iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 15 Pro Max

Whoever comes into the Apple ecosystem stays in the Apple ecosystem, right? If so, you may want to upgrade your older iPhone but find these to be lucrative iPhone 15 Pro Max price tags make you wonder if the extra few hundred dollars for the newer one iPhone 16 Pro Max are justified.

Table of contents:

For starters, you can compare full spec sheets or continue directly with our editor’s review 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 And let’s face it: iPhone upgrades have become pretty outdated lately. Let’s see if Apple has been able to spice things up this year.

Size comparison

In terms of design, there is little to no change with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, compared to the 15 Pro Max. However, the newer Max got bigger and added a bit of weight. The weight isn’t that noticeable, but considering the 16 Pro Max is now built around a huge 6.9-inch screen, albeit with thinner bezels, it’s noticeably bigger and a tad wider too.

There is also no meaningful difference in the “building blocks”. Of course, the 16 Pro Max uses a newer generation Ceramic Shield glass for the front and back, but we doubt this would be a deal breaker for everyone. Both handsets are exceptionally built and feature IP68 protection.

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

Furthermore, 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 a maximum brightness of around 1,700-1,800 nits, and they can both go up to 120 Hz.

Battery life

The already excellent battery life of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is surpassed by the battery life score of 16 Pro Max. The difference in the overall score is quite minimal, but if we look closely at the results, we see that the newer Pro Max gains some extra runtime in the 4G calling and web browser tests.

Granted, the difference isn’t huge, but if battery life is the most important thing to you, then the 16 Pro Max is the way to go.

Charging speed

Unfortunately, there won’t be an upgrade in the charging department for another year. According to our tests, the iPhone 16 Pro Max charges for about the same time as its predecessor. Apple doesn’t advertise the rated maximum charging power, but our tests clearly show about the same charging speed in the first 15 to 30 minutes, after which the charging speed drops off significantly.

The older 15 Pro Max charges from 0 to 100% in 109 minutes, while the 16 Pro Max charges 8 minutes slower. The slightly longer charging time is probably due to the larger capacity.

Speaker test

The latest 16 Pro Max comes with improved speaker quality without being quieter. They offer the same loudness level, but higher quality.

Music songs sound more natural, warmer and with more depth thanks to the more pronounced bass. Interestingly enough, that doesn’t seem to have a bad effect on the vocals. The vocals and treble are just as clean as on the 15 Pro Max, maybe even cleaner.

Performance

As with every new iPhone, the 16 Pro Max offers a newer, faster and more efficient chipset. It has the Apple A18 Pro on board with a hexa-core CPU and is based on the 3nm production process. The Apple A17 Pro that powers the 15 Pro Max has similar specs: hexa-core CPU with hexa-core GPU.

The new A18 Pro chipset also features significantly better AI capabilities thanks to the 16-core NPU.

The memory configurations remain unchanged, with both devices starting at 8GB/256GB and going all the way up to 8GB/1TB.

Benchmark performance

While the changes may sound subtle, the 16 Pro Max offers nearly 26% better CPU performance according to Geekbench 6, about 27% higher combined performance according to AnTuTu 10, and surpasses the 15 Pro Max in GPU-heavy workloads by 27%.

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

Overall, the performance jump is far from trivial, but will likely go underutilized if you’re not into mobile gaming.

Camera comparison

The iPhone 16 Pro Max brings a notable upgrade to its camera system with the addition of a new HDR adjustment setting and a Camera Control button feature, although the latter remains incomplete at launch and is of rather questionable utility.

The biggest shift comes in the ultra-wide camera, with the previous 12 MP sensor replaced by a 48 MP (1/2.55″, 0.7 µm) Quad Bayer-type sensor. Despite this increase in resolution, the physical size remains of the ultrawide sensor about the same as before, indicating a sensor size of 1/2.55 inches, just like its predecessor While these upgrades take the ultrawide angle to new heights, the selfie camera, with a 12 MP sensor with PDAF and a. 23mm f/1.9 lens, carried over from the previous generation with no major changes. The video recording capabilities of the entire system include up to 4K at 120 fps for the main camera and up to 4K at 60 fps for the ultra-wide-angle, telephoto and front cameras.

Image quality

Because the minor hardware changes involve, there is little to no difference in the way the two iPhones take their photos and videos. We struggle to find any notable difference in the 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 examples: iPhone 16 Pro Max • iPhone 15 Pro Max

After some pixel peeping, however, we found a barely noticeable difference between the ultrawide cameras, which is to be expected considering the only hardware change is in this department. The newer iPhone seems to produce slightly warmer photos and brighter highlights, but again, we doubt most people would notice. It’s a trivial change.

iPhone 16 Pro Max: 0.6 • 1x • 2x • 5x

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

Video quality

The same goes for the video recording. We don’t see any obvious difference in the way these two phones record video, except for the ultrawide where the 16 Pro Max produces clips with a slightly warmer color temperature.

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

Pronunciation

So is the iPhone 16 Pro Max better than its predecessor? Most definitely, yes. Objectively, the 16 Pro Max has slightly better battery life, significantly higher performance, nicer speakers and since it’s a newer phone, you can expect an extra year of software support. The 16 Pro Max also has a camera control button, which left us with mixed feelings, but some users like it.

But is it about $500 better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max? Probably not. If you can find a 15 Pro Max on store shelves, you’ll get roughly the same user experience for a lot less. We find it hard to justify the huge price difference with the fairly modest hardware upgrades, especially since there are no gains to be made in the camera department.