Every year, we hear some form of “the biggest update to the iPhone ever” and while it’s accuracy varies standing across from you today is truly the biggest iPhone ever – the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Let’s get the unboxing out of the way before we go on. You get a nice, braided USB-C cable and a SIM tool – enjoy them while you can, we have a feeling they might also be on their way out.
Apple put a truly massive 6.9-inch screen in this year’s Pro Max but this doesn’t feel like a massive iPhone. That’s because Apple also thinned the bezels and the upsizing doesn’t feel as drastic. Still, aside from the unchanged thickness of 8.3mm, this year’s big iPhone is slightly larger than its predecessor in all directions.
Aside from the larger screen and the chip update, the biggest new feature on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the new camera control button, which is a very innovative concept. It’s a proper button – it depresses to open up the camera app from any screen (double press from a locked phone), but then it can also recognize pressure and open a deeper layer of control, and you can swipe on it.
We love the new button for its ability to open the camera app from anywhere, but we will need some time to get used to it. Our immediate impression is that it’s better suited for portrait use and with right-handed folks – it’s far from the most comfortable in landscape mode.
Coming back to the size of the iPhone 16 Pro Max – here it is next to the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The iPhone dwarfs the Pixel but it doesn’t appear to have a bigger screen than the Galaxy when put side by side.
The big guns – Galaxy S24 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro Max, Pixel 9 Pro XL
We’ve started working on the iPhone 16 Pro Max review but there’s a lot to test so be patient!
