stunning.
Camera Control “Button”
Last year, when the Action button was introduced, I did not think of it as a big deal. But over the year, I have used it constantly that when I had to use a 12 mini for a week before getting my 16 Pro Max, I sorely missed it. I have it programmed to Shortcuts that work differently with each Focus mode I have and I find it very effective.
This year, Apple has added another button that they refuse to call as a button - the Camera Control. But just so you know, it is a button. It has very nice haptics for half press and has some functionality to slide over it (like the Touch Bar, RIP!) but it is still a real, clickable, movable button.
I am going to keep this short, because I will talk a bit more on this in the concluding section - the button is great, I like it. I find it handy to quick launch the camera, much faster than using the UI. The Halide review I linked above talks more about how useful it is, so definitely read that if you want to know more. I saw some reviewers saying that it’s so hard to press that the photos are blurred. They are either using a case or their hands are shaky because I had no issues getting clear images from the Camera Control. The iPhone image processing has been so strong in the last few years that I have never had a blurred picture, so I am really not sure what’s happening with the others.
Why should you buy anything?
So, should you buy the iPhone 16 Pro or the Pro Max?
Let’s start with a different question first - why should you buy anything?
You could get by with a simple button phone that has cellular, yes those still exist. Oh, you want UPI/Tap To Pay? Sure, get the cheapest phone that runs Android and has NFC. You could buy tens of those for the price of an iPhone.
But why do people buy an iPhone? If you have read “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek, he explains it beautifully, Apple does not make better phones than others, nor do they make the most innovative products in the market. Even if they do make innovative products, it doesn’t take long for a competitor to make something very similar or offer something nearly compelling at a cheaper price. The reason Apple stands out is because they appeal to a section of audience who want to be known for certain characteristics - creatives, innovators, artists. People who think they are creating or can create an impact on this world. Apple has a way to weave a story on why they are building what they are building and this is the most appealing part about this company.
You don’t buy an iPhone because you want to have a 48 MP ultra wide lens, you buy an iPhone because it’s a tool that lets you weave the best story you possibly can using photos. You don’t buy an iPhone because you can build iOS apps on it, you want to build an app that reaches millions of users and you believe that iOS will serve as your platform.
You believe these things because Apple feeds you these ideas. They tell you these stories.
This is why the 16 Pro Max is a wonderful phone. Apple has a similar story to tell you this time. In the podcast, “Nerdy Details”, two Apple executives explain the design and thinking behind the new Camera Control. Listen to it here -
When asked why they added a button to this particular generation of the phone, they replied with a quintessential Apple response - they don’t approach design this way. They started with the goal of designing an experience where you never miss capturing the beautiful moments in your life. That was the only problem they wanted to solve. The Camera Control is simply a tool to help you solve that problem. Everything else was designed to enable this - QuickTake Video with Dolby Vision at max possible resolution, Zero Shutter Lag, all of these are not features that are put on a sprint board for the sake of it, these are features designed because Apple believes that they want to enable people to capture every beautiful moment in their life.
This is the Apple I know and love. They have a meaningful story to tell. And as long as they keep telling these stories, there’s enough excitement in me to justify a new iPhone.
As for whether you should buy it?
Look, if you are all about getting value for money and you don’t care much about stories, experiences and all that extravagant fluff around the phone and you view it simply as a brick that helps you pay money and take calls, please don’t buy the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It will make you unhappy, you will question why you spent so much money and you will probably go around saying Apple is doomed on Twitter. No, please buy what you think is value for money and be happy.
Ultimately, that’s what spending money should do - make you happy. So do what makes you happy, buy a Samsung, buy an iPhone SE, buy whatever you want.
But if you are still excited about those little changes, if you still have a child-like curiosity when opening a new iPhone box, get the iPhone 16 Pro. Don’t let the naysayers on the internet put you off. It’s an excellent phone and the best iPhone money can buy right now.
Because honestly, if you have the money and you have the heart to enjoy it, why would you drive a Toyota when you can drive a Porsche?