Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max First Impressions

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is exactly what you think it is: A minor upgrade over its predecessor with a new color, a new Camera control button, a slightly bigger display, and more RAM.

This isn’t an upgrade I would have made for myself, as my iPhone 15 Pro Max has plenty of life left and is a terrific smartphone in its own right. But I suspect most of those making this expensive upgrade will do so with a clear conscience: There’s almost nothing to complain about anymore, and with the recent gains in iOS 18 and the Apple Intelligence features arriving over the next year, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is in a great place.

That said, I almost went in an entirely different direction. And I still wonder whether the less expensive and more colorful iPhone 16 Plus might have been a more interesting choice, if only for personal reasons. I don’t know. I don’t do this for myself, not entirely. And I chose the iPhone 16 Pro Max over an iPhone 15 Plus for all the logical reasons.

In any event, I did go with the Pro Max, again, after a brief foray into the non-Max world in 2021 with the iPhone 13 Pro. I regretted that choice immediately, and it’s odd to me to see how often people will criticize these larger phones by stating that they are basically tablets. That’s ludicrous, a point that’s driven home by my 13-inch iPad Air and by my aging eyes. I wish it were even bigger, honestly. I’ve wished the same thing for all the other plus-size phones I’ve purchased over the past few years. Apple can’t deliver a folding iPhone quickly enough, in my opinion.

As you probably know, the iPhone 16 Pro-series handsets are slightly bigger than the iPhones they replace, and they have slightly bigger displays and slightly smaller bezels. Realistically, no one would ever notice any of that, but it these first few days, I have both phones to compare, and you can see the differences. Where the iPhone 15 Pro Max–a suddenly svelte and compact device–has a 6.7-inch display, the iPhone 16 Pro Max hits 6.9 inches. It is taller, but it’s also ever-so-slightly wider. On paper, these differences seem minimal. But they are noticeable side-by-side.

Last year, Apple switched the iPhone Pro models to Titanium, lowering the weight nicely from the previous, brick-like stainless-steel models. That was a nice change, and I went with the new “Natural Titanium” color, which was a sort of dull matte gray. This time around, Apple introduced a new color, “Desert Titanium,” so I gave that a go. And … it’s a curious color, a sort of very light gold on the back with punchier gold sides. I like it: It has more personality than Natural Titanium without being gaudy like some of the early gold colors Apple used in years past.

Physically, the two handsets are mostly identical from a materials and look and feel perspective. But where the iPhone 15 Pro Max had too-shiny sides that were instantly covered in fingerprints, the newer iPhones tones that down a bit, and it doesn’t seem like as much of a fingerprint magnet. Or maybe it is, now that I’m looking at the photos. Not that it matters, for now. Until my super low-profile Suti case–really a “phone back”–arrives, I’m protecting this thing in an traditional Apple silicone case that covers that up.

The buttons are likewise identical, with the Action button and Volume up and down buttons on the left and the Power button on the right. But there’s a new button–Apple, suddenly, is really into buttons–on the right as well, the Camera control button that’s a highlight of this generation of iPhones.

I’m very interested in testing this, but right away I noticed that it doesn’t work as I expected. A hard press launches the Camera app, which I did expect, but then it requires a bit more pressure from there, with the case on or off, to engage zoom and other functions. This will require some time.

Indeed, the new camera functionality is what swayed me, again, to the Pro Max. And in addition to the Camera control button, which is common to all iPhone 16s, the Pro Max includes a slightly updated Main lens, a new 48 MP ultra-wide lens that should be a major upgrade over the old 12 MP lens, and then the same 12 MP telephoto lens with 5X optical zoom as before.

There are new Photographic Styles, which Apple won’t even let me configure until I take a few photos, some new video capabilities I won’t do much with, and new “studio-quality” microphones that support a new Audio Mix feature I am very much interested in.

Not that I’ve had a chance to try almost any of that: We’re in Rochester for the weekend visiting our son, so I’ll take it out into the world and address that issue. Indeed, this post comes later than I’d hoped–we had a weird one-off issue getting the new iPhone delivered yesterday, so I had some fun writing up that experience–so I’ll check in a bit later once I’ve had more time to experience the new features, especially Camera control. I’ll cut it off here, as I don’t have much to say yet. But I’ll have more soon.