iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max | Infinium-tech

Whoever comes into the Apple ecosystem, stays in the Apple ecosystem, right? If so, you’re probably looking to upgrade your old iPhone, but looking at those attractive iPhone 15 Pro Max price tags makes you wonder if the extra few hundred bucks for the new iPhone 16 Pro Max are worth it.

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For starters, you can compare the full specifications or continue straight to our editor’s assessment In the following text.

Even though Apple has officially discontinued the iPhone 15 Pro Max, you can still find some units for around €/$400-$450 less. And to be honest, iPhone upgrades have gotten pretty old lately. Let’s find out if Apple was able to do something new this year.

size comparison

Design-wise, there are little or no changes to the iPhone 16 Pro Max compared to the 15 Pro Max. However, the size of the new Max has increased and its weight has also increased slightly. The weight part isn’t as noticeable, but since the 16 Pro Max is now built around a massive 6.9-inch display, albeit with thinner bezels, it’s noticeably taller and a little wider as well.

There is also no meaningful difference in “building blocks”. Sure, the 16 Pro Max uses new-generation Ceramic Shield glass for its front and back, but we doubt it’ll be a big deal to anyone. Both handsets are exceptionally built and offer IP68 ingress protection.

This year the iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a slightly larger screen diagonal and even thinner bezels. The resolution is also higher to maintain the same pixel density.

Apart from that, the 15 Pro Max has the same quality screen. They both support the same HDR standards (up to Dolby Vision). According to our tests, they both reach around 1,700-1,800 nits of peak brightness, and they can both go up to 120Hz.

battery life

The already excellent iPhone 15 Pro Max battery life tops the 16 Pro Max battery endurance scores. The difference in overall scores is minimal, but as we look closer at the results, we see that the new Pro Max gains some extra runtime on the 4G call and web browsing tests.

Granted, the difference isn’t huge, but if battery life is extremely important to you, the 16 Pro Max is the right choice.

charging speed

Unfortunately, there’s no upgrade in the charging department for yet another year. According to our tests, the iPhone 16 Pro Max charges just as well as its predecessor. Apple doesn’t advertise the rated maximum charging power, but our tests clearly show a similar charging rate in the first 15 to 30 minutes and then slowing significantly.

The older 15 Pro Max charges from 0 to 100% in 109 minutes, while the 16 Pro Max charges a slower 8 minutes. Charging took a little longer, possibly due to the larger capacity.

speaker test

The latest 16 Pro Max comes with better loudspeaker quality without getting quieter. They provide the same level of sound but higher quality.

Music tracks sound more natural, sweeter and have more depth due to more pronounced bass. Interestingly, this does not have any bad effect on the vocals. Vocals and highs are just as clear as the 15 Pro Max, maybe even clearer.

Display

Like every new iPhone, the 16 Pro Max offers a new, faster and more efficient chipset. It features Apple A18 Pro with hexa-core CPU and is based on 3nm manufacturing process. The Apple A17 Pro that powers the 15 Pro Max has similar specs – a hexa-core CPU paired with a hexa-core GPU.

The new A18 Pro chipset has significantly improved AI capabilities thanks to a 16-core NPU.

The memory configuration remains unchanged, with both devices starting at 8GB/256GB and going up to 8GB/1TB.

benchmark performance

Even though the changes may seem subtle, the 16 Pro Max offers about 26% better CPU performance according to Geekbench 6, about 27% more combined performance according to AnTuTu 10, and outperforms the 15 Pro Max by 27% in GPU-heavy workloads. Gives.

Additionally, the 16 Pro Max performs better in our CPU and GPU throttle tests, showing better sustained performance.

Overall, the performance jump isn’t trivial, but it’ll probably be of little use if you’re not much into mobile gaming.

camera comparison

The iPhone 16 Pro Max brings a notable upgrade to its camera system with a new HDR adjustment setting and a camera control button feature, though the latter is incomplete at launch and its usefulness is questionable.

The biggest change comes with the ultrawide camera, where the previous 12MP sensor has been replaced by a 48MP (1/2.55″, 0.7μm) Quad Bayer-type sensor. Despite this increase in resolution, the physical size of the ultrawide sensor remains approximately the same. Same as before, indicating a 1/2.55″ sensor size like its predecessor. While these upgrades take ultrawide to new heights, the selfie camera, which features a 12MP sensor with PDAF and a 23mm f/1.9 lens, carries over from the previous generation without any major changes. Video recording capabilities throughout the system include up to 4K at 120fps for the main camera and up to 4K at 60fps for the ultrawide, telephoto, and front cameras.

image quality

As minor hardware changes go, there’s little to no difference in how the two iPhones shoot their pictures and videos. We struggle to find any notable differences between photos and videos when it comes to quality, processing etc.

iPhone 16 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x

Phone 15 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x

Selfie samples: iPhone 16 Pro Max • iPhone 15 Pro Max

However, after some pixel-peeping, we found a barely noticeable difference between the ultrawide cameras, which is to be expected since the only change in hardware is in this department. It appears that the new iPhone comes with a slightly warmer picture and brighter highlights, but once again, we doubt most people will notice. This is a minor change.

iPhone 16 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 5x

video quality

The same applies for video recording. Except for ultrawide where the 16 Pro Max produces clips with a slightly warmer color temperature, we don’t see any obvious differences in the way these two phones record videos.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Daylight Video Samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 15 Pro Max Daylight Video Samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Pro Max Low-light video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 15 Pro Max Low-light video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

decision

So is the iPhone 16 Pro Max better than its predecessor? Definitely, yes. Objectively speaking, the 16 Pro Max has slightly better battery life, significantly higher performance, better speakers and since it’s a new phone, expect an extra year of software support. The 16 Pro Max also has a camera control button, which gave us mixed feelings but some users liked it.

But is it almost €500 better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max? Probably not. If you can find the 15 Pro Max on store shelves, you’ll get almost the same user experience at a much lower price. We find it difficult to justify the huge difference in price with a minor hardware upgrade, especially since there are no gains in the camera department.